a greener legacy
Spirit Sanctuary
Spirit Sanctuary is a 3-acre private burial ground in Essex, New York where the deceased will naturally become a part of the earth and nourish a forever-regenerating forest.
What Do You Want To Leave Behind?
Spirit Sanctuary is a 3-acre private burial ground in Essex, New York, where the deceased will naturally become a part of the earth and nourish a forever-regenerating forest. It is, and forever will be, a place of protected habitat for native plants, birds, and other animals. Visitors to Spirit Sanctuary will experience life in its many forms and be comforted by the great circle of existence.
Selecting this end of life ‘green’ option can also benefit the conservation organizations you care about. Spirit Sanctuary offers a greatly discounted burial price for those who have remembered a conservation organization in their end-of-life financial planning. Your family benefits by spending less on burial, your conservation partners benefit by having funds go to their mission, and the Earth benefits by turning bodies into forever-protected new life. Make one of your final actions to support good causes and a greener legacy.
"Green burial may be the closest thing we can achieve to immortality."
Spirit Sanctuary is a green cemetery and conservation site in the Adirondacks and is setting an example that could help burial industry adapt to the very modern problem of climate change.
How It Works
A family or individual enrolls to become a member of Spirit Sanctuary, providing them access to burial. Enrollment is available through either a portion of one's estate (no minimum requirement, but at least a tithe urged) to go to pre-approved conservation groups, resulting in a burial discount, or, paying a reasonable fee directly to Spirit Sanctuary. Spirit Sanctuary charges considerably less than conventional burial costs, and uses the modest fee to cover our administrative and management costs, including burial itself. (Rewilding Earth editor John Davis is our principal grave-digger!)
A Spirit Sanctuary Steward will work with you to determine your burial preferences and go through the process of burial at Spirit Sanctuary. Information about other services will also be shared. (As examples, end of life body care may be provided (see this video as an example of how to shroud a body), a pre/post burial service may be held at a nearby venue, or a local horse drawn wagon may be hired to carry the deceased to the gravesite.)
Barred Owls flying through the trees and make their homes in our forests.
Packs of coyotes move freely throughout the Split Rock Wildway.
Little red efts soon to become Eastern Newts dot our forest floor.
Our Location
The Spirit Sanctuary is located at 304 Cook Road in Essex. The Sanctuary is nestled in the the beautiful Champlain Valley, with beautiful Lake Champlain to the east and the foothills of the Adirondacks to the west. The Sanctuary lies directly in the Split Rock Wildway Corridor on the eastern edge of the Adirondack Park.
We are honored to be in partnership with these conservation organizations:
Adirondack Land Trust
Adirondack Council
Protect the Adirondacks
Adirondack Wild
Wildlands Network
New Land Trust
Our lead partners in Split Rock Wildway conservation include:
Champlain Area Trails
Eddy Foundation
Northeast Wilderness Trust
Old-Growth Forest Network
The Rewilding Institute
Spirit Sanctuary In The News
View Article
I’m standing with John Davis in front of his grave. It was the very first grave he dug three years ago in the firm soil of the Adirondacks in a place known as Spirit Sanctuary. He had planned to be buried on his land, but he became so enamored with this exact spot, tucked among willows and behind a pine tree, that he decided it would be his final resting place instead.
View Article
To preserve a wildlife corridor between Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks that could help animals survive a changing climate, a new organization is taking a unique approach: the Spirit Sanctuary in Essex, New York is buying up land for people who want to be buried there.
Contact us.
Email: Click here to connect
USPS: PO Box 42, Essex, NY 12936
Physical Location: 304 Cook Road, Essex, NY 12936
Telephone: 518.278.7502
Board of Directors
James Phillips, Chairman
John Davis, Secretary
Teresa Cummings, Treasurer
William Amadon
Susan Barnett
Jennifer Esser
James Graves
Joan Maloof
Colleen Corrigan, Coordinator