Kenyon College's Green Cemetery Opening Ceremony Oct. 8, 2015

The new sign for the Kokosing Nature Preserve.  Kenyon alumnus Steven Christie did the stonework for this sign.  (Photo by Don Comis)

 After a dedication ceremony, visitors start a tour of the Kokosing Nature Preserve.  The stone pillars, built by Steven Christie, pay homage to the historic stone pillars that form the gateway to Old Kenyon.  (Photo by Don Comis)

On October 8, Kenyon College had a dedication service at its Kokosing Nature Preserve to mark the official opening of a combined public park and green cemetery.  More than 100 people attended the event, with most of the 110 seats under a canopy filled and a good crowd standing nearby.  Attendees included representatives of two funeral homes.

The  Flowers-Snyder Funeral Home in nearby Mount Vernon, Ohio, has earned the highest level of green cemetery certification.

Philander Chase Corporation Project Coordinator Amy Henricksen, speaking at the ceremony, invited everyone to enjoy the park, as a good place to walk and engage in quiet contemplation.  She said Kenyon has planted many native trees on the 24-acre site as well as shortgrass prairie and wildflowers.  She expressed delight that the wildflowers were still blooming on the day of the dedication.

Guests of honor at the ceremony included the chairman of the Philander Chase Corporation, which bought the land for the preserve, the site of the former Tomahawk Gulf Club;  Kenyon College President Sean Decatur;  and Steven Christie, the Kenyon alumnus who did all the stonework for the cemetery’s entrance and sign.

Guests of honor included (left to right) master stone mason Steven Christie, Kenyon College President Sean Decatur, and Rabbi Marc Bragin.  (Photo by Don Comis)
  

The chairman of the Philander Chase Corporation praised another advisor who could not attend the ceremony, Guy Denny, who created about 20 acres of prairie in Fredericktown, Ohio.  He called Denny the top land conservationist in Ohio.

In keeping with the preserve’s sacred space, Kenyon’s religious advisor, Rabbi Marc Bragin, gave a blessing for those currently buried in the preserve and those that will be in the future.  There are currently two people buried there, both friends of Lisa Schott, managing director of the Philander Chase Corporation.

Also an original poem was read and Kenyon singers performed for the ceremony.

About 2400 grave plots are available, both in wooded areas overlooking two ponds and in the prairie section.  The graves in the prairies will become part of the prairie, since the only mowing that will be done is to create temporary paths to the graves for services and to maintain the permanent paths in the preserve.  Grave markers must protrude no more than three inches from the ground and must look like natural rock, although they can be engraved with names and dates.

The prairie will be maintained by annual controlled burning that creates only enough heat to burn off surface vegetation to prevent woody plants from taking over the prairie grasses.

There is an option to bury bodies or ashes in the plots, as well as a low cost option of simply spreading ashes on a surface of the preserve.  All burial and ash spreading sites are located by GPS coordinates and recorded in cemetery records. Most plots can be reached by the permanently maintained paths.

There is an area cleared to form an amphitheater for possible performances by Kenyon dance or drama students.

Burial in Company of Friends

Lisa Schott by the fresh grave of  her friend's husband.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Lisa Schott (far left) and Amy Henricksen (fourth from left) lead tour of Kokosing Nature Preserve.  The grave is that of  Schott's friend, the first burial at the new green cemetery.  (Photo by Don Comis) 

Schott said that one thing that took her and Henricksen by surprise was that some of their friends and acquaintances would be buried here.  Schott faced that since a good friend of hers is buried here and a friend’s husband was buried here on September 19.  Schott herself plans to be buried here as does a friend of mine who really likes the idea of being buried in a nature preserve.

That’s something my wife, Helen, and I find tempting  too—not only being buried in a beautiful spot that is tied to my life, among friends, but also in a space legally preserved forever, with development and cemetery relocation forbidden, and the payment going for upkeep of the preserve and funding more land preservation by the Philander Chase Corporation.

Zoe Case was one of many who sowed prairie seeds courtesy of Kenyon's environmental group called the "Land Lords", a play on Kenyon's "Lords" athletic teams.  (Photo by Don Comis)

After the ceremony, all were invited to grab a big handful of prairie seeds and spared them on nearby land with a prepared seedbed.

The final event was a walking tour of the cemetery, where there was a moving moment as Schott stood by the fresh grave of her friend’s husband.