The Best Natural Burial
Service in New York City

You can affordably return to the earth 

Fitting Tribute Funeral Services is committed to helping families find sustainable ways to bid farewell. We know the state’s greenest grave spaces, and Amy often saves people money by driving the deceased to the cemetery herself.

There’s still some confusion over what an earth-friendly funeral is. Some people think cremation is “greener” than burial because cremation requires little to no cemetery space. In truth, when you are speaking of one of the green cemeteries within two hours of New York City, or father upstate, you can give back to the planet and sometimes protect 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 conservation cemetery, you are helping to keep gorgeously-wooded, rural properties safe from development. It may take a moment to bend your mind around this concept. We can also bury deceased people wrapped in shrouds without any casket at all in a green cemetery, something many funeral firms don’t truly endorse and something too many conventional cemeteries don’t yet allow (both Green-Wood and The Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn are now in the elite vanguard).

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 170 years ago. Grave prep is more natural and aesthetically pleasing: no phony Astro-turf covers the displaced soil, and evergreen boughs are available to help decorate or fill. Cemetery workers at Greensprings and Steelmantown let family members lower the casket themselves and all green grounds allow families to slowly shovel soil back into the grave to fill it, if that is their desire. You’ll also never see a grave-worker look harried or check his wristwatch at a green burial ground. The space is yours and you’ll be given ample graveside time.

Some of our closest friends still might say, “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.” Still undecided? You might want to watch this film on the very green burial of Steve Sall.