This is a series of flash interviews with people I admire, people who are doing something—anything, a lot of things—for the Earth. These folks walk the walk, each of them in their own way, using their own unique skillset. They dedicate their energy, their time, and their hearts to a crucial cause: the preservation of this precious planet we call home.
Did you know that the first—yes, the very first!—conservation burial ground in the United States is located in the backwoods of upstate South Carolina? Hard to believe, isn’t it? This enterprising, earth-minded couple is responsible for that. The Campbells—he a family practice and hospice physician, she the operations manager of Ramsey Creek Preserve—created Memorial Ecosystems in 1996, long before natural burial was a “thing.” (Do check out their website; you’ll learn so much about the growing movement toward “green” cemeteries and how beneficial they are for the environment, especially when located on conserved land.)
The Campbells’ aim was to turn a swath of wooded acreage he bought a decade earlier into a conservation burial area. It would be a place where families could lay their loved ones to rest and know that spot would remain peaceful and wild forever. Thus was born Ramsey Creek Preserve. This 78-acre protected sanctuary is now home to almost 1,000 gravesites, each one nestled into the forest and marked with native wildflowers and a natural rock found in the surrounding woods, then engraved with names and dates. It’s a beautiful setting, with walking trails winding through the forest and alongside a rushing creek.
There’s also a charming 100-year-old wooden chapel used for funerals and other events. The Campbells rescued it from demolition, brought it to Ramsey Creek Preserve, and spent two years restoring it.
If you’re not familiar with conservation burial, it is the lowest carbon-footprint method of disposition for human bodies. It encompasses so-called “green burial’’ (no embalming, a biodegradable casket or simple shroud, no vault, a hand-dug grave) but also includes the concept of land conservation for sustainability. In the case of Ramsey Creek Preserve, the site is protected from development in perpetuity by an easement agreement the Campbells signed with Upstate Forever.
Here’s what these visionaries shared with me about their connection to the land, and the deep caring that inspires their work.
Please tell me about some of your early experiences in nature.
BILLY: My very earliest memories are of being in the woods, including a dim one of catching a fish and almost being pulled into the Chauga River (now covered by lake Hartwell). I grew up on our family’s 250-acre farm, adjacent to another 800 acres, mostly wooded. We had a dirt road. My mom would kick us out of the house during the summer and tell us to play outside. By the time I was six, I would wander by myself down to the spring in the century-old white oaks and catch salamanders. I had an insect collection and pressed wildflowers. While I realize now it was not a good thing, I also had a bird egg collection (a teacher told me to use a spoon, take only one egg, etc.). The road was paved when I was seven or so, and my friends from town would ride bikes over to play in the woods. My father would organize expeditions to the big creek, Choestoe—him leading Brown Bear, our pony, with me and a friend riding. He liked to fish and we would occasionally seine the creek for him to have bait minnows. The family would go to the state park in the mountains about 15 miles away and we would rent a cabin and stay for a week, fishing and walking.
KIMBERLEY: I was born in 1958 in the UK. I grew up in the countryside. My parents were very happy to let me put on my Wellington boots and set off by myself for walks on the public footpaths, by small rivers and through fields. There were always lots of hedges with birds and berries, lots of sheep. It was also by the coast, with wonderful cliffs and beaches with rocks and tidepools. I have many memories of just looking at fields with the wind blowing the grass, which made the grass look like waves in the ocean. I also remember picking blackberries and one very special Christmas Eve when it snowed. The snow was so crisp, it crunched as we ran through it.
How did those early experiences shape your relationship with the natural world?
BILLY: When I am stressed or feeling depressed or sad, I find walking by myself in the woods to be the one thing I need the most. We live on the old home place and see turkeys, hawks, deer or other wildlife every day. It is an innate part of my identity. When I went to school at Emory University in Atlanta and later was doing medical school and residency in Charleston and Savannah, I found places to go that were at least semi-natural, but I longed for these woods.
KIMBERLEY: I am an only child. When I was young, nature was my playmate. I realize now: I was so lucky to have the time and freedom to roam and explore the landscape around me. Growing up on a small island always made me curious about other countries and different types of vegetation and animals. There were things in nature that made me curious and brought me such comfort and joy, but also terrified me.
How do you connect with nature now … through your work or leisure or both?
BILLY: As a doctor, I advise people about the benefits of walking, particularly in greener spaces. The conservation burial project is a great excuse to go for walks (“I need to go get the latest videos off the trail cam and check the trails.”). I am not particularly fond of spending a lot of vacation time in urban areas, although in the UK it is very easy to blend urban with the natural. We like to stay where we can walk or paddle within a few minutes.
You didn’t ask, but I do feel a bit guilty about traveling. However, over the years we purchased and donated 150 acres of tropical forest in Costa Rica, made a substantial donation of land to the Nature Conservancy to help create a 600-acre Heritage Trust Preserve here in Oconee County and of course, have our extensive woods here at home and at Ramsey Creek. We’ve also facilitated hundreds of other acres going into conservation burial projects. I did a partial carbon credit calculation and we are currently very much net carbon negative.
KIMBERLEY: Both. I still live in the countryside. We are blessed to have a magnificent view from the back of our house, overlooking fields with cows and an old orchard, and we have a walk through the woods to a pond. I am lucky enough to be involved with Ramsey Creek Preserve, and one of my responsibilities is taking people on walkabouts to pick out a place to be buried. It is wonderful to walk the same footpaths for many years and see the same wildflowers come up in the same places.
What are your biggest fears for the future of our planet?
BILLY: I fear an extinction crisis. In my opinion it is far worse than the burning of the library at Alexandria. I think we have already dumped enough CO2 into the air to warm the planet, and I see no great progress in slowing.
KIMBERLEY: Extinction of species, fragmentation of landscape, climate change, nuclear destruction.
5. What is your biggest hope for our planet?
BILLY: Kimberley and I often say that as parents we made a lot of mistakes but like me, my daughter was carried into the woods before her earliest memories. Now she is doing the same thing with her child. I know that Raven’s generation is more ecologically aware than mine was/is. I hope that we can continue to save existing natural areas and have hopes for ecological restoration and the promise of connecting human communities to the natural communities we depend on.
KIMBERLEY: The brilliant new inventions and technologies that offer so many answers and solutions to help our world, and in the kindness and compassion and generosity of so many people. Onward!
Thank you, Billy and Kimberley, for being Champions of Nature!
This series just keeps getting better and better.
Ramsey Creek Preserve is beautiful and peaceful. Conservation burials look real, and fit so well. I don't have the words to articulate how the pictures affect me. Thank you.