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January 2026

As we turn towards the deepest part of winter, it can be easy to think that this is a season of stillness. The tracks in the Cemetery tell a different story. Our resident foxes, fishers, coyotes, turkeys, and rodents have been crisscrossing the paths. The tracks on the snow are a good reminder of the life incubating below, just waiting for spring warmth to reemerge.


And so our thoughts are turning from the fall season when we honor the dead, to this season of anticipation when we celebrate the living.



Upcoming Events


While weather has closed the Cemetery to scheduled tours, we have a number of community events this winter! Join us for a screening of the award winning documentary From Earth to Earth: The Lost Art of Dying in America followed by a Q&A session at the Charlotte Senior Center on January 29th at 1:30pm. We will also have a screening on February 11th by hosted by the South Burlington Library at 6pm and cosponsored by the South Burlington Cemetery Commission. Keep your eyes on our events page and social media as we continue to announce more screenings across the state.



Were you unable to make it to a Cemetery tour this year and have some natural burial questions? Come and visit our Natural Burial Virtual Q&A with Founder and Head Cemeterian Michelle Hogle Acciavatti! We host this once a month and our next meeting will be February 19th from 6pm - 7pm.



This February, VFC will be having its first ever Book Club! We’ll be reading Our Last Best Act: Planning for the End of Our Lives to Protect the People and Places We Love by Mallory McDuff. Join our death curious community for a virtual discussion on February 22nd at 4pm.

 Honoring Those That Give


We also want to take a moment to honor the volunteers who help us steward the Cemetery as a place for the living and the dead. From folks who reposted events, to those who assist at burials, helped steward the trails and who arranged for us to do screenings - Vermont Forest Cemetery is enriched by your presence.



There is one volunteer we truly couldn’t function without: our Outreach and Communications Director, and President of our Board of Directors, Jim Hogle. If you have a question about the Cemetery, he is the one who answers emails and phone calls. If you come to an event, he’s there to greet you and help you park, he’s ready to help in any way he can at burials, and on tours his car is always ready to help folks who need a break from the long walk. He does this all as a volunteer. Not because, as Michelle is fond of saying, he was bored in retirement, but because he believes in the Cemetery and what it offers to the living and the dead.



And so, we are excited to announce the first annual James M. Hogle Volunteer of the Year Award. We could not choose one person for our inaugural winner. Our first award is a tie: Junebug McNeil and Charlie Poltenson!


Junebug McNeil

Junebug has been a supporter of the cemetery from the very beginning and comes to every stewardship day and burial they can. But they don’t just come themselves, they almost always bring a friend (or two or three), many of whom have become repeat volunteers themselves. They’ve also brought their family and shared about their cemetery with their professional communities. This dedication to both supporting and growing our community is what helps our forest thrive. Thank you, Junebug, from our very roots. We are excited to work alongside you again in 2026.


Charlie Poltenson


Charlie is another longtime supporter. Every time he has volunteered at a burial it has begun with a huge hug and, “What do you need?” (and always in that order!). Charlie has done most every type of task as a burial volunteer from being a communal witness, shoveling soil, lifting heavy caskets, cutting boughs and more.  His smile and stories have comforted mourners and helped settle nervous volunteers, he’s a wonderful greeter and parking assistant and we’re grateful to him and his wife Pam for arranging a screening for us in their community and for joining him when she can.


Heidi Albright


Any discussion of our volunteer community would be incomplete without the name Heidi Albright. We are fortunate to call Heidi a neighbor, because she embodies the word as a true neighbor, not just someone who farms the land adjacent to the Cemetery. Since we’ve opened, Heidi has enabled us to build local contacts and introduced us to the community, assisted at burials (both digging and caring for distraught pets), helped us find new trails, and even helped a very lost out of state funeral director find their way to the cemetery.


Are you interested in becoming a volunteer? Come join our community! We often ask folks to come to burials, to bear witness, and to wield shovels. We’re also always looking for folks to help at events.



Maybe you are part of a school, professional, or recreational group that wants to do something meaningful to help the environment and can come to a stewardship day. Or maybe you’d like to lead an educational walk, host a workshop or give a performance at the cemetery? To learn more about how you can help, please email Bailey@cemetery.eco

Winter Activities and Visiting the Cemetery


While we aren’t offering regular cemetery tours, we are hoping to begin offering snowshoe/ski tours this winter as weather permits. Is there a winter activity you’d like to do at the Cemetery? Reach out to Bailey with your ideas at bailey@cemetery.eco.


Don’t forget to follow our Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with all of our offerings.



We have already begun the cycle of melting and freezing and there have been a few days of icy conditions at the cemetery. VFC is open all year and we ask that visitors use good winter common sense when visiting. This includes keeping a close eye on the weather radar for changing conditions, always wearing seasonal and ice appropriate gear, and when venturing up the hill that you have a 4WD vehicle with winter tires! The Cemetery Lane generally gets plowed within 48 hours after snowfall, so please schedule any trip well after a winter storm.


Those of us who work at Vermont Forest Cemetery are committed to providing the best possible service to our community, and encourage you to contact us at any time with questions, concerns or ideas at info@cemetery.eco.


We value your continued support and are deeply indebted to those of you who have volunteered to help build trails, participate in burials, or just bear witness for those experiencing loss; for those who chose to make tax deductible donations, and to those who have chosen to support us through advanced purchases of burial rights. Thank you for your continued support!


We hope to see many of you at the cemetery.  It is a beautiful place in all seasons, made all the more beautiful by the stories it holds.

 
 
 
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