By Marty Trese, KnoxPages.com Managing Editor
GAMBIER – The first green burial at the Kokosing Nature Preserve, on the site of the back nine of the former Tomahawk golf course on Quarry Chapel Road is scheduled for next month, according to Lisa Schott of Kenyon College. The College’s Philander Chase Corporation, a nonprofit land trust, purchased the 51-acre course last year with plans to turn it into the first green cemetery in Knox County, one of three in the state.
The cemetery takes up about half of what was Tomahawk. Approximately 2,000 burial plots will be available on the section that used to be the back nine. The front nine was reconfigured and is now operated as Deer Hollow Golf Course.
Schott was quoted in the Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin saying, “Our primary goal in purchasing the property was to protect it from development. It is a scenic property with beautiful views and we did not want it subdivided and sold as separate parcels.”
View from Kokosing Nature Preserve and cemetery looking back at the club house – KP photo by Marty Trese
The move makes Kenyon the first college or university to combine green burial and land conservancy, while also providing PCC with a revenue stream for the ongoing work of the land trust.
Formaldehyde is forbidden in green burial, as are concrete burial vaults and lids, which are not biodegradable. In addition, caskets must be made of plant-based materials.
