The Botany of Graveyards
By Conservation Easement Manager, Torry Nergart.
When I die, hopefully by something best described as impressive calamity, I’d say just throw my body in a ditch if it weren’t for the environmental hazard of it all. In this way and so many others, burials are really for the living, and planting beautiful living things in and around our cemeteries is as old as humankind. The land we place cemeteries on receives some conservation protection, then just add Time and the occasional volunteer historic preservationist, and we have many fine botanical gardens in honor of our ancestors.
In capturing a moment of death, cemeteries also capture cultural snapshots of what plants people revered or had local significance, what horticultural varieties were popular (or just available), what forest or field conditions were like back at the stone’s date stamp. Here in Transylvania County, cemeteries are refugia for an endangered endemic wildflower, the Oconee Bells which bloom at first thought of Spring. Our cemeteries have champion trees, not just outgrowing but outlasting many environmental disasters, to become elders to many a better-adapted and improved seedlings. Our cemeteries have long fallen out of favor daffodil varieties that may be similar to ones found at old cabin sites deep in Pisgah. They also reflect cultural changes. As the dates on the stones come closer to the present, the plants left in honor change; some having come from the opposite side of the world, perhaps where the deceased once served. Graves once hand-dug limited disturbance of the surrounding area, avoiding the felling of trees and allowing native plants to regenerate. Some memorial gardens have the same maintenance burden of a golf course, strainingly sustained with herbicide and fossil fuels. Legacy indeed.
Hopefully one thing remains the same, that cemeteries should be a place of quiet, respect, of peace. A place to celebrate life. But as the county grows, so does the road noise- at least the permanent residents don’t mind. It’s the rest of us visitors above ground left to make and keep the world livable. I’m all for going out on your own terms, but consider the lasting impact of your last act. Cemeteries do not have to be sterile turfgrass covering concrete-encased embalmed shells. They can age into thriving forests. They can be meadows filled with pollinators. They can support life and biodiversity, and become gardens closer to ones described in Creation tales. And every garden to grow well needs compost.
Carolina Memorial Sanctuary in Mills River is a model for greening up the pushing up of daisies. The land there can accept cremains and remains, just the organic kinds. The staff steward meadow and forest habitats where controlled burns have been reintroduced, and invasive weeds are kept at bay. What stewardship looks like is a park-like setting with meandering paths, an escape from the din and whir, a place the living would want to visit. The land is secured by conservation easement and is open to all respectful visitors. To a wandering botanist, the memorials have an ever-changing cast of flowering characters as the land is restored back from what was once overused and eroded. It is a laboratory that offers a study setting of wider and deeper contemplation, as with reverence comes a clearer mind. I find it easier to think in longer timelines of local adaptations, even longer into evolutionary timescales when faced with considering the brevity of my own.
Related: If you let Carolina Memorial Sanctuary know that you learned about them through Conserving Carolina, you will receive a discount and Conserving Carolina will receive a donation. Learn more.
So many thanks to anyone who tends a grave, many thanks to all stewards of cemeteries. Thank you to the County’s Abandoned Cemeteries Board of Trustees, the Joint Historical Preservation Commission, to the Transylvania Historical Society, the Transylvania County Improvement Organization, many others who care for the land. Your work has not gone unnoticed or appreciated! Your work has made a truth of a kind act having positive ripples, even unknown ones like preserving botanical heritage.
