THE BEST GREEN CEMETERIES IN NEW YORK
By Amy Cunningham
Some people think cremation is "greener" than burial because cremation generally requires no cemetery space. Actually, when you are speaking of one of the green conservation cemeteries within three hours of New York City or upstate, you can be protecting rural property by burying yourself in it. Cemetery laws prohibit highways or shopping malls from coming to land that has deceased people in it, so in using a green cemetery, you are helping to keep gorgeously-wooded, rural properties safe from development.
You can also be buried in a shroud (without a casket) in a green cemetery, something most conventional cemeteries don't yet allow. No herbicides are used on the grass, as a rule, and the setting of a registered green burial ground is kept much as it was found: wild, natural, frequented by birds, squirrels, and deer.
Folks who bury a family member in a green cemetery are sad a death has occurred, but elated by their participation in an end-of-life ritual that signals a return to the simpler burial practices of 200 years ago. Grave prep is more natural and aesthetically pleasing: no phony Astroturf covers the displaced soil, and evergreen boughs are available to help decorate or ll. Cemetery workers usually let family members lower the casket and shovel soil if that is their desire. You'll also never see a grave-worker look harried or check his wristwatch at a green ground.
The space is yours and you'll be given ample graveside time. Some of our closest friends still exclaim, "Oh God, just cremate me." But for those who love nature, history, and old-fashioned ritual, and for those whose custom has always been simple and green (Jews, Muslims among others), it's a no brainer: Green burial in a natural burial ground--without an embalming, metal casket or vault--is a gracious, gorgeous, uplifting way to "go." Here is our most complete accounting of every green cemetery and every hybrid ground attached to a conventional cemetery in or near NY state. There are shades of green at play here (two asterisks ** denote a completed registration with The Green Burial Council), but all plots listed here are priced well below the remaining graves in New York City. Some of these cemeteries are a little far aeld, but we include them because they may make sense to New York families connected to those necks of the woods.
-- Amy Cunningham & Anna Walsh
**ASCENSION GARDEN (St. Francis Meadow)
Address: 1900 Pinnacle Road, Henrietta, NY 14467 Phone: (585) 697 – 1122 | Email: info@holysepulchre.org Website: http://www.holysepulchre.org/ St. Francis Meadow. Catholic Natural Burial Ground. Single plot is $2,000, opening fee of $825. Cremation plot is $1,200, opening fee of $500. Both plot types include an engraved natural stone which they harvest directly from the land while excavating. $100 fee for services held in the chapel.
CALVARY CEMETERY (St. Michael’s Meadow) Address: 481 Route 9W, Glenmont, NY 12077 Phone: (518) 463 – 0134 Website: https://www.capitaldistrictcemeteries.org/ Catholic Hybrid Cemetery. Single plot is $2,000 with an $1,350 opening fee. Cremation plot prices (holds 2 urns) vary based on location, starting at $800 with an opening fee of $495 per urn. Biodegradable pine and willow caskets accepted.
RHINEBECK CEMETERY Address: 3 Mill Road, Rhinebeck, NY 12572 Phone: (845) 876 - 3961 | Email: cemetery@rhinebeckny.gov Website: http://friendsofrhinebeckcemetery.org/ Single plot is $6,600 for a non-resident and $1500 to open.
GREEN MEADOW CEMETERY Address: 1121 Graham Street, Fountain Hill, PA, 18015 Phone: (610) 868 – 4840 | Email: info@greenmeadowpa.org Website: https://www.greenmeadowpa.org/ Single plot for $2,000; open fee is $1,000, plus $500 for perpetual care
**GREENSPRINGS NATURAL CEMETERY Address: 293 Irish Hill Road, Neweld, NY 14867 Phone: (607) 564 - 7577 | Email: info@naturalburial.org Website: http://www.naturalburial.org/ Standard plot for $1,200; cremains plot for $450 and infant grave is $300. Opening fee for standard burial $1,200. Opening fee for cremains burial $550. Stone installation is $225.
**GROVE CEMETERY ASSOCIATION of NAUGATUCK Address: 1 Cross Street, Naugatuck, CT, 06770 Phone: 203-729-1297 Email: superintendent@grovenaugatuck.com Website: https://www.grovenaugatuck.com Single plot is $1,200 and opening fees are an additional $1,200 for an adult, $600 for child. A plot for cremated remains is $450 and $350 to open. Part of the natural burial section will be dedicated to meadow and forest restoration.
HARLEMVILLE RURAL CEMETERY Caretakers’ Phone Numbers: Jonitha Hasse at (518) 325 – 7454 Cecelia Elinson (518) 672 - 7447 Hudson hybrid green ground attached to conventional country cemetery, price very reasonably (please call).
**HOLY SEPULCHRE CEMETERY (Trinity Section) Address: 2461 Lake Avenue, Rochester, NY 14612 Phone: (585) 458 – 4110 | Email: info@holysepulchre.org Website: http://www.holysepulchre.org/ Catholic cemetery. $2,400 for a single plot, $825 to open the plot and $75-$100 for chapel use for a service.
MARYREST CEMETERY Address: 25 Seminary Road, Mahwah, NJ 07430 Phone: (201) 327- 7011 | Email: cemetery@rcan.org Website: https://www.rcancem.org/catholic-green-burial/ A single grave for two is $5,800. Opening fee is $2,500. This is a Catholic cemetery. The purchaser should be a Catholic (but no one will “card” you), and the decedent need not be Catholic.
MOST HOLY REDEEMER CEMETERY Address: 2501 Troy Schenectady Road, Schenectady, NY Phone: (518) 374 – 5319 Website: https://www.capitaldistrictcemeteries.org/ Single grave is $2,000, with an opening fee of $1,350. Note: Next of kin must be related to a Catholic.
**MT. HOPE CEMETERY’S GARDEN OF RENEWAL Address: 1133 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 Phone: (585) 428 - 7999 Website: http://www.cityofrochester.gov/mounthope/ Single grave is $3,280 and $880 opening fee.
OAKWOOD CEMETERY Address: 50 101 st Street, Troy, NY 12180 Phone: (518) 272 – 7520 Email: oakwood_cemetery@yahoo.com Website: http://www.oakwoodcemetery.org/ Historic Hybrid Cemetery. Single plot is $800-$900 based on location, with $700 opening fee. Foundation fee of $235+ depending on size & details of stone.
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is gorgeous is any weather and the board trustees were early to establish a hybrid green ground, which means that pine caskets and burial baskets with shrouded body are welcomed in the eco-friendly area set slightly apart from the conventional cemetery.
**ROSEMONT NATURAL BURIAL AREA Address: 100 Kingwood Stockton Road, Rosemont, NJ 08556 Phone: (609) 488 – 6959 Email: secretary@therosemontcemetery.com Website: https://www.therosemontcemetery.com/ Single plot is $2,500 with an opening fee of $2,125. Cremation plot is $5800 with an opening fee of $775.
**ROSENDALE PLAINS CEMETERY Address: P.O. Box 85, 793 Springtown Road, Tillson, NY 12486 Phone: (845) 658 – 9042 Website: http://www.rosendalecemetery.com/ Single graves $1,500, opening fee for burial $1,000.
**SLEEPY HOLLOW CEMETERY Address: Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591 Phone: (914) 631 – 0081 Email: info@sleepyhollowcemetery.org Website: http://sleepyhollowcemetery.org/ Historic cemetery with hybrid green burial ground by side of cemetery road, shrouds accepted. A single grave is $7,000. $10,000 for a plot for two. Opening cost is $2,188. A cremation grave for two urns is $5,000 with an opening fee of $660. Foundation charges start at $627. Infant/stillborn plots are $750 with openings ranging from $581-$994.
**SPIRIT SANCTUARY Address: 304 Cook Rd. Essex, NY 12936 Phone: 518-278-7502 Email: spiritsanctuaryburial@gmail.com Website: https://www.spiritsanctuaryny.org/ Conservation cemetery with a mission to preserve and rewild the land. $1200 for burial if you leave a bequest to one of the conservation organization partners. $2,400-$4,000 sliding scale without a bequest. Companion burial for a pet for $200.
SOUTHAMPTON CEMETERY Address: 613 N Sea Road, Southampton, NY 11968 Phone: Eric Wright, Superintendent at (631) 283 – 3212 Single grave is $1,650 (at ush stone only), two graves is $3,700 (small upright stones are okay). $2,450 opening service fees. Shrouds, biodegradable pine and willow caskets accepted. All information subject to change.
**STEELMANTOWN CEMETERY Address: 101 Steelmantown Road, Woodbine, NJ 08720 Phone: (609) 628 - 2297 Website: http://www.steelmantowncemetery.com/ Single plot is $3,500 and a double plot is $6,750. Grave opening fee $1,650. Opportunities for wooded burial or placement in old Quaker cemetery. One hundred-year-old casket cart meets hearse and family at the gate.
UNION CEMETERY AT MAYS LANDING Address: 195 Route 50, Mays Landing, NJ 08330 Phone: (609) 625 – 7571 Website: http://www.theunioncemetery.com/ Adult interment $600 with $1,150 opening fee.
**VALE CEMETERY (The Dell) Address: 907 State Street, Schenectady, NY 12307 Phone: (518) 346 – 0423 | Email: vale@valecemetery.org Website: http://valecemetery.org/news/dell-vale Single plot is $600, opening is $800.
**WHITE HAVEN MEMORIAL PARK Address: 210 Marsh Road, Pittsford, NY (near Rochester) Phone: (585) 586 – 5259 Website: http://www.whitehavenmemorialpark.com Has Jewish area, Islamic area, all-green hybrid ground. $2,150 for a single grave with a $865 open fee. Cremains in woods is $2,150, by water $2800 with an opening fee of $495.
**WOOSTER CEMETERY Address: 20 Ellsworth Avenue, Danbury, CT, 06810 Phone: (203) 748 - 8529 Email: woostercemetery@yahoo.com Website: http://www.wooster-cemetery.com/ Lovely historic grounds with green area priced lower than the conventional. $2,370 adult plot, $1,200 open fee (plus $340 fee added in the Winter (Dec 1 - Mar 1). Infant/stillborn plot is $330. Marker and foundation fees vary. 3% discount for cash/check payment. All information subject to change. Please call
