Planning & Options
Memorial Stones & Plantings
Commemorative markers, plantings, and guidelines on graveside adornments.
Keeping track of plots.
Cemetery managers mark each occupied plot with a small metal pin placed in the corner of the plot. Plot locations are also recorded with a high accuracy GPS device and kept with Cemetery records. A map of these plot locations may be available upon request.
Memorial Options — Stones & Plants.
Owners of interment rights or their loved ones may wish to commemorate life with a simple memorial of some kind. Options are to place a flat memorial stone on the gravesite and/or to plant an approved native plant within the plot bounds. (Yes, both a stone and a planting are allowed.) Other forms of, or additional, memorial objects must be approved by Baldwin Hill Cemetery.
Memorial stones and plants are not provided as part of the purchase of burial rights at Baldwin Hill Cemetery. Memorial stones are typically purchased and set by third party memorial stone companies, while plants are purchased from local vendors and planted by loved ones under the guidance of cemetery managers.
With permission from the Baldwin Hill Cemetery, family members of the deceased may also set the memorial stone.
Stone Memorial Specifications.
Native stones may be used as memorial markers of interment sites. The following requirements apply:
Stones must be 300 square inches in area or smaller, as viewed from above.
Stones may be engraved* and shaped, but not polished or painted.
Stones must lie flat or be partially buried and not extend more than 3 inches above the surface of the soil.
*Engraving and other memorial content must be deemed appropriate by Baldwin Hill Cemetery.
Please be sure the memorial stone company you work with is aware of these specifications.
These requirements exist to maintain aesthetic focus on the natural landscape and for maintenance purposes. Due to the nature of natural burial, the ground will settle beneath the stone over time. Upright stones would not likely endure this settling and complicates ground maintenance operations.
If this natural settling concerns those placing memorial stones, they may wish to wait a longer period of time after burial before setting the stone (to allow settling).
In addition to the above-ground measurement requirements, stones must not be set so deep so as to disturb the integrity of the interment beneath. There may be as little as 18 inches of soil above the buried body so large deeply set stones are discouraged.
For more information on grave specifications see the burial process.
Companion Memorials and Multiple Stones.
If multiple smaller stones are used as a single memorial, the total collective area of the stones must be within the above specified parameters. Keep in mind that small stones may be more difficult to engrave.
With the consent of all owners of burial rights, companion memorials are also permitted. A companion memorial marks multiple interments, such as for a family plot. The companion memorial may be placed on either plot or in a central location between the plots. The companion memorial must meet the same stone specifications listed above.
Individual memorials in addition to a companion memorial are permitted on each plot (for a total of three memorial stones for a couple) but the total collective area of all memorial stones must not exceed the 300 square inches of area per burial (600 square inches for a couple).
Veterans Memorials.
United States Veterans are offered specific memorial markers to honor their service. In keeping with the cemetery mission while allowing for this tribute, Baldwin Hill Cemetery allows the use of the VA Flat Marker, in granite.
Decoration of Veterans’ graves is not performed by the cemetery, but it is permitted on Memorial Day. Decorations must be removed the Wednesday following Memorial Day. This is the one exception to the below decorations policy.
Graveside Decorations & Adornments.
Graveside decorations and adornments, such as flags, shepherd’s hooks, signs, sculptures, ornaments, and other such items, are permitted only at the time of interment services. Funeral directors or members of the funeral party are required to remove such items immediately following services. If they are not removed, the cemetery will remove them, possibly at the owner’s expense.
Native plantings are allowed, however hedges, fences, imported mulch, landscape fabric, edging, or enclosures of any kind are not permitted on interment spaces.
Tributes placed by visitors and not immediately removed after burial (such as flowers or small pebbles) must meet the following criteria:
be a ‘natural’ material;
not pose a health or safety risk to any persons or animals;
not present ecological concerns (such as invasive species);
not interfere with cemetery management activities;
not be so large or abundant so as to create aesthetic concerns;
not extend outside the plot bounds.
Objects not meeting these criteria and placed without the consent of cemetery management may be removed without notice.
Native Plantings.
Owners of interment rights can choose to plant within the plot bounds an approved native shrub or perennial from the list below. Family and loved ones are responsible for acquiring and planting the approved plants. We prefer plants come from Maine-based nurseries and suppliers, and we ask that you do not source your plants from locations where spread of invasive pests or disease are of concern.
Recommended shrubs for burial plots:
Lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium and/or Vaccinium myrtilloides)
Black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata)
Native shrub roses: Carolina rose (Rosa carolina), Smooth Rose (Rosa blanda), Virginia Rose (Rosa virginiana)
Highbush blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum)
Sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina)
Low shadbush (sold as Amelanchier spicata and/or A. stolonifera)
Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Prairie willow (Salix humilis)
Meadowsweet (Spiraea alba var. latifolia)
Recommended herbs for burial plots:
Golden alexanders (Zizia aurea)
Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum)
Mountain mints (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium and P. virginianum)
Calico American-aster (Symphyotrichum lateriflorum)
Zig-zag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis), clump-forming.
Blue-stem goldenrod (Solidago caesia), clump-forming.
Native violets (Viola sororia would be best for this site, both in terms of growth and horticultural value)
White snakeroot (Ageratina altissima)
Wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia)
Woodland sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus)
Stiff-aster (Ionactus linariifolia)
False Solomon's-seal (Maianthemum racemosum)
Wild-bergamot (Monarda fistulosa); note variety rubra is a non-native variety of this native species.
Ferns:
Intermediate wood fern (Dryopteris intermedia)
Marginal wood fern (Dryopteris marginalis)
In keeping with Baldwin Hill Cemetery’s conservation mission, we have purposefully chosen plants that are native to Kennebec or neighboring counties. Planting native species supports local pollinator species and other animals that interact with these plants. Additionally, this greatly minimizes the spread of invasive plant species that is often associated with the planting of non-native species.
Baldwin Hill Cemetery reserves the right to alter or remove a planting if it poses a management concern. Additionally, no form of perpetual plant maintenance is guaranteed by the cemetery. Loved ones of the deceased may perform basic maintenance on their plantings with approval from cemetery managers (such as pruning or light weeding within a few feet of the planting). Mulching, top-dressing (besides with available organic material from on-site at the time of planting), landscape fabric, edging, etc. are not permitted.
Please be advised that natural settling of the grave will occur, especially in the season immediately following burial. You may wish to hold off on planting any larger shrubs for a short time, or you may just need to take the settling into consideration when planting.
Please consider the time of year when planting, and consider waiting to plant until ideal planting conditions.