When it opened to the public at the end of 2024, Hope Eternal Gardens in Punta Gorda became Southwest Florida's first natural burial cemetery. That means bodies buried there are not embalmed and are returned to the earth using natural materials, so nothing like a concrete or metal box is used like in traditional modern cemeteries.
Hope's co-founders, husband and wife Chris Alonso and Lauren Robie, set out to create it when Chris's mother was approaching the end of her life. It was her wish to be buried naturally, but there wasn't anywhere local where that could happen. It took Lauren and Chris more than five years to get the 42-acre site ready to open to the public.
But it's more than a cemetery — it's also a place where families can help transform the land into micro-forests and prairies in order to connect with nature while connecting with their loved ones.
And besides being the region's first natural burial cemetery, Hope is now Charlotte County's first accredited Level One Arboretum. That means they've met specific professional standards for curating, maintaining, and labeling the trees and woody plants on site for public benefit, research, and education. Part of becoming an arboretum was their creation of a Museum of Trees that allows visitors, or people anywhere, to connect with the trees on-site and the families they're connected to.
Guest:
Lauren Robie, co-founder of Hope Eternal Gardens & Arboretum
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