TO THE QUESTION OFTEN POSED BY EVANGELICAL PREACHERS “DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU’LL SPEND ETERNITY?” an increasing number of Adirondackers have an answer: in a pine forest by a wetland meadow in Essex.
Although actually, eternity is a long time, and there’s a very good chance that the wetland meadow will itself grow into pine, or maybe the blister rust will take out the pine and a stand of willow will arise, or—that’s actually the point of Spirit Sanctuary, the area’s first (maybe one of the world’s first) “conservation burial grounds.” When you pay the fee for a place in this cemetery, most of the money goes to fund conservation projects, including the Split Rock Wildway where it sits. The land is going to go on changing, for millions of years to come. If you enjoy that kind of spectacle, it’s the place
