top of page
Search

May 2025

A week of constant showers, with a forecast of more heavy rains, made it necessary to cancel our May 10th tour.  However, we now have three tours scheduled for the month of June:  June 7 at 2pm, June 14 at 10am, and June 28 at 11am.  The June 7 tour is already full, but there are lots of openings for the tours on June 14 and June 28.  The tours are a great way to get to know the Cemetery, its history, and its stories.



Cottage For Connection: Help Us Create a Space for Gathering, Reflection & Remembrance


Our goal is to raise $20,000 for a small cottage at the heart of our forest. We want to create a space for families and mourners to gather before their burial ceremony with their loved one and for visitors to reflect and recharge in another place of soft refuge under our canopy. Our Fundraiser will take place from May 1 through May 31.


As of May 19th, we have raised a little over $6,000! That’s roughly 30% of our goal. We are thrilled to announce that the next $2,500 of donations will be matched, dollar for dollar, by a generous donor who wants to remain anonymous. This is your chance to double your impact! Every dollar you give goes twice as far in helping us build our cottage.



Registration is open for Dirt Camp!


Dirt Camp is a multidisciplinary, educator led, place based learning summer day camp for adolescents in Roxbury and neighboring towns. Our mission at Dirt Camp is to facilitate service ecology learning experiences while simultaneously fostering community building opportunities for local youth in the context of Vermont’s forest ecosystem. Campers can expect to design and collect data for experiments, participate in naturalistic observation, grow in their creative capacity through nature based art, and explore their empathy for all things living and nonliving. We will have two camps, one for ages 8 -12 and one for ages 13-17, led by South Burlington High School educator and long time volunteer Clarissa Gold and our very own Cemeterian Bailey McLaughlin.


For our campers ages 8-12, participants can expect to learn about the foundational principles of scientific drawing and note taking, qualitative and quantitative observation recording, and integrative thinking as it relates to the ecology of our forest. We will be pursuing ongoing projects with the Vermont Flying Squirrel Network & the Vermont Atlas of Life Butterfly project, while also cultivating a basic understanding of Vermont’s forested ecosystems.


For our Campers ages 13-17, will be pursuing similar ecological themes but have the opportunity to choose from a variety of service learning projects. This project will culminate at the end of the camp by groups sharing their findings and reflections.



An Afternoon of Conversation at The Savoy


We had a wonderful afternoon at The Savoy Theatre in Montpelier for our To Live & Love as Mortals event with Kim Nolan, Jennifer Mathews and our very own Michelle Hogle Acciavatti. We nearly filled the theatre with almost 80 guests! We thank each and every one of you who attended or shared the message about this event. It was wonderful to be in community together.



We are continually crisscrossing the state showing the documentary From Earth to Earth: The Lost Art of Dying in America to raise awareness of natural burial. We had the pleasure of screening the documentary at the Church Street Meeting House in Barnet, the home town of Kate Abrams - the widow of Ron Langley (who was our first burial) and VFC Ambassador who is featured in the documentary! We will continue to add screenings throughout the summer, so be sure to keep an eye on our website and social media for announcements!

Don’t see a screening near you? If you’d like to host or sponsor an event in your community, please contact Jim Hogle at info@cemetery.eco.


VT Coverts Woodlands for Wildlife


This spring our Cemeterian, Bailey McLaughlin, attended the VT Coverts Cooperator Training along with 20 other passionate conservation focused landowners across the state of Vermont! Did you know that Vermont is 78% forested and of that 78% - 80% is in the hands of private land owners? Cooperators are trained to help teach the public about balancing the needs of the forest and the needs and desires of landowners through educating the community on wildlife, conservation and sound forest management practices to continue the long lasting legacy of Vermont's beautiful woodlands and wetlands. We are excited to incorporate what we’ve learned through this training to inform our conservation and forest stewardship plan. Stay tuned for more!

Your donations are tax deductible!


Please consider making a donation today. Even small gifts will help us continue to keep the cemetery open for visitors 12 months a year.


Thank you so much for helping us build the cemetery into a fully accessible, sustainable place that serves all the needs of our community. We are so grateful for your support.


Those of us who work at the 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!


Once spring arrives 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.

 
 
 

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page