Our historic and active cemetery is also an urban green space in our community, allowing those who live in the city to escape the hustle and bustle of their everyday lives for a moment.
As part of our nonprofit mission, we prioritize environmental stewardship. We support a natural ecosystem by encouraging our gardeners to use native plants, not using harmful chemicals on the property, and being kind to all living creatures who inhabit our space.
We have several community partnerships which influence the success of this work. One is with the DC Beekeepers Alliance, a volunteer organization which tends bees in the apiary on our property. They ‘rent’ space on our grounds and ‘pay’ us in sweet honey each fall, which we then sell as a fundraiser to reinvest in the program and our grounds. They also participate in educating our visitors about pollinators, especially school-aged groups who visit us for field trips.
We also are in a long-term relationship with Casey Trees, nonprofit organization on a mission to re-canopy the district. In consort with them, we work to plant more trees on the site and care for those which need tending to ensure a healthy landscape.
Additionally, we have a beautiful space within the cemetery which offers an ode to green space called the Circle of Life. You can learn more about that project here.
We are still an active burial ground, and as such, we incorporate environmental stewardship into our burial options. We are a Certified Hybrid Burial Ground with the Green Burial Council, which indicates that we offer families the option of traditional and green burials. Green burials, sometimes referred to as natural burials, are a type of disposition which is done without the assistance of chemicals and without non-biodegradable containers. At Congressional Cemetery, families can choose to inter their loved ones in a green manner by selecting materials which will return to the earth. Options can include a wicker or pine casket, or even a shrouded burial using biodegradable materials. Grave liners, or vaults, are not used. Families who choose this option also do not embalm their loved ones. The intention is for the person’s remains to fully return to the earth.
If you would like to learn more about green burial from a funeral director, please read the article in our summer 2024 issue of our newsletter, linked here.
We encourage you to visit the space and experience an urban green space for yourself. Listen to the leaves in the fall as the wind moves through the trees, watch squirrels prance and scurry up trunks, and listen to the buzzing of our pollinators in action. Congressional Cemetery welcomes you.
Circle of Life
Natural or ‘green’ burials are designed to have minimal environmental impact and conserve earth’s resources. Congressional is the only cemetery in Washington DC that offers this eco-friendly option for interment. In keeping with its ecological focus, the Circle of Life is a living memorial to those who choose this simple and sustainable end to their existence.
