The Murrays own 850 acres off Route 29, south of Charlottesville’s airport. Over the years, the family grew crops and grazed cattle, but today they’re doing something different. There’s a business called Pay Dirt, where organic material is composted to create new soil. Another section of the farm offers a private running course for athletes, and now the farm is approved to serve as a natural burial ground and park – open to the public 365 days a year.
“Traditional cemeteries have a certain vibe, and we very much don’t.”
Stephanie Bonney was running a non-profit crematory and cemetery in New England when the Murrays called to hire her.
“It’s like a nature preserve, and some people happen to be buried here. Whether you’re jogging, or we have little kid on the street who ride their bikes through, we really want people to feel like this to be a place for the living.”
Ryan Grant was a parks and recreation guy who joined the team to help return 20 acres of farmland to habitat for native birds, bugs and butterflies.
“We have done a number of plantings ourselves, but what we hope is that people view the burial plots as an extension of their commitment to the environment and add native plants.”
He’s installed bluebird boxes, a nesting spot for kestrals, (eagle sound) and as we talked he saw a couple of eagles flying by.
“They have such an uncharacteristic call for a bird that big. They sound like little chirpy, tweety birds.”
Meg Bloom organizes bird walks and tours that feature plants, trees and rocks. There are beekeepers at Panorama who partnered with her for a honey tasting and – earlier this year – an event called Death Fest.
“Three organizations in the community came together – Woven Roots Collective, Hospice of the Piedmont and Panorama Natural Burial – with educational and informational content around everything from green burial and home funerals to voluntary stopping of eating and drinking as a choice one might make at the end of life, meditations and contemplations on death and dying, grief circles, conversation circles.”
And Stephanie Bonney adds:
“The main goal is to empower people to stop being so afraid, to contemplate death, because it’s coming for all of us, and our society has historically been very reticent to even talk about it.”
Graves are marked with a simple stone so as not to detract from the natural beauty of the place, and bodies are buried in a pine box, a wicker basket or a shroud at a depth that promotes rapid recycling.
“With natural burial you don’t dig six feet under like the TV show. We’re 3.5-4 feet, and the reason for that is that the organisms at that level are much more efficient at doing their job,” Bonney explains.
“Nothing put into the ground here should last more than a few decades," Grant adds. "Actually as part of that we have an optional 75-year recycling policy for the plots. After three generations – 75 years – that soil can be used to recycle someone else.”
This real estate costs $2,800 to $7,600, depending on location and whether cremation is preferred. So far, the cemetery has hosted 26 funerals and sold 160 plots. Grant says families are encouraged to plan their own services – a celebration of life.
“A surprising number of people leave here smiling. Obviously everyone is sad. Everyone has lost someone they cared about, but at the same time you’ve done something for them. You’ve given them a final gift.”
Panorama provides a cart to transport the deceased, shovels for those who’d like to fill in the grave, a barn where guests can gather and – in season – a flower garden where they can pick blooms to decorate the burial site.
