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Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural, or garden, cemetery in the
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, located on the line between
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
and Watertown in Middlesex County,
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, west of
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. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brahmins, as well as being a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...
. Dedicated in 1831 and set with classical monuments in a rolling landscaped terrain, it marked a distinct break with Colonial-era burying grounds and church-affiliated graveyards. The appearance of this type of landscape coincides with the rising popularity of the term "cemetery," derived from the Greek for "a sleeping place," instead of graveyard. This language and outlook eclipsed the previous harsh view of death and the afterlife embodied by old graveyards and church burial plots. The cemetery is important both for its historical aspects and for its role as an arboretum. It is Watertown's largest contiguous open space and extends into Cambridge to the east, adjacent to the Cambridge City Cemetery and Sand Banks Cemetery. It was designated a
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in 2003 for its pioneering role in 19th-century cemetery development.


History

The land that became Mount Auburn Cemetery was originally named Stone's Farm, though locals referred to it as "Sweet Auburn" after the 1770 poem " The Deserted Village" by Oliver Goldsmith. Mount Auburn Cemetery was inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in
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and was itself an inspiration to cemetery designers, most notably at Green-Wood Cemetery in
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(1838), Hollywood Cemetery in
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, and Abney Park in
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. Mount Auburn Cemetery was designed largely by Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn with assistance from Jacob Bigelow and Alexander Wadsworth. Bigelow came up with the idea for Mount Auburn as early as 1825, though a site was not acquired until five years later. Bigelow, a medical doctor, was concerned about the unhealthiness of burials under churches as well as the possibility of running out of space. With help from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded on of land authorized by the Massachusetts Legislature for use as a garden or rural cemetery. The original land cost $6,000; it was later extended to . The main gate was built in the Egyptian Revival style and cost . The first president of the Mount Auburn Association,
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Joseph Story, dedicated the cemetery in 1831. Story's dedication address, delivered on September 24, 1831, set the model for many more addresses in the following three decades.
Garry Wills Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934) is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Genera ...
focuses on it as an important precursor to President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The cemetery is credited as the beginning of the American public parks and gardens movement. It set the style for other suburban American cemeteries such as Laurel Hill Cemetery (
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, 1836), Mount Hope Cemetery ( Bangor, Maine, 1834), America's first municipal rural cemetery; Green-Wood Cemetery (
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, 1838), The Green Mount Cemetery (Baltimore, Maryland, 1839) Mount Hope Cemetery ( Rochester, NY, 1838),
Lowell Cemetery Lowell Cemetery is a cemetery located in Lowell, Massachusetts. Founded in 1841 and located on the banks of the Concord River, the cemetery is one of the oldest garden cemeteries in the nation, inspired by Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, M ...
(
Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as ...
, 1841), Allegheny Cemetery (
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, 1844), Albany Rural Cemetery ( Menands, New York, 1844), Swan Point Cemetery (
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1846), Spring Grove Cemetery (
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, 1844), and
Forest Hills Cemetery Forest Hills Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery, greenspace, arboretum and sculpture garden located in the Forest Hills section of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery was established in 1848 as a publ ...
( Jamaica Plain, 1848) as well as Oakwood Cemetery in
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, New York. It can be considered the link between Capability Brown's English
landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...
s and
Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
's
Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
in New York (1850s). Mount Auburn was established at a time when Americans had a sentimental interest in rural cemeteries. It is still well known for its tranquil atmosphere and accepting attitude toward death. Many of the more traditional monuments feature poppy flowers, symbols of blissful sleep. In the late 1830s, its first unofficial guide, ''Picturesque Pocket Companion and Visitor's Guide Through Mt. Auburn'', was published and featured descriptions of some of the more interesting monuments as well as a collection of prose and poetry about death by writers including
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
and
Willis Gaylord Clark Willis Gaylord Clark. Willis Gaylord Clark (October 5, 1808 – June 12, 1841) was an American poet. He was born in Otisco, New York and the twin-brother of Lewis Gaylord Clark. Clark wrote a series of amusing articles called ''Ollapodiana'' for ...
. Because of the number of visitors, the cemetery's developers carefully regulated the grounds: they had a policy to remove "offensive and improper" monuments and only "proprietors" (i.e., plot owners) could have vehicles on the grounds and were allowed within the gates on Sundays and holidays. However, Mount Auburn differed from previously established cemeteries in that it was open to the general public and was not restricted to specific religious groups, reflecting the growing religious pluralism of Boston during the time. In the 1840s, Mount Auburn was considered one of the most popular tourist destinations in the nation, along with
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and Mount Vernon. A 16-year-old Emily Dickinson wrote about her visit to Mount Auburn in a letter in 1846. 60,000 people visited the cemetery in 1848 alone.


Buildings

The cemetery has three notable buildings on its grounds. Washington Tower was designed by Bigelow and built in 1852–54. Named for
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
, the tower was built of Quincy granite and provides excellent views of the area. Bigelow Chapel was built in the 1840s and rebuilt in the 1850s, also of Quincy granite, and was renovated in 1899 under the direction of architect Willard Sears to accommodate a crematorium. Its interior was again renovated in 1924 by Allen and Collins. Through all of these alterations, stained-glass windows by the Scottish firm of Allan & Ballantyne were preserved. In 1870 the cemetery trustees, feeling the need for additional function space, purchased land across Mount Auburn Street and constructed a reception house. This building was supplanted in the 1890s by the construction of the Story Chapel and Administration Building, adjacent to the main gate. The first reception house was designed by
Nathaniel J. Bradlee Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee (June 1, 1829 – December 17, 1888) was a Boston architect and a partner in the firm of Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell. Life Bradlee was born in Boston to Elizabeth Davis and Samuel Bradlee. He married Julia Rebec ...
, and is (like the cemetery) listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
. The second building was designed by Willard Sears, and is built of Potsdam sandstone in what Sears characterized as "English Perpendicular Style". The chapel in this building was redecorated in 1929 by Allen and Collins to include stained-glass by New England artist Earl E. Sanborn.


Cemetery today

More than 93,000 people are buried in the cemetery as of 2003. A number of historically significant people have been interred there since its inception, particularly members of the Boston Brahmins and the Boston elite associated with
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
, as well as a number of prominent Unitarians. The cemetery is nondenominational and continues to make space available for new plots. The area is well known for its beautiful environs and is a favorite location for bird-watchers; over 220 species of birds have been observed at the cemetery since 1958.eBird. 2012. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance eb application eBird, Ithaca, New York. Available: http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed: May 16, 2014). Guided tours of the cemetery's historic, artistic, and horticultural points of interest are available. Mount Auburn's collection of over 5,500 trees includes nearly 700 species and varieties. Thousands of very well-kept shrubs and herbaceous plants weave through the cemetery's hills, ponds, woodlands, and clearings. The cemetery contains more than 10 miles (17 km) of roads and many paths. Landscaping styles range from Victorian-era plantings to contemporary gardens, from natural woodlands to formal ornamental gardens, and from sweeping vistas through majestic trees to small enclosed spaces. Many trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants are tagged with botanic labels containing their scientific and common names. The cemetery was among those profiled in the 2005 PBS documentary '' A Cemetery Special''.


Notable burials


Photo gallery

Mount Auburn Cemetery Fir Avenue.jpg, Fir Avenue mark in cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery Entrance gate.jpg, Egyptian revival entrance to Mount Auburn Cemetery MtAuburnTower.JPG, The Washington Tower in the cemetery Jacob Bigelow Grave.jpg , Cemetery designer, Dr. Jacob Bigelow's grave Nathaniel Bowditch in Mount Auburn Cemetery.JPG ,
Nathaniel Bowditch Nathaniel Bowditch (March 26, 1773 – March 16, 1838) was an early American mathematician remembered for his work on ocean navigation. He is often credited as the founder of modern maritime navigation; his book '' The New American Practical Navi ...
Mary Baker Eddy monument in Mt. Auburn Cemetery (00316p)2.jpg, Mary Baker Eddy Memorial Mount Auburn Cemeter - Misc View.JPG, Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemeter - Hunnewell.JPG, Hunnewell family obelisk Benjamin Waterhouse grave.jpg, Dr.
Benjamin Waterhouse Benjamin Waterhouse (March 4, 1754, Newport, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations – October 2, 1846, Cambridge, Massachusetts) was a physician, co-founder and professor of Harvard Medical School. He is most well known for being ...
's grave CharlesSumnerGrave.jpg, Charles Sumner's grave Pitman family marker, Mount Auburn Cemetery (4402353191).jpg, Pitman family marker Mount Auburn Cemetery - Martin Milmore sphinx.jpg, Sphinx monument by
Martin Milmore __NOTOC__ Martin Milmore (1844–1883) was an American sculptor. Life and career Martin Milmore was born in Sligo, Ireland on September 14, 1844. He immigrated to Boston at age seven, graduated from Boston Latin School in 1860, took art lesson ...
, 1872 Fanny Fern Gravestone in Mount Auburn Cemetery.jpg, Fanny Fern's Grave Weeping_Japanese_Pagoda_Tree_in_Mount_Auburn_Cemetery,_Cambridge-Watertown,_MA_-_8-1-2015.jpg, Weeping Japanese pagoda tree Weeping_European_Beech_Tree_in_Mount_Auburn_Cemetery,_Cambridge-Watertown,_MA_-_8-1-2015.jpg, Weeping European beech tree Mt. Auburn Cemetery 9.jpg, T. Jefferson Lillie tombstone


See also

*
List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a total of 191 National Historic Landmarks (NHLs) within its borders. This is the second highest statewide total in the United States after New York, which has more than 250. Of the Massachusetts NHLs, 57 ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts This is a list of sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachuset ...
* Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto, modelled after Mount Auburn


References


Further reading

* Nathaniel Dearborn
A concise history of, and guide through Mount Auburn
with a catalogue of lots laid out in that cemetery; a map of the grounds, and terms of subscription, regulations concerning visitors, interments, &c., &c. Boston: N. Dearborn, 1843
1857 ed.
* Moses King
''Mount Auburn cemetery
including also a brief history and description of Cambridge, Harvard University, and the Union Railway Company''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Moses King, 1883. * Aaron Sachs (historian). ''Arcadian America: The Death and Life of an Environmental Tradition''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.


External links


Mount Auburn Cemetery official site
* *

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts Botanical gardens in Massachusetts National Historic Landmarks in Cambridge, Massachusetts Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Watertown, Massachusetts Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Cemeteries in Middlesex County, Massachusetts History of Cambridge, Massachusetts 1831 establishments in Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts Rural cemeteries