The new town-run cemetery is near the bottom of Spruce Hill, the corner of Rts. 9N and 73. It is next to the town’s original Norton Cemetery, where the first burial was in 1838. That cemetery is essentially full, and is now closed except for those families that have already contracted for burials there.
The new 11-acre cemetery is divided into three sections: one for Green Burials, one for traditional casket/headstone graves, and a third for cremation remains. Keene’s Green Burial section is among the first in the North Country.
Families and individuals may contact the Keene Town Clerk to learn about acquiring a plot in the Norton Brook Cemetery. Please email townclerk@townofkeeneny.
The prices for plots in the new cemetery were set by the Town Board:
- Traditional Burial Plot $750 & Perpetual Care $750
- Natural/Green Plot $750 & Perpetual Care $500
- Cremation Plot $750 & Perpetual Care $500
The cost of plots in Keene’s Norton Cemetery was last increased 15 years ago, when the price was raised from $200 to $250. The fees, including the perpetual care fee, are meant to help in covering a portion of the cost of ongoing upkeep by the town.
Green Section: Rules for the new Green Burial section specify that burials will be without embalming of bodies, or vaults, with only natural biodegradable wood caskets and no non-natural fiber. (Most of the burials in Keene’s 10 historic cemeteries were very similar because embalming did not become possible or popular until the early 1900s.)
Bodies not in a casket/container shall be completely wrapped in a shroud or blanket or quilt and
supported on a solid, untreated board for lowering.
Grasses and wildflowers will be allowed to grow here, and mowing will take places only once or twice a year.
All sections: Families may participate in the internment, including lowering a body into the grave, or may ask the sexton to provide that service. The sexton will dig, or supervise the digging, of all graves. State law requires that funeral directors be engaged for all burials.
Annual and perennial plants natural to the Adirondack region are permitted if they are placed at the head of a grave. No lights will be permitted. No pesticides are allowed. Shrubs, bushes or small trees may not be planted.
Above ground headstones and/or monuments are allowed only in the traditional-casket burial section. Flat markers level with the ground, measuring no more than 12”x24”, may be placed in the other two sections. Corner markers for each surveyed gravesite have already been installed by the Town.
A full copy of rules for the new cemetery is available at the Town Hall, along with other details.