SILVER SPRING, Md. — It's a warm spring day at Reflection Park. The green leaves on the budding trees shine bright against the blue sky. A large pile of mulch sits to the side, ready to be spread.
The only sign that you're in a cemetery is the mounds of dirt covered with pine tree cuttings, with small wooden plaques next to them.
"This seems to satisfy a need or a desire that a lot of families have for a burial that is in a natural setting, which is just kind of beautiful and simple and sustainable," said Basil Eldadah, the Executive Director of Reflection Park.
Reflection Park opened in November of 2025. Eldadah first came up with the idea for a green or natural cemetery years ago, right around the time of his father's death in 2012.
"He was a simple man and he believed that when our work in the world is done, that our bodies should just go back into the ground from where they came. But when he died, we didn't really have that option," he said.
"It just seemed like there could have been a better way, a more beautiful and dignified way to bury his body, and so that was really when the seed was planted for a project that eventually turned into Reflection Park."
A green burial means the body is buried in a biodegradable casket or shroud. No embalming is used, which is not required by law in Maryland. Memorial markers must lay flat on the ground, not raised like other gravestones.
Reflection Park sits on 40 acres of land off New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring and includes a walking trail. One path will take you to a creek and picnic table. Another path will take you to a simple wooden structure that looks like a phone booth called the Little Wind Phone.
"The first time I actually used the wind phone, I actually ended up crying because I had so much emotion built up," said Olivia Chao Delfert, the founder of the Little Wind Phone Project.
Delfert said the concept is simple: you pick up the phone, which isn't connected to anything, and share your thoughts and feelings. She said while it may sound hokey, it works. She first gave it a try on her kid's play telephone, wanting an outlet to deal with her parents' health issues.
"I picked it up and I spoke into it and thinking that I would just say a few things. I ended up just pouring my heart out and crying," she said. "All the things that I felt I wanted to say but just wasn't ready to say to my parents and others. And it was so powerful and so healing."
Whether it was chance, fate or serendipity, Delfert and Eldadah say they were meant to come together in their mission to help others finding healing in their time of grief.
"We want to make grief less stigmatized right and talking about it and structures like this give people permission to grieve and to reflect and to begin to heal," said Delfert.
"Our overarching mission at Reflection Park is to just kind of help people get a little more comfortable with that whole cycle of life and the end of life that we're all going to face at some point along the way," said Eldadah. "And we want to just create a space that's beautiful and inviting as a way of helping break the ice, if you will, or make things just a little more normal."
Reflection Park is hosting several open houses in May so people can learn more about green burials and the park.
Delfert is getting ready to install her next Little Wind Phone in Gaithersburg. There's a GoFundMe page to support future projects.
For more information on green burials and where to find a natural cemetery in the state, go to the Green Burial Association of Maryland.
