News You Can Use: Green Burials - Provincetown

Provincetown Will Offer Green Burials


The Provincetown Select Board has voted to approve 30 plots for "green burial" after a request by the Cemetery Commission. The change enacted by the Board makes green burials an option at the town cemetery.  While the town already allowed an unembalmed body to be buried, the vote eliminated the requirement that the body be buried in a liner or vault. The entire process took about a year and a half for the Cemetery Commission to complete, according to Dawn Walsh.

In Provincetown, the two active cemeteries are across the street from each other along Alden Street - the town cemetery on one side and the private cemetery run by St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church on the other. St. Peter's cemetery already allows green burials. Space in the town cemetery is limited to residents who have lived there for at least two years.