preserve a beautiful forest from destruction, and when the cemetery association was formed, he not only deeded them the land, but took great interest in the subject, labored himself with vigor and became an efficient helper in this great enterprise.”( T. H. Safford, The Ladies’ Repository, Vols. 41 – 42 [ 1869 ], p. 46).
Laurence S. Caldwell Consulting Landscape Architect, 1929 – 1937
Alexander Wadsworth( 1806 – 1898) Surveyor, civil engineer
Alexander Wadsworth was hired by the Garden and Cemetery Committee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in October 1831 to“ make an accurate topographical survey, and to locate the numerous avenues, which it was found necessary to establish, through the extensive and beautifully diversified grounds of the Cemetery and Garden, both for convenience and embellishment.” Wadsworth helped shaped the design of the Cemetery in its early years, assisting General Henry A. S. Dearborn in surveying and laying out the Cemetery’ s lots, paths, and avenues to enhance the natural features of the land.
George Watson Brimmer( 1784 – 1838)
Owner of the original site, Cemetery trustee
Owner of the original Alexander Wadsworth( 1806- 72-acre site that once 1898). Painting, 1889. belonged to the Stone family of Watertown, George Watson Brimmer offered his Watertown estate known as Stones Woods to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for the new cemetery. Brimmer had laid out several carriage avenues and landscaped the site with evergreens and other ornamental trees. He had purchased it“ to
Providing design advice at the Cemetery in the 1920s and 1930s, Laurence Caldwell redesigned the Lawn in 1937, creating a terraced, circular focal point near the entrance. In 1942, the Lawn was renamed Asa Gray Garden after the important American botanist buried at Mount Auburn. Caldwell also designed the Willow Pond area and Hazel Dell, and helped develop the southwest corner. He wrote:“ The new cemetery should become a park-like area with inspiring natural scenery carefully preserved and developed to attain a high degree of quiet dignity and peace.”( Laurence S. Caldwell,“ Modern Cemetery Design and Development,” The American City [ March 1935 ]).
Arthur A. Shurcliff( 1870 – 1957) and Sidney N. Shurcliff( 1906 – 1981)
Consulting Landscape Architects, 1938 – 1960s
Providing consultation to Mount Auburn in the post-World War II era, the Shurcliffs( father and son) created designs with a more rectilinear layout, focused on low maintenance and maximum utilization of space with plantings. They continued the design of the southwest corner and created spaces that were conceived as a series of outdoor rooms to provide a sense of enclosure. The Colonial revival was a major design influence at this time.
Oakes I. Ames( 1874 – 1970) Cemetery President, 1934 – 1963 and 1967 – 1968
As a hands-on president, Oakes Ingersall Ames reestablished the goal of horticultural diversity and augmenting the“ naturalness” of the Cemetery landscape. He“ placed less emphasis on plants as objects within a collection and more on creating a naturalistic landscape which harmonized with the beauty of the site”( Master Plan II, p. 45). As Dearborn had done in the 1830s and Bigelow in the 1850s, Ames added a number of flowering shrubs at the ponds and inside the Mount Auburn Street fence. After the hurricane of 1938, Ames oversaw large-scale replanting with over 340 different varieties of trees. Most of the important interment areas were re-designed during his presidency and the horticulture and landscape goals that he articulated continue to guide Mount Auburn’ s landscape practices today.
2016 Volume 2 | 5