THE HISTORY OF GREENSPRINGS
Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve is one hundred and thirty acres of meadows and woodland in which wildlife coexists with sustainable human burial.
Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve is one hundred and thirty acres of meadows and woodland in which wildlife coexists with sustainable human burial.
On New Year’s Day in the year 2000, Jennifer Johnson and Susan Thomas began the process of founding a natural cemetery. They chose the hills of the Town of Newfield in Tompkins County, New York as the location for the cemetery, because of the area’s natural beauty and for its proximity to the city of Ithaca, a community known for its openness to new ideas.
Johnson and Thomas were soon joined by members of the Pre-Posthumous Society, an Ithaca group led by Carl Leopold and Mary Woodsen seeking to create a nature preserve where people could be memorialized after their deaths. The Greensprings Natural Cemetery Association was legally incorporated in 2004, and the first burial at the cemetery took place in 2006.
The Land
“One of the things I’ve noted when people come here for the first time, who’ve never experienced being this far away into the natural world, they remark on how beautiful it is.” – Larry Hirschberger
THE LAND
“One of the things I’ve noted when people come here for the first time, who’ve never experienced being this far away into the natural world, they remark on how beautiful it is.” – Larry Hirschberger
After initially considering a property on Burdge Hill, the group decided to establish Greensprings on a more remote piece of land offered by legislator and environmental educator Herb Engman.
After initially considering a property on Burdge Hill, the group decided to establish Greensprings on a more remote piece of land offered by legislator and environmental educator Herb Engman. Next to eight thousand acres of protected woodland in Cornell University’s Arnot Forest and the Newfield State Forest, Greensprings is situated at one of the highest spots in Tompkins County, with an expansive view of the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania from Leopold Overlook.
Greensprings includes Pony Hollow, a valley where a branch of the Saponi Tribe settled a decade before the Revolution of 1776. The land was subsequently used for farming until it was purchased by Herb Engman.
Greensprings is certified as a natural cemetery by the Green Burial Council. While following New York State regulations, Greensprings practices are intended to make each burial as environmentally sustainable as possible. Bodies buried at Greensprings are not embalmed and are either wrapped in shrouds or held within simple caskets or other containers made of biodegradable materials. There is no burial vault, and graves are dug three feet deep, so that bodies can be laid to rest within the most biologically active layer of the earth.
Burials at Greensprings are typically simple, giving families and friends the freedom to frame the experience on their own terms. Greensprings contains areas that are specifically designated for Jewish and Muslim burials but is not affiliated with any religious organization. Respecting the diverse cultural backgrounds of the people it serves, Greensprings makes space for the many different burial rituals that help people to cope in a time of grief.
NATURAL BURIAL
“We’re a green cemetery. We do it in the simplest, kindest, most gentle, most thoughtful way possible.” – Lynn Leopold
“There’s a couple of ways you could look at this. Some people want to look at this in terms of a final resting place as being a spiritual journey. Other people want to look at it very pragmatically as being environmentally conscious. It can serve both purposes.” – Joanne Johnson
“I think one of the great things about Greensprings also is that it’s not religious, even though we have those sections. That’s for the benefit of our clientele. It’s not because Greensprings is a religious institution. There are people who talk a lot about the spiritual nature of some things, but we don’t get into partisan religion at all.” – Herb Engman
Greensprings is certified as a natural cemetery by the Green Burial Council. While following New York State regulations, Greensprings practices are intended to make each burial as environmentally sustainable as possible.
At Greensprings, a natural burial isn’t defined merely by the minimization of toxic substances and other forms of human interference. Nature is a positive presence that provides comfort and perspective during the burial and grieving process.
The warmth of the sun, the sound of birdsong, the vibrant colors of wildflowers in bloom, the spontaneous appearance of wild animals, and the feeling of a sudden breeze have a way of coming together at Greensprings to remind people that they are not set apart from the natural world. Like the bodies of the people we bury, we come from nature, and we will return to it.
Cemeteries remind us that no individual life can be sustained forever. A natural cemetery, however, shows us that even when one life ends, life endures. The people buried at Greensprings literally become a part of the natural beauty of the place. Year after year, the sustainable practices of Greensprings caretakers ensure that this it will be preserved and protected in perpetuity.
NATURE AND SUSTAINABILITY
“I think being in nature makes you aware of things more. You see more.” – Jennifer Johnson
“We’re not separate from this place we’re living in. We’re part of it. A lot of people like humans to put themselves above it. Why the hell else would you build a hermetically sealed casket and keep your molecules away from it? We came from it. We go back to it and it just keeps going on and on.” – Susan Thomas
Greensprings has enough land to continue natural burials for the next four hundred years. Even then, the work of the Greensprings Natural Cemetery Association will continue.
Greensprings has enough land to continue natural burials for the next four hundred years. Even then, the work of the Greensprings Natural Cemetery Association will continue. As a nature preserve and green cemetery, Greensprings has the responsibility to take action now to ensure that it will remain financially and ecologically viable for all future generations.
In order to accomplish this task, Greensprings is managed according to a comprehensive plan designed by its Stewardship Committee. Every year, the caretakers of Greensprings work not just to protect the environmental integrity of the land, but to improve it, removing invasive species and enhancing habitat for native wildlife. Financially, Greensprings sets aside fifteen percent of fees in a perpetuity fund that will ensure that the stewardship of Greensprings will continue without end.
ONLY TIME WILL TELL
“What will nature look like four hundred years from now, two hundred years, fifty years? How will we be good stewards of the land?” – Michelle Menter
“We are a cemetery in perpetuity, and we have to think forward now as to how we guarantee that perpetuity so that it doesn’t fall apart after we’re all gone.” – Lynn Leopold