Editing Mount Auburn Cemetery

{{Short description|Historic cemetery in Massachusetts}}
{{Other places|Mount Auburn Cemetery (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name                 = Mount Auburn Cemetery
| nrhp_type            = nhld
| nocat                = yes
| image                = Mount Auburn Cemetery - June 2005.jpg
| caption              = Mount Auburn Cemetery in June 2005
| coordinates          = {{coord|42|22|16|N|71|08|41|W|display=inline,title|source:GNIS}}
| location             = 580 Mount Auburn Street, [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], U.S. 
| locmapin             = Massachusetts#USA

| mapframe             = yes
| mapframe-marker      = building
| mapframe-zoom        = 12
|mapframe-caption      = Interactive map showing the location for Mount Auburn Cemetery

| area                 =
| built                = 1831
| architect            = [[Alexander Wadsworth (landscape designer)|Alexander Wadsworth]] and [[Jacob Bigelow]]
| architecture         = Exotic Revival, Other, Gothic Revival
| designated_nrhp_type = May 27, 2003
| added                = April 21, 1975
| refnum               = 75000254<ref name="nris"/>
}}

'''Mount Auburn Cemetery''', located in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]] and [[Watertown, Massachusetts]], is the first [[rural cemetery|rural or garden cemetery]] in the United States. It is the burial site of many prominent [[Boston Brahmin]]s, and is a [[National Historic Landmark]].

Dedicated in 1831 and set with classical monuments in a rolling landscaped terrain,<ref name=bunting/> 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 language|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.<ref name=mcdannell01>{{cite book |last1=McDannell |first1=Colleen |last2=Lang |first2=Bernhard |title=Heaven: A history |date=2001 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, CN |isbn=978-0300091076 |edition=2nd |oclc=783036782 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XwBbQFlpmJwC}}</ref>

The {{convert|174|acre|ha|adj=on|lk=on}} 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 [[National Historic Landmark District]] in 2003 for its pioneering role in 19th-century cemetery development.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mount Auburn Cemetery |url=https://www.nps.gov/places/mount-auburn-cemetery.htm |website=National Park Service |access-date=December 22, 2020}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Dearborn's Guide Through Mount Auburn (1854) - California Digital Library (IA dearbornsguide00dear).pdf|thumb|''Guide Through Mount Auburn'', published in 1854]]
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]].<ref name=wilson/> Mount Auburn Cemetery was inspired by [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]] in [[Paris]] and was itself an inspiration to cemetery designers, most notably at [[Green-Wood Cemetery]] in [[Brooklyn]] (1838), [[Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)|Hollywood Cemetery]] in [[Richmond, Virginia]], and [[Abney Park Cemetery|Abney Park]] in [[London]]. Mount Auburn Cemetery was designed largely by [[Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn]] with assistance from [[Jacob Bigelow]] and [[Alexander Wadsworth (landscape designer)|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.<ref name=reps/> Bigelow, a medical doctor, was concerned about the unhealthiness of burials under churches as well as the possibility of running out of space.<ref name=carrott/> With help from the [[Massachusetts Horticultural Society]], Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded on {{convert|70|acre|hectare}} of land authorized by the Massachusetts Legislature for use as a garden or rural cemetery.<ref name=barth/> The original land cost $6,000; it was later extended to {{convert|170|acre|hectare}}. The main gate was built in the [[Egyptian Revival architecture|Egyptian Revival]] style and cost {{US$|10000|1831}}.<ref name=rogak/> The first president of the Mount Auburn Association, [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|Justice]] [[Joseph Story]], dedicated the cemetery in 1831.<ref name=carrott/> Story's dedication address, delivered on September 24, 1831,<ref>Joseph Story, [https://archive.org/details/anaddressdelive01storgoog An Address Delivered on the Dedication of the Cemetery at Mount Auburn, September 24, 1831 (Boston, J.T. & Edward Buckingham 1831)]</ref> set the model for many more addresses in the following three decades.<ref>Alfred L. Brophy, [https://ssrn.com/abstract=2304305 "These Great and Beautiful Republics of the Dead": Public Constitutionalism and the Antebellum Cemetery]</ref> [[Garry Wills]] focuses on it as an important precursor to President Lincoln's [[Gettysburg Address]].<ref>[[Garry Wills]], ''[[Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America]]''</ref>

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]] ([[Philadelphia]], 1836), [[Mount Hope Cemetery (Bangor, Maine)|Mount Hope Cemetery]] ([[Bangor, Maine]], 1834), America's first municipal rural cemetery; [[Green-Wood Cemetery]] ([[Brooklyn]], 1838), The [[Green Mount Cemetery]] (Baltimore, Maryland, 1839)  [[Mount Hope Cemetery (Rochester)|Mount Hope Cemetery]] ([[Rochester, NY]], 1838), [[Lowell Cemetery (Lowell, Massachusetts)|Lowell Cemetery]] ([[Lowell, Massachusetts]], 1841), [[Allegheny Cemetery]] ([[Pittsburgh]], 1844), [[Albany Rural Cemetery]] ([[Menands, New York|Menands]], New York, 1844), [[Swan Point Cemetery]] ([[Providence, Rhode Island]] 1846), [[Spring Grove Cemetery]] ([[Cincinnati]], 1844),<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/cincinnaticemet00forbgoog | title=The Cincinnati Cemetery of Spring Grove, Report for 1857 | publisher=C. F. Bradley, printers | year=1857 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/cincinnaticemet00forbgoog/page/n77 3]}}</ref> and [[Forest Hills Cemetery]] ([[Jamaica Plain]], 1848) as well as [[Oakwood Cemetery (Syracuse)|Oakwood Cemetery]] in [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]], New York. It can be considered the link between [[Capability Brown]]'s English [[landscape garden]]s and [[Frederick Law Olmsted]]'s [[Central Park]] in New York (1850s).{{citation needed|date=October 2013}}

Mount Auburn was established at a time when Americans had a sentimental interest in rural cemeteries.<ref name=douglas/> 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]] and [[Willis Gaylord Clark]].<ref name=douglas/> 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.<ref name=douglas/> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dupré|first=Judith|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/70046094|title=Monuments: America's History in Art and Memory|publisher=[[Random House]]|year=2007|isbn=978-1-4000-6582-0|edition=1st|location=New York|pages=23|oclc=70046094}}</ref>

In the 1840s, Mount Auburn was considered one of the most popular tourist destinations in the nation, along with [[Niagara Falls]] and [[Mount Vernon]].<ref name="NEHS">{{cite web|title=The Cemetery That Was a 19th Century Tourist Attraction|url=http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/19827-2/|website=New England Historical Society|access-date=3 November 2016}}</ref> A 16-year-old [[Emily Dickinson]] wrote about her visit to Mount Auburn in a letter in 1846.<ref name="NEHS" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Reading 3: A Place for the Living--Leisure, Learning, and Mourning|url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/84mountauburn/84facts3.htm|website=ParkNet|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=3 November 2016}}</ref> 60,000 people visited the cemetery in 1848 alone.<ref name="NEHS" />

==Buildings==
{{See also|Mount Auburn Cemetery Reception House (1870)}}
The cemetery has three notable buildings on its grounds. Washington Tower was designed by Bigelow and built in 1852–54. Named for [[George Washington]], the {{convert|62|ft|m|adj=on}} 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 & Collens]]. Through all of these alterations, stained-glass windows by the Scottish firm of Allan & Ballantyne were preserved.<ref name=NHL>{{cite web|url={{NHLS url|id=75000254}}|title=NHL nomination for Mount Auburn Cemetery|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=2014-03-21}}</ref>

In 1870 the cemetery trustees, feeling the need for additional function space, purchased land across Mount Auburn Street and constructed [[Mount Auburn Cemetery Reception House (1870)|a reception house]].<ref name=MACRIS>{{cite web|url=https://mhc-macris.net/details?mhcid=cam.270|title=MACRIS inventory record for Mount Auburn Cemetery Reception House (583 Mount Auburn Street)|publisher=Commonwealth of Massachusetts|access-date=2014-03-21}}</ref> This building was supplanted in the 1890s by the construction of the Story Chapel and Administration Building, adjacent to the main gate.<ref name=NHL/> The first reception house was designed by [[Nathaniel J. Bradlee]], and is (like the cemetery) listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name=MACRIS/> The second building was designed by Willard Sears, and is built of Potsdam sandstone in what Sears characterized as [[English Gothic architecture#Perpendicular Gothic|"English Perpendicular Style"]]. The chapel in this building was redecorated in 1929 by Allen & Collens to include stained-glass by New England artist Earl E. Sanborn.<ref name=NHL/>

==Cemetery today==
{{PanoViewer|Mt. Auburn Cemetery 8.jpg|Mount Auburn Cemetery}}
More than 93,000 people are buried in the cemetery as of 2003.<ref name=rogak/> A number of historically significant people have been interred there since its inception, particularly members of the [[Boston Brahmin]]s and the Boston elite associated with [[Harvard University]], as well as a number of prominent [[Unitarianism|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.<ref>eBird. 2012. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance [web application]. eBird, Ithaca, New York. Available: http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed: May 16, 2014).</ref> 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&nbsp;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]]''.
{{wide image|Boston skyline from Mount Auburn October 2014 panorama.jpg|1200px|A panoramic view of the [[Downtown Boston]] skyline as seen from Washington Tower at the cemetery}}

== Notable burials ==
[[File:Bigelowchapel.jpg|thumb|Bigelow Chapel]]
{{Main|List of burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery}}
==Photo gallery==
<gallery widths="160">
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]]
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| [[Horatio Hollis Hunnewell|Hunnewell]] family obelisk
Benjamin Waterhouse grave.jpg| Dr. [[Benjamin Waterhouse]]'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]], 1872
Fanny Fern Gravestone in Mount Auburn Cemetery.jpg|[[Fanny Fern]]'s Grave
Grave Simmons.jpg|Grave of [[John Simmons (clothing manufacturer)|John Simmons]]
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
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts]]
* [[List of burial places of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts]]
* [[Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto]], modelled after Mount Auburn

==References==
{{Reflist|500px|refs=

<ref name="barth">{{cite book|last=Barth|first=Gunther|title=The Park Cemetery: Its Western Migration in American Public Architecture: European Roots and Native Expressions|editor=Craig Robert Zabel|publisher= Penn State Press|year=1989|page=61|isbn=0-915773-04-X}}</ref>

<ref name=bunting>{{cite book |title=Old Cambridge |last=Bunting |first=Bainbridge |author2=Robert H. Nylander |year=1973 |publisher=Cambridge Historical Commission |location= Cambridge|isbn=0-262-53014-7 |page=69}}</ref>

<ref name="carrott">{{cite book|last=Carrott|first=Richard G.|title=The Egyptian Revival: Its Sources, Monuments, and Meaning, 1808–1858|url=https://archive.org/details/egyptianrevivali0000carr|url-access=registration|publisher=University of California Press|location= Berkeley|year=1978|page=[https://archive.org/details/egyptianrevivali0000carr/page/86 86]}}</ref>

<ref name="douglas">{{cite book|last=Douglas|first=Ann|title=The Feminization of American Culture|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|year=1977|pages=[https://archive.org/details/feminizationofam00doug/page/210 210–211]|isbn=0-394-40532-3|url=https://archive.org/details/feminizationofam00doug/page/210}}</ref>

<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref>

<ref name="reps">{{cite book|last=Reps|first=John W.|title=The Making of Urban America: A History of City Planning in the United States'|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton|orig-year=1965|year=1992|page=[https://archive.org/details/makingofurbaname0000reps_p7m2/page/326 326]|isbn=978-0-691-00618-5|url=https://archive.org/details/makingofurbaname0000reps_p7m2/page/326}}</ref>

<ref name="rogak">{{cite book|last=Rogak|first=Lisa|title=Stones and Bones of New England: A Guide to Unusual, Historic, and Otherwise Notable Cemeteries|publisher=Globe Pequot|year=2004|pages=69, 71|isbn=978-0-7627-3000-1}}</ref>

<ref name="wilson">{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Susan|title=Literary Trail of Greater Boston|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|location=Boston|year=2000|page=[https://archive.org/details/literarytrailofg00wils/page/114 114]|isbn=0-618-05013-2|url=https://archive.org/details/literarytrailofg00wils/page/114}}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* [[Nathaniel Dearborn]]. [https://archive.org/details/aconcisehistory00deargoog 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. [https://archive.org/details/dearbornsguidet00deargoog 1857 ed.]
* [[Moses King]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=pjYXAAAAYAAJ ''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 ==
{{Commons category|Mount Auburn Cemetery}}
* [http://www.mountauburn.org/ Mount Auburn Cemetery official site]
* {{Find a Grave cemetery}}
* {{GNIS|type=retired|600882|Mount Auburn Cemetery}}
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/NR/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/84mountauburn/84mountauburn.htm ''Mount Auburn Cemetery: A New American Landscape'', a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]

{{Cambridge, Massachusetts}}
{{Watertown, Massachusetts}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Botanical gardens in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Cambridge, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Watertown, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Cemeteries established in the 1830s]]
[[Category:Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Cemeteries in Middlesex County, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:History of Cambridge, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:1831 establishments in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Rural cemeteries]]