Greener Ways to the Great Beyond

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The first burial at Ramsey Creek Preserve occurred in the fall of 1998; to date, 17 more have taken place. Another 50 persons have purchased sites. A casket burial there costs about $2,500. Burial of cremated remains is only $500; scattering of cremated remains is $250. Stone grave markers and engraving are optional; the stones are $25; engraving ranges from $125 to $300. Caskets are not included. (For instructions on building your own casket, see Page 61.)

Dr. Campbell says people seem to want to be buried there because of the site's natural beauty, the lower cost and the land preservation effort. Bodies usually arrive for burial at Ramsey Creek Preserve via a local, independent funeral home, whose owner has agreed to hold them under refrigeration until delivery to the preserve. The nature of any graveside ceremony is determined by the families. "Whatever spiritual bent you bring to the preserve, our natural landscape is very healing," Kimberley Campbell says. "What we do is very simple, but there is something very, very special about the simplicity of it."

Sherrill Hughes buried her husband, Roland, at Ramsey Creek Preserve. She says she knows without a doubt that was what he would have wanted. His body was placed in a simple pine box—a preference he had expressed—and buried under a dogwood tree; her grave site is right next to his, and she says her children all want to be buried there, too. "Roland's funeral was so personal. In most funerals there's no emotion, but at Ramsey Creek, you can do what you want." She played his favorite songs Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" and George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today"—and placed the first spade full of dirt in his grave.

Following her lead; their children shoveled too, "and before we knew it, the boys-my two sons-in- and nephew - had nearly finished tilling in the grave."

Hughes, who lives in Atlanta, says she wouldn't describe herself or her husband as environmentalists. Rather. they always just tried to take care of what God had given them, "and that included the Earth." She plans to move to the Westminster area soon, where most of her family al ready lives, and she plans on building her own casket and helping out as a volunteer at the preserve.

Dr. Campbell says folks buried there so far fit a range of descriptions, and the majority are not environmentalists—which is exciting to him. Going through a green burial process helps people get beyond the "nature as wallpaper" mentality, he explains. The only medical doctor in Westminster, he has a longtime interest in the environment (in 1986, he helped found the South Carolina Forest Watch, a group that monitors the well-being of the state's forests) and he has been dealing with death since his medical school days; his wife thinks it's a reassuring combination to their patrons. She also says Atlanta's suburban sprawl is fast encroaching on their area, so they feel a sense of urgency.

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