The Centre for Natural Burial

By Linda S. Morris, The Telegraph

The proposal for a natural or “green” cemetery in Bibb County has some nearby residents upset and the cemetery owners attempting to explain the concept. The cemetery is planned on 25 acres at 4600 Davis Road in Bibb County near the Twiggs County line.

The proposed facility, with a total of 7,500 burial spaces, will be an environmentally conscious cemetery, said Elizabeth Collins, CEO of Summerland Group. She and President James Wood Jr., are planning to own and manage the cemetery.

A natural burial is when “The body is prepared for burial without chemical preservatives and is buried in a simple shroud or biodegradable casket that might be made from locally harvested wood, wicker or even recycled paper, perhaps even decorated with good-bye messages from friends,” according to The Natural Burial Co-operative, Center for Natural Burial’s Web site.

There are nine natural cemeteries operating and four under development in the U.S., according to the Natural Burial Co-operative.

As people are becoming more environmentally conscious, they are considering the environmental impact of the burial of their remains, Collins said. “I’ve been studying it for seven or eight years,” she said. “My children used to call me ‘earth mother.’ We recycle. We compost. This is a final act of conservation.”

The concept is not new said Kimberly Campbell, vice president of Memorial Ecosystems Inc. which in 1998, opened the first natural cemetery in the United States in Westminster, S.C.

“This is the way people have been buried for years and years,” Campbell said. “The Jewish people have never stopped doing this. … We have gone to great efforts to make sure this is good for the Earth.”

Campbell, of South Carolina, and her husband, Dr. George Campbell, are opening the first conservation burial cemetery in Georgia - Honey Creek Woodlands - at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit near Conyers.

RESIDENTS CONCERNED ABOUT LIVING NEAR GREEN CEMETERY

Several people who own property near the proposed Bibb County site appeared before the Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission last week to express concerns about the cemetery.

Some were worried about how it would affect their well water, others said they found it “repulsive” and against their religion.

Some stood up in support of the cemetery.

The commission decided to postpone taking action on the proposal until their April 14 meeting in order to gather more information about the cemetery.

Carl Dixon, who owns property on nearby Donnon Road and hopes to someday build on it, said he had a problem withthe way they would be buried and what the decomposing bodies might do to the groundwater in the area.

“My property is right behind the (Swift Creek Landfill),” Dixon said. “I certainly don’t need something else.”

Collins and Campbell make the argument that traditional burials can be harmful to the environment because embalming fluid made with formaldehyde eventually leaches out of caskets and vaults and goes into surrounding soil and groundwater.

Joan Hudson Brown, who lives adjacent to the site, is concerned the cemetery could negatively impact property values in the area. Brown, who owns AAA Choice Realty, said she has written a petition and hopes to gather 2,000 or 3,000 signatures to oppose the planned cemetery.

Cherrie Mittmann, who has lived on Davis Road for 14 years, said she is the closest to the proposed cemetery. “I am concerned about my water system,” she said. “Every piece of property is on a down slope from this (cemetery). I am astounded at the laws that will not let me throw away household items but will let people bury human beings where people have well systems.”

Mittmann is concerned the sandy soil in the area would not properly filter the water passing through the burial sites.

“(The owners) say it will be a green cemetery,” she said. “The only green is the money they expect to get out of it. What are you going to do with 7,500 (bodies) if this doesn’t work out? It’s the living people I’m worried about. It won’t make a difference to the people on the hill.”

The proposed cemetery is at least 1,000 feet from any existing well, and it is about 700 feet from Stone Creek, Collins said.

“One reason we picked the site is because it’s on a hill,” she said. “The elevation is 30 feet from the FEMA designated flood plain and even more above Stone Creek.”

The Davis Road site met the criteria recommended by a soil scientist, Collins said. Graves would not be located in low-lying or wet areas.
Collins and Wood attempted in 2007 to locate a natural cemetery on 26 acres in Jones County but the idea was shot down there. Collins said the main concern was the cemetery would have been off a small graveled, private road that was inadequate.

The cemetery would be a perpetual care cemetery which means it has to follow the rules set by the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.

According to Matt Carrothers, director of media relations with the state office: No State Board of Cemeterians’ rules say bodies have to be embalmed, that bodies have to be placed in a vault or that they have to be placed in a casket.

The state does not regulate non-perpetual care and religious cemeteries, although cities and counties may regulate them, Carrothers said.

Milton Heard IV, president of Macon-based Hart’s Mortuary, said he was aware of the growing trend of green cemeteries and had looked into doing it. “I couldn’t figure out how to make it work financially,” he said.

The density of natural cemeteries is less than traditional cemeteries, which range from 800 to 1,500 graves per acre, depending on the topography and roadways in the cemetery, he said.

“I do not see it as competition,” Heard said about the proposed green cemetery. “I see it as another way of serving people. I think there is a need for more education about it. There

is a ‘not in my back yard’ mentality.”

As many residents in the Davis Road area near the planned green cemetery are not familiar with the concept, several rumors are circulating about it.

Brown said she understood people would be buried naked.

Collins said that’s not true.

Mittmann speculated that a hearse wouldn’t be used and said “maybe they will throw a body in the back of a pickup truck with two shovels.”

Collins said she plans to hold a meeting with concerned residents prior to the April 14 meeting to help dispel rumors and help settle fears.

“No, we wouldn’t bury people naked,” Collins said. “It’s done with the greatest respect to the person who died and their families. We will work with local funeral homes.”

The body would already be in a coffin or shroud, and it will be delivered to the cemetery by the funeral home, she said. Pall bearers could be used just like in a traditional funeral with a religious ceremony of the family’s choice.

“The grave is made very attractive with pine straw and seasonal flowers,” she said. “It’s very beautiful, very respectful.”

To contact writer Linda

S. Morris, call 744-4223.