Durham residents with an environmental bent have a new way to make a final statement. A vote by City Council recently made Durham the first N.C. city to allow “green burial” in municipal cemeteries.
While the term “green burial” is new, the practice draws upon practices that are quite old. Green burials eschew embalming fluids, vaults and elaborate coffins. Instead, the emphasis is on biodegradability, and the dead are laid to rest in wicker coffins, for instance, or linen shrouds.
The new-yet-old approach to burial will be allowed at Beechwood Cemetery first, and later at Maplewood, as Jon Kuperschmid reports.
Above: Photo of Beechwood Cemetery by Maddie Wray — The 9th Street Journal