Wilderness Cemetery Offers Heaven on Earth

Ever paused in the midst of a backwoods hunting or fishing trip, sighed contentedly and murmured, “I wish I could stay here forever”?

If so, Garry and Gloria Pierce have a deal for you.

On a ridge overlooking a trout stream in an idyllic northern Michigan wood, the Pierces and partner Arthur Stickles are developing a cemetery for the cremated remains of outdoor lovers.

“It’s a final resting place for like-minded souls--hunters, fishermen, skiers, bird watchers, you name it,” Gloria Pierce says. “We believe there are people who would want their remains kept in a setting that offers a spirit of eternal celebration of nature.”

Brundage Wilderness Cemetery will be located in Benzie County, about five miles from the village of Honor. A century ago, the site was home to a tiny pioneer settlement and a stopover for stagecoaches making the 60-mile run between Manistee and Traverse City.

All that’s left of the community are the graveyard of the Brundage family--homesteaders who arrived from New Jersey in the 1860s--and remnants of the dam they built on the creek to power their sawmill.

It’s a quiet spot, nestled at the end of a two-track road surrounded by state forest. In winter, the only sounds are the moan of icy gusts whipping through snow-covered pines and the occasional whine of a distant snowmobile.

“It’s beautiful up there--the air is clear and clean,” says Dale Schultz of Muskegon, the first person to reserve a plot in the new cemetery. He has visited the area often over the last decade, hunting deer or just wandering the woods, savoring occasional glimpses of a coyote or fox.

“It’s surrounded by state land, so you don’t have to worry about being hemmed in by some high-rise building someday,” said Schultz, 60. “You’ll have peace and quiet forever.”

The same thought occurred to Stickles, whose hometown of Interlochen is nearby. A longtime cemetery operator in the Detroit area, he now divides his time between Florida and Michigan.

Stickles, 74, learned of the old Brundage graveyard while attending local township meetings. He researched its history, visited the site and was captivated by its beauty and simplicity.

“I thought, ‘Gee, this would be a great place for cremain burials,’ ” Stickles said. “It’s not big enough for very many [casket] burials but it’s perfect for cremains. Anybody can be buried here, but it strikes me as ideal for sports-minded people.”

Many cemeteries have columbaria--vaults with niches for cremation urns--or grassy areas where cremated remains can be scattered, says Nick Verrastro, editor of American Cemetery, a trade journal based in Iselin, N.J.

“But I don’t know of any other cemetery in the country that’s been developed from scratch as a wilderness area for cremated remains,” Verrastro said. “This, to me, is a first.”

These days, more Americans are showing interest in cremation.

In 1985, just under 14% of the people who died were cremated, according to the Cremation Assn. of North America. A decade later the total exceeded 21%, says CAMA, a Chicago-based trade association for the funeral and cemetery industry.

If its projections are correct, by 2010 cremation will be used nearly 40% of the time.

“People are dying older and dying away from home,” says Jack Springer, CAMA executive director. “They’re growing up in Michigan but retiring to Florida or Acapulco and dying there without a lot of friends or family around.

“So they’ll be cremated and in many cases the remains will be shipped back north to the family homestead.”

Moreover, a growing number of people--especially the young and affluent--see cremation as ecologically correct. And older cemeteries are filling up, leaving little choice except cremation for people desiring burial in them.

But cremation raises the question of how to dispose of the remains--or “cremains,” as the industry calls them. They’re often described as ashes, but actually are purified skeletal fragments.

Some people leave instructions on where their cremains should be scattered--in the ocean, perhaps, or someplace on land that was especially meaningful during their lives.

“But a lot of people don’t know what to do with them,” Stickles said. “A lot of them just get thrown away . . . or they end up sitting in closets.”

He and the Pierces say burying cremains in a cemetery gives surviving relatives a place to pay respects.

Brundage Wilderness Cemetery will be a 1-acre site adjacent to the existing Brundage family graveyard, in a clearing surrounded by white pines and aspens.

There will be space for 48,000 burial plots, each measuring 1 square foot and covered with 8-by-8-inch markers of bronze, granite or both. The cost of a plot, burial and perpetual maintenance is $250. The markers start at $250 for an individual or $400 for a couple.

The Brundage grounds will be maintained with an eye toward preserving the surroundings, the Pierces say. Weeds and undergrowth will be controlled, but there won’t be carefully manicured lawns or ornate memorials.