Story thread · 2 reports / 1 sources

‘Simplicity': How a natural burial park works in Maryland

nbcwashington.com · 1d · first reportShare

More and more people are choosing what’s being called a green or natural burial. In natural burials, there are no chemicals or embalming, and no concrete vaults or expensive caskets. Family and friends can actually participate in the burial process, and the burial grounds look more like parks than cemeteries, with no monuments or headstones. “I love the simplicity of it,” said Anissa Ferguson, whose mother is buried at Reflection Park in Montgomery County, Maryland. “You get to still see the beauty that God created, and that’s why I really love this space,” she said. Reflection Park is 40 acres of mostly undisturbed wooded hills. It doesn’t look anything like a traditional cemetery. The graves are marked by simple plaques in the ground. It’s one of the few natural burial grounds in Maryland. Anissa believes it’s the perfect place for her mother. “Her creativity and her love spoke volumes,” she said of her mother. “She’s a creative at heart. … Anything that required you to think outside