Bishop, the mayor of Springdale, owns and operates one of three environmentally-friendly cemeteries in the state. Bishop started Dust to Dust Cemetery in Swansea in September 2009 after he witnessed a horrific car accident.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThree people were killed, and I was the vehicle behind that car,\u201d Bishop said, \u201cand it just hit me that I could\u2019ve been that car, and so I started figuring out what would happen to me if I suddenly died.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Bishop decided he would like to be buried on his farm in Swansea, a little community south of Springdale. He did his own research and discovered that no South Carolina laws require that bodies be embalmed, placed in an ornate casket or buried in a steel vault.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI realized that I can\u2019t be the only one that wants to be put in a pine box and buried in the woods,\u201d Bishop said.<\/span><\/p>\n Dust to Dust Cemetery takes up two acres of Bishop\u2019s 57-acre farmland. Each plot can be marked with a flat, natural headstone and can be decorated with flowers or other natural materials. The cemetery doesn\u2019t allow for the burial of any nonrenewable resource \u2013 that means no concrete, metal, plastic, ceramic, tile, or stained, painted, or polished wood.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bishop\u2019s philosophy of natural burial clashes with the practices of more traditional funeral homes in America. Dust to Dust does not embalm,<\/span> or accept any bodies that have been embalmed. That’s because of the detrimental effect the embalming chemicals \u00a0pose to the environment and to the individuals who administer the embalming fluid, Bishop said.<\/span><\/p>\n The Berkeley Planning Journal, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal published by the University \u00a0of California, wrote in 2012 that \u201capproximately 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, primarily formaldehyde\u201d are buried in the contemporary burial process in the United States each year. That\u2019s equivalent to one and a quarter Olympic-sized swimming pools filled with embalming chemicals each year.<\/span><\/p>\n Exposure to the chemicals involved in the embalming process has affected the health of funeral workers, as there\u2019s been a high incidence of leukemia, brain and colon cancer among embalmers, according to the Berkeley Planning Journal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to the effects of these chemicals, \u201capproximately 30 million board feet of hardwoods, 2,700 tons of copper and bronze, 104,272 tons of steel, and 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete\u201d are also buried each year in America, according to Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve, a green cemetery in New York.<\/span><\/p>\n To bury a loved one with Dust to Dust, the average cost is $1,000. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the median cost for a funeral and burial with a traditional funeral home in 2019 was $7,640.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNature is going to win at some point, so you\u2019re just burying money,\u201d Bishop said.<\/span><\/p>\n Since its opening almost 11 years ago, Dust to Dust has done 400 burials, according to Bishop. But that number pales against the conventional funerals and burials that are conducted by brick and mortar funeral homes in South Carolina and across the United States.<\/p>\n In the Midlands, Thompson Funeral Homes, a corporately-owned business with three locations in Richland and Lexington County, did 1,189 burials in 2019 alone.<\/p>\n Turner, the location manager at two Thompson Funeral Homes locations in the Midlands, says a traditional funeral homes provide services that go beyond what a natural cemetery offers.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe have all the facilities and everything that one would need to receive guests and friends, and to have a memorial or funeral ceremony in our chapel,\u201d Turner said.<\/span><\/p>\n Blair Eads, of Charleston, recently buried her grandfather and chose to use a full-service funeral home in Mint Hill, North Carolina.<\/p>\n “I was satisfied. She [the funeral director] explained everything. If we had any questions, she would go over it again,” Eads said Thursday. “They alleviated the stress of having to figure everything out. They helped us with everything.”<\/p>\n Funeral homes also offer an array of products that are used to preserve the grave, like vaults and sealable caskets made from materials that don\u2019t disintegrate.<\/span><\/p>\n Conventional funeral homes also have a fleet of vehicles that can be used to transport loved ones, and the ability to set up a police escort for ceremonies.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt just depends on your mentality. I don\u2019t feel you get the full effect of ceremonial closure that you get with a traditional funeral and burial,\u201d Turner said.<\/span><\/p>\n But Bishop believes his burial practices are more traditional than those of funeral homes like Thompson.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe way we bury, that\u2019s how people have been buried since the dawn of time. All those chemicals and unnatural materials, our ancestors never used those,\u201d Bishop said.<\/span><\/p>\n Rose Gartman of Gaston, South Carolina, buried her aunt and uncle at Dust to Dust cemetery; the cemetery provided a graveside service. Her family has since bought\u00a0three other plots for future use.<\/span><\/p>\n Gartman\u2019s father, Bennie W. Wingard, passed away Feb. 6 after a battle with cancer and was buried at Dust to Dust last weekend with a graveside service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhy would you spend thousands of dollars for a funeral home and a gravesite when you can have a terrific service right there if you want it?\u201d Gartman asked.<\/span><\/p>\n Gartman buried her grandmother with a local conventional funeral home.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWe did that with grandma. It was, like, $10,000+ we had to spend,\u201d Gartman said. \u201cThey [Dust to Dust] make it so peaceful. They\u2019re such caring people. It seems like that at a funeral home, every time you turn around it\u2019s money, money, money. And why wouldn\u2019t someone want to be at peace at that time?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI can go sit down there and a peace just comes over you. They really care about the families. No stress, everything is just peaceful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 1″ src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/CemeteryW2_ML.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.2″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px”]<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 1″ _builder_version=”4.2″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n Some families opt for decorating their loved ones’ graves with natural materials.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 2″ src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/CemeteryW3_ML.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.2″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px”]<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 2″ _builder_version=”4.2″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n Caskets are not required at Dust to Dust, if families opt to use one it must be made of wood in its natural state. \u00a0Mike White, of Swansea, makes natural wood caskets which have been used at the cemetery.\u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 3″ src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/CemeteryW4_ML.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.2″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px”]<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 3″ _builder_version=”4.2″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n Many caskets used at conventional funeral homes are made of other materials and can cost up to $25,000.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 4″ src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/CemeteryW5_ML.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.2″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px”]<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 4″ _builder_version=”4.2″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n Vietnam War veteran Bennie W. Wingard, father to Rose Gartman, passed away Feb. 6. His family buried him at Dust to Dust next to other passed loved ones.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The owner of an environmentally-friendly cemetery wants people to rethink the way Americans bury their loved ones. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":30424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" [et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\" _builder_version=\"3.0.91\" custom_padding=\"0px|0px|0px|0px\" next_background_color=\"#000000\" inner_width=\"auto\" inner_max_width=\"none\"][et_pb_row custom_padding=\"2px|0px|8px|0px\" _builder_version=\"3.0.47\" background_size=\"initial\" background_position=\"top_left\" background_repeat=\"repeat\" width=\"90%\" max_width=\"1080px\"][et_pb_column type=\"4_4\" custom_padding__hover=\"|||\" custom_padding=\"|||\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Featured Image caption\" _builder_version=\"4.2\" text_font=\"|600|||||||\" text_font_size=\"12px\" text_orientation=\"left\"]<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\" _builder_version=\"3.0.92\" custom_padding=\"2px|0px|37.9062px|0px\" prev_background_color=\"#000000\" inner_width=\"auto\" inner_max_width=\"none\"][et_pb_row custom_padding=\"0px|0px|18.9531px|0px\" custom_margin=\"10px|||\" _builder_version=\"3.0.92\" width=\"90%\" max_width=\"1080px\"][et_pb_column type=\"2_3\" custom_padding__hover=\"|||\" custom_padding=\"|||\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"News Story\" _builder_version=\"4.2\" custom_margin=\"0px||0px|\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]<\/p> Michael Bishop is worried we might be mourning the death of our planet if we continue using contemporary forms of burial.<\/p> Bishop, the mayor of Springdale, owns and operates one of three environmentally friendly cemeteries in the state. Bishop started Dust to Dust Cemetery, in nearby Swansea, in September 2009 after he witnessed a horrific car accident.<\/p> \u201cThree people were killed and I was the vehicle behind that car,\u201d Bishop said. \u201cAnd it just hit me that I could\u2019ve been that car and so I started figuring out what would happen to me if I suddenly died.\u201d<\/p> Bishop decided he\u2019d like to be buried on his farm in Swansea, a little community south of Springdale and the state\u2019s capital. He did his own research and discovered that there are no South Carolina laws that state that you have to hire a funeral director, or be embalmed, or have a casket. \u201cI realized that I can\u2019t be the only one that wants to be put in a pine box and buried in the woods,\u201d Bishop said.<\/p> Dust to Dust Cemetery takes up two acres of Bishop\u2019s 57-acre farmland. Each plot can be marked with a flat, natural headstone, and can be decorated with flowers or other natural materials. The cemetery doesn\u2019t allow for the burial of any nonrenewable resources. That means no concrete, metal, plastic, ceramic, tile, or stained, painted, or polished wood and metal.<\/p> Bishop\u2019s philosophy of natural burial clashes with the practices of more traditional funeral homes in America. Dust to Dust does not embalm, or accept any bodies that have been embalmed, because of the effect the chemicals involved in embalming pose to the environment and to the individuals who administer the embalming fluid.<\/p> The Berkeley Planning Journal, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal out of California, wrote in 2012 that \u201capproximately 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, primarily formaldehyde\u201d are buried in the contemporary burial process in the United States each year. That\u2019s equivalent to one and a quarter Olympic-sized swimming pools filled with embalming chemicals each year.<\/p> Exposure to the chemicals involved in the embalming process has affected the health of funeral workers, as there\u2019s been a high incidence of leukemia and brain and colon cancer among embalmers, according to the Berkeley Planning Journal.<\/p> \u201cApproximately 30 million board feet of hardwoods, 2,700 tons of copper and bronze, 104,272 tons of steel, and 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete (Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve 2011)\u201d are also buried each year in America.<\/p> To bury a loved one with Dust to Dust, the average cost is $1000. With more conventional funeral homes, burying a loved one can range from $10,000 - $20,000. \u201cNature is going to win at some point, so you\u2019re just burying money,\u201d Bishop said.<\/p> Gregg Turner, the location manager at two Thompson Funeral Homes locations in the Midlands, says that with natural cemeteries, you don\u2019t get the same services that you do with conventional funeral homes \u2013 and that those services are really what you\u2019re paying for.<\/p> \u201cWe have all the facilities and everything that one would need to receive guests and friends, and to have a memorial or funeral ceremony in our chapel,\u201d Turner said.<\/p> They also offer an array of products that are used to preserve the grave, like vaults and sealable caskets made from materials that don\u2019t disintegrate.<\/p> Conventional funeral homes also have a fleet of vehicles that can be used to transport loved ones, and the ability to set up a police escort for ceremonies.<\/p> \u201cIt just depends on your mentality. I don\u2019t feel you get the full effect of ceremonial closure that you get with a traditional funeral and burial,\u201d Turner said.<\/p> But according to Bishop, his burial practices are more traditional than those of funeral homes like Thompson. \u201cThe way we bury, that\u2019s how people have been buried since the dawn of time. All those chemicals and unnatural materials, our ancestors never used those,\u201d Bishop said.<\/p> Rose Gartman of Gaston, S.C., buried her aunt and uncle at Dust to Dust cemetery; the cemetery provided a graveside-service. Her family has since pre-bought three other plots.<\/p> Gartman\u2019s father passed away this week after a battle with cancer and was buried at Dust to Dust this past weekend with a grave-side service.<\/p> \u201cWhy would you spend thousands of dollars for a funeral home and a gravesite when you can have a terrific service right there if you want it?\u201d Gartman asked.<\/p> Gartman buried her grandmother with a local conventional funeral home. \u201cWe did that with grandma. It was like $10,000+ we had to spend,\u201d Gartman said. \u201cThey [Dust to Dust] make it so peaceful. They\u2019re such caring people. It seems like that at a funeral home, every time you turn around it\u2019s money, money, money. And why wouldn\u2019t someone want to be at peace at that time?\u201d<\/p> \u201cI can go sit down there and a peace just comes over you. They really care about the families. No stress, everything is just peaceful.\u201d<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_3\" custom_padding__hover=\"|||\" custom_padding=\"|||\"][et_pb_image admin_label=\"Image 1\" show_in_lightbox=\"on\" show_bottom_space=\"off\" _builder_version=\"3.0.92\" custom_margin=\"||2px|\" custom_padding=\"|||\" animation_style=\"slide\" box_shadow_style=\"preset2\" box_shadow_horizontal=\"4px\" box_shadow_vertical=\"4px\" url_new_window=\"off\" use_overlay=\"off\" always_center_on_mobile=\"on\" force_fullwidth=\"off\" align_last_edited=\"on|desktop\" align_tablet=\"center\"]<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Caption 1\" _builder_version=\"3.0.92\" text_font=\"|600|||||||\" text_font_size=\"12px\" text_line_height=\"1.4em\" custom_margin=\"8px|||2px\" custom_padding=\"|||\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]<\/p> Image 1 caption goes here.<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=\"Image 2\" show_in_lightbox=\"on\" show_bottom_space=\"off\" _builder_version=\"3.0.92\" custom_margin=\"||2px|\" custom_padding=\"|||\" animation_style=\"slide\" box_shadow_style=\"preset2\" box_shadow_horizontal=\"4px\" box_shadow_vertical=\"4px\" url_new_window=\"off\" use_overlay=\"off\" always_center_on_mobile=\"on\" force_fullwidth=\"off\" align_last_edited=\"on|desktop\" align_tablet=\"center\"]<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Caption 2\" _builder_version=\"3.0.92\" text_font=\"|600|||||||\" text_font_size=\"12px\" text_line_height=\"1.4em\" custom_margin=\"8px|||2px\" custom_padding=\"|||\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]<\/p> Image 2 caption goes here.<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=\"Image 3\" show_in_lightbox=\"on\" show_bottom_space=\"off\" _builder_version=\"3.0.92\" custom_margin=\"||2px|\" custom_padding=\"|||\" animation_style=\"slide\" box_shadow_style=\"preset2\" box_shadow_horizontal=\"4px\" box_shadow_vertical=\"4px\" url_new_window=\"off\" use_overlay=\"off\" always_center_on_mobile=\"on\" force_fullwidth=\"off\" align_last_edited=\"on|desktop\" align_tablet=\"center\"]<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Caption 3\" _builder_version=\"3.0.92\" text_font=\"|600|||||||\" text_font_size=\"12px\" text_line_height=\"1.4em\" custom_margin=\"8px|||2px\" custom_padding=\"|||\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]<\/p> Image 3 caption goes here.<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=\"Image 4\" show_in_lightbox=\"on\" show_bottom_space=\"off\" _builder_version=\"3.0.92\" custom_margin=\"||2px|\" custom_padding=\"|||\" animation_style=\"slide\" box_shadow_style=\"preset2\" box_shadow_horizontal=\"4px\" box_shadow_vertical=\"4px\" url_new_window=\"off\" use_overlay=\"off\" always_center_on_mobile=\"on\" force_fullwidth=\"off\" align_last_edited=\"on|desktop\" align_tablet=\"center\"]<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Caption 4\" _builder_version=\"3.0.92\" text_font=\"|600|||||||\" text_font_size=\"12px\" text_line_height=\"1.4em\" custom_margin=\"8px|||2px\" custom_padding=\"|||\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]<\/p> Image 1 caption goes here.<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[67,71,39],"tags":[1552,1550,1551,139,1549,119],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30388"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30388"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30716,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30388\/revisions\/30716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Environmentally](\"http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Environmentally-friendly-cemetery-W1_ML-300x167.jpg\")
Owner of Dust to Dust Cemetery Michael Bishop on the grounds<\/p>