A better way of death; Thetford accommodates green burials

As of October 2023 a handful of Vermont cemeteries — fifteen out of over 1,900 known cemeteries — had agreed to accommodate the growing public interest in natural burials, popularly known as green burials. And in April 2025 Thetford joined those ranks. Paying due diligence to the wishes of residents, the Thetford Cemetery Commission held a joint discussion with cemetery commissions of surrounding towns and drafted Green Burial rules. These were approved by the Selectboard on April 21st.

Green burials in Town-owned cemeteries are allowed only in the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery in North Thetford. This is for a very practical reason — suitable soil. The essence of green burial is to minimize the environmental impact of death by simply allowing a body to be incorporated back into the earth without interventions that prevent the natural process of decomposition, like embalming, caskets, and concrete vaults. 

There is, in fact, a science behind green burials. Take the above-mentioned soil, for instance. The following passage is taken from a publication by the Green Burial Council: "Optimum soil conditions include sandy, loamy soils, with permeability coefficients of more than 10−3 m/s. Soils that are waterlogged and impervious, such as clay, impede decomposition and redirect water in ways that may not be conducive to cemetery health or efficient decomposition."  It turns out that soils at Pleasant Ridge meet this criterion, while the soils at the more centrally located Evergreen Rest Cemetery in Thetford Center contain too much clay. A permeable soil allows oxygen infiltration necessary for the respiration of all the soil organisms that effect the task of decomposition. 

Vermont legislators removed a barrier to green burials when, in 2017, they waived the requirement that bodies be buried at a minimum depth of six feet. That is too deep for the aerobic conditions needed for proper decomposition. Even microbes need to breathe! Burial at a depth between three and four feet allows enough oxygen to penetrate while completely concealing the scent of an interred body from animals. The upper layers of soil are also warmer, which speeds the breakdown process. Thus at Pleasant Ridge green burials will be at a depth of three and a half feet. According to the Green Burial Council, the depth is measured from the tip of the nose or the hipbone of the deceased to the soil surface. To date, there have been no reports from any U.S. green burial cemeteries of animals trying to dig up graves, and Vermont law ensures that all types of burial sites are placed far away from any water source.

Note that it has been Jewish and Islamic tradition for countless centuries to carry out what are essentially green burials. They are performed within 24 hours of death, without embalming, and with or without a simple wooden coffin.

Historically, all burials in the US before the mid 1800s were also green burials. Bodies were not preserved and were enveloped in a shroud or contained in a wooden box. Embalming was a product of the Civil War for the purpose of sanitizing, preserving, and restoring the appearance of the deceased. Thus treated, they could be transported back to their families for viewing and burial. Arsenic, a poisonous element used since ancient times as a stimulant and a medicine for ailments from syphilis to cancer, was the preservative of choice. While morticians jealously guarded their formulae for embalming fluids, it is known that the amount of arsenic used per body ranged from a few ounces to twelve pounds. The toxicity of this very successful preservative became evident in the early 1900s when large numbers of embalmers died or became very sick. It was quickly banned from mortuary use and replaced by formaldehyde, a recent invention. However, the consequences of using arsenic didn't end there. While an embalmed body eventually breaks down, the arsenic does not. Sooner or later some of the arsenic escapes into the soil, potentially poisoning the groundwater, a prevalent situation around Civil War cemeteries. Formaldehyde, too, is a carcinogen to which mortuary workers are exposed, even though the use of protective gear has increased and funeral homes have installed ventilation.

Green burials are gaining interest because they avoid not only embalming chemicals but also the use of many other polluting materials that accompany conventional burials. Again quoting the Green Burial Council: "The chemical leachate of materials buried with the body in a conventional burial pose a larger threat to water sources than bodies themselves. Metal caskets are a particular concern in acidic soils, potentially leaching heavy metals such as iron, copper, lead and zinc. Wood caskets prepared with preservatives, varnishes, or sealants may contain arsenic and other harmful chemicals." 

Many cemeteries still mandate a concrete, fiberglass, plastic, or asphalt vault, as if the protection of a coffin was insufficient. Vaults are favored in modern times because lawnmowers are used to keep cemeteries looking neat. Without a vault, the soil overlying the grave eventually subsides, and this uneven terrain is hard to mow. But the historical reason for vaults does not involve lawnmowers; it pertains instead to medical schools.

As a colony, the U.S. was subject to English law that became the foundation of U.S. law. In England, a dead body was not considered "property." Thus, even if someone wanted to bequeath their body to the purpose of training medical students, it was illegal. The sole source of cadavers was from executed criminals and only by order of a judge. In New England there were insufficient executions to meet the demand, compelling medical schools to find a more unsavory source of cadavers — grave robbing. 

In colonial times, and even a couple of decades after independence, there were no laws against grave robbing. But that soon changed, and state legislatures began passing laws against grave robbing every time a new medical school opened. Even so, grave robbers were organized and adept, targeting remote country cemeteries rather than those in village centers and carefully covering any signs that graves had been disturbed. Only the head end of the grave was dug up and the coffin quietly drilled into until the opening was big enough to extract the corpse with a hook under the chin. To quote from the 2017 Rutland Herald: "In his well-cited 1945 article, “Grave Robbing in New England,” Dr. Frederick Waite estimated 400 cadavers were needed by the 1,600 medical students attending schools in Vermont (Castelton, Woodstock, Burlington) between 1820 and 1840. Some bodies (of slaves from the South) were shipped in barrels filled with brine and carted over primitive roads to be delivered to grocers in Castleton, Woodstock, Hanover (Dartmouth Medical School), or by boat to Burlington." Throughout that period, there were a mere seven indictments for grave robbing.

In the late 1800s, steel cages and vaults were invented to thwart grave robbers. This was soon followed by manufactured concrete vaults invented by Leo Haase, a German immigrant. In 1884 Vermont legislators passed the so-called anatomical law that required overseers of poor houses, hospitals, and sanatoriums to donate unclaimed bodies to medical science. Nonetheless, the vault remains a standard cemetery fixture to this day.

Even a concrete vault is not without environmental impact, something that green burial proponents seek to avoid. In the U.S., burial vaults account for 1.6 million tons of concrete and 64,500 tons of steel a year. One ton of concrete emits over 88 lbs of carbon dioxide in its manufacture.

On an annual basis, U.S. burials also consume about 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluid and 20 million board feet of hardwoods, including exotic wood from rainforests. One cremation uses enough energy to power the average home for a month.

All these materials and services do not come cheaply. In New England the median cost of a funeral and burial with a viewing is about $8,000, and a cremation costs $7,000 according to the National Funeral Directors' Alliance. This does not include the expense of a monument or marker that can run from $200 for a simple marker laid flat to $3000 or more. These expenses have resulted in some families being priced out of the funeral market altogether, leading to the abandonment of remains at funeral homes.

At Pleasant View in North Thetford, a 4 ft by 10 ft green burial plot costs $1,500 with a two-grave maximum. The deceased may be wrapped in a shroud and lowered into the grave on a solid, untreated wood board or enclosed in an untreated, biodegradable box. After the grave is closed, the dirt will be mounded on it to a height of six inches. Corner markers are required, but no decorations or plantings are permitted. 

While the adoption of green burials is inching forward at a snail's pace, the National Funeral Directors' Alliance reports that sixty percent of people in the U.S. have expressed interest in exploring this option. The attraction is twofold: the environmental benefits and, of course, the pragmatic issue of cost savings.

Photo credit: Li Shen