Green burial options at Bellefontaine Cemetery

Bellefontaine is proud to be a Green Burial Council certified cemetery, offering green burial and green burial products and funeral services in addition to our traditional burial and cremation options.

Green burial is an environmentally friendly choice for those wishing to leave a smaller ecological footprint on the earth. Also known as natural burial, this option is free of both conventional chemicals and non-renewable resources. Green burial is often a more affordable funeral option compared to conventional burial, as it forgoes embalming and an outer container for a natural disposition in a simple wicker or wooden casket or burial shroud.

If you would like to learn more about green burial options and other services offered at Bellefontaine Cemetery, please provide your information and will send you email updates about our services and upcoming events.

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Bellefontaine’s green burial cart is available for green burials throughout the cemetery. Shown here with a willow casket on the Hotchkiss Chapel Plaza.

Green Burial v. Traditional Burial

Green burial is among the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient forms of interment. Unlike traditional burials, green burials avoid embalming, metal caskets, and burial vaults, which have become standard features for many funerals. Instead, green burial calls for a biodegradable cloth shroud or a simple casket made from renewable material such as pine, bamboo, or wicker.

 

The Green Experience

Those considering green burial are often surprised to discover how engaging the process can be for the family and loved ones of the deceased. Green burial offers many opportunities for families to participate in a variety of steps throughout the burial process, such as lowering the body into the grave, and filling in the grave space. Though family participation is entirely optional, many families appreciate the intimacy such close involvement provides.

Green Burial in Historic Bellefontaine

Green burial is permitted throughout all of Bellefontaine Cemetery, whether on a new or existing family lot, or a single grave in a public lot. Individuals can choose to mix green burial options with traditional burial practices to meet specific wishes and desires. For example, one may choose to be unembalmed, without a vault, but choose a traditional all-hardwood casket, which while still biodegradable, is slower in its return to the earth than a shroud or simple casket.

Evergreen Meadow

In addition to offering green burial throughout traditional burial sections, Bellefontaine has established a dedicated green burial area known as Evergreen Meadow. Evergreen Meadow offers contemplative spaces on a sunny hillside, and is surrounded by mature trees, drifts of flowering shrubs, and woodland ground cover. Grounds maintenance in this area is environmentally sensitive, with limited mechanized maintenance and no use of pesticides or inorganic fertilizers.

Unlike green burial in other locations within the cemetery, each of the following are integral to each burial in Evergreen Meadow:

  • Only un-embalmed full burials; no cremation in this area
  • Outer container must be simple and biodegradable, such as a shroud or simple casket; no vaults or traditional wood or metal caskets permitted
  • Graves are natural in appearance, and free of individual markers, monuments, or specific plantings

Burial spaces in Evergreen Meadow are priced at $1,500.00 each.