Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends A Landscape of Remembrance and Reflection | Page 10

Imagining the Woodland Sanctuary
From top to bottom:
Mountain Laurel, Persian Ironwood, Ginger, Oriental Spruce
Historic nineteenth-century etchings of Mount Auburn show
men in top hats and women with parasols strolling through
picturesque corridors, stopping to reflect at impressive
monuments. In that sublime moment, nature, death, and
remembrance are unified. The new Woodland Sanctuary
honors this partnership but does so by inviting people inside
spaces of intensified nature and by embedding remembrance
and reflection into that landscape experience, rather than
into monuments alone. Awe, joy, beauty, authenticity, and
peacefulness were guiding words. Of course, the Woodland
Sanctuary also needed to support a functioning ecosystem and,
through sales of Remembrance Stones and monuments, to
help keep the Cemetery financially sustainable into the future.
The essence of the design lies in balancing the similarities
and differences of this particular landscape moment with
the rest of the Cemetery experience. It borrows from the
naturalistic drama of Consecration Dell’s plunging path,
dauntingly steep woodland slopes, and quietude. While the
Dell provides a strong contrast to the more manicured and
paved surfaces common to the lower regions of Mount Auburn,
Hazel Path is the transition between the two. Perched above
the Dell, Hazel Path’s woodland is more botanical, with
floriferous groundcovers and shrubs. These glades, made
possible by breaks in the canopy, were created by the removal
of weak trees and those that would unavoidably be harmed
during construction. Letting in varied light and water allowed
diversification of the adapted and native species below and at
the edges of the woodland canopy: Persian Ironwood, Oriental
Spruce, Mountain and Sheep Laurel, Dwarf Fothergilla,
Rhododendron, Plum Yew, Viola, Wild Ginger, Foam Flower,
Sedge, and more. It is our hope that the composition of the
woodland floor will continue to drift over time in response to
expected but unpredictable climate change. Glacial boulders, a
rarity in the Cemetery, were introduced to the site to heighten
its naturalistic appearance and to further broaden landscape
experiences. The glaciated boulders and woodland plants mix,
covering the hillsides and spilling over the edges of paths.
Woodland trails weave through this landscape, creating a
sanctuary removed from main routes.
Hazel Path is an active interment ground that accommodates
the public’s growing desire for burial of cremated remains
in places that are infused with the unique beauty of Mount
Auburn. Some of the glaciated boulders, numbering over
two hundred, are designated as “Remembrance Stones,” to
be engraved over time as cremated remains are buried. The
boulders were selected for their form and appearance and
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