and dells, grassy knolls, and ponds and wetlands formed by stagnant ice. Majestic native oaks, elms, beeches, walnuts, and evergreens populated the irregular terrain.
Wadsworth’ s early plan reveals the original layout of the Cemetery. A series of gently curving avenues 18 to 20 feet wide permitted the passage of horse-drawn carriages. Winding unpaved paths measuring 5 to 6 feet wide allowed pedestrians to explore the grounds and provided pallbearers with access to the Cemetery’ s interior lots. Wadsworth’ s plan includes the botanical names assigned to most of the avenues, paths, hills, and ponds.
While Bigelow and Brimmer played key roles in the initial design of Mount Auburn, Dearborn served as the primary landscape designer. The inspiration for the system of avenues and paths came from Père La Chaise Cemetery in Paris. Seeking to enhance the beauty of the natural elements, in the tradition of English picturesque gardens, Dearborn took care, as he wrote, to lay out the avenues so as to“ run them as nearly level as possible by winding gradually and gracefully through the valley and obliquely over hills, without any unnecessary or unavoidable bend.” 4 The result was a pleasing design of mysterious, sacred spaces and thoughtful plantings.“ The innovation of Dearborn’ s landscape solutions,” architectural historian Arthur Krim notes,“ are best seen in the comprehensive treatment of the site which focused attention upon the existing natural features, thereby amplifying the picturesque effect.” 5
Dearborn not only envisioned the overall design but supervised the work on site. Over the course of three
Plan of Mount Auburn, Alexander Wadsworth, lithograph, 1831.
summers, he personally oversaw the clearing and planting of trees and shrubs( some transplanted from his Roxbury estate) and the construction of avenues and paths. With Wadsworth, he laid out hundreds of 300-square-foot burial lots in small clearings within the forested landscape. He was reported going into the trenches with“ hoe in hand, day after day, at the head of his laborers, levelling [ sic ] and grading the walks,” with teams of oxen for the heavy moving of the earth. 6
Dearborn’ s goal was to achieve a balance between nature and art. His plan called for“ isolated graves, and tombs … surmounted with columns, obelisks, and other appropriate monuments of granite and marble.” 7 A later plan by Wadsworth rendered in 1846, by which time Mount Auburn had grown to 110 ½ acres, shows the placement of new lots dispersed throughout the Cemetery. Dearborn’ s design concepts would establish the model for subsequent rural cemeteries around the country.
While Mount Auburn’ s dynamic landscape, now 175 acres, has evolved over time, the orientation of undulating paths and avenues and the sensitive balance of art and nature remain constant. Much of the credit for the Cemetery’ s abiding beauty comes from Dearborn’ s enduring design— a vision that Mount Auburn continues to preserve and generations of visitors have cherished. In an address on Dearborn’ s life and character, the Reverend George Putnam wrote:“ With an eye so keen to detect the beautiful, and a heart so warmly loving it, he knew how to make the most of every nook and dell, the tangled bog, the sandy level, the abrupt declivity, every tree and shrub and rock. In a word, he, after God, created Mount Auburn.” 8
4
Manuscript letter from H. A. S. Dearborn, 18 January 1842, included in“ Constitution, Reports, Addresses, and Other Publications in Relation to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and the Cemetery at Mount Auburn from 1829 to 1837.”
5
Arthur J. Krim,“ The Origins of Mount Auburn Cemetery Design Process, 1820-1835”( Paper presented at the Arnold Arboretum, 12 October 1983), 17.
6
John B. Russell quoted in Robert Manning, History of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 1829-1878( Boston: Rand, Avery & Company, 1880), 90.
7
Henry A. S. Dearborn,“ Account of the Proceedings, in relation to the Experimental Garden and the Cemetery of Mount Auburn,” Massachusetts Horticultural Society Transactions( 1831), 68.
8
George Putnam, An Address Delivered Before the City Government and Citizens of Roxbury on the Life and Character of the Late Henry A. S. Dearborn, Mayor of the City, September 3, 1851( Roxbury: Norfolk Country Journal Press, 1851), 12.
2016 Volume 2 | 3