Who Designed Mount Auburn Cemetery ?
By Shary Page Berg , Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects
For nearly 100 years the president and trustees were largely responsible for the design and layout of the Cemetery , with new ideas introduced in response to cemetery needs and changing social values . Toward the latter half of the 20th century , Mount Auburn staff and trustees began working more with planning and design professionals who brought new ideas to the management of an increasingly complex landscape . In other words , Mount Auburn is a layered landscape laid out in phases as the need for additional burial space arose and which reflects changing views about death and burial . Four major periods characterize its evolution . Evidence of each of these periods can still be found throughout the Cemetery .
Rural Cemetery : The Initial Vision ( 1830 – 1852 )
“ As the tract … is so abundantly covered with forest trees , many of which are more than sixty years old , it only requires the avenues be formed , the borders , for some ten feet in width , planted with shrubs , bulbous and perennial flowers . The underwood cleared out , the fences , gateways and appropriate edifices to be erected , to put the grounds in a sufficiently complete state for the uses designed , and to render them at once beautiful and interesting .”
– Massachusetts Horticultural Society Transactions , 1831
Initially the Cemetery was much smaller than it is today , consisting of the hilly wooded area just south of Mount Auburn Street . General Henry A . S . Dearborn , president of the Horticultural Society , was responsible for laying out the initial roads of the cemetery . Most early burials were in family lots , typically enclosed by iron fences , which were scattered in the woods . Lot owners were responsible for the design and upkeep of their lots , and often tended them personally . Monuments varied greatly during this period , from simple headstones to ornate sculptures .
Garden Cemetery : Taming and Ornamentation ( 1853 – 1873 )
The perfection of Mount Auburn as far as its natural features are concerned , would be attained by diminishing the trees to less than one half their present number , leaving broad vistas and open spaces , through which the works of art could be seen .
– Dr . Jacob Bigelow , 1860
William Ellery Channing monument , Lot # 678 , Greenbriar Path . Engraving by James Smillie .
The idea for Mount Auburn Cemetery arose in the early 1830s , when members of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society , led by Dr . Jacob Bigelow , envisioned an experimental garden with improvements funded by the sale of burial lots . The permanence of the Cemetery and its importance as a resting place for famous men were two prominent themes in the early thinking of the horticulturists . The founders also stressed the potential of the landscape to soothe the bereaved and to inspire future generations . This was a radical departure from typical practice of the time , where the dead were crowded into urban burial grounds that were considered a health hazard .
6 | Sweet Auburn
Mount Auburn grew rapidly during its early years , increasing its acreage through the purchase of adjoining real estate . By mid-19th century , its appearance too was dramatically different . The early lots were mostly sold and many trees had been removed to create additional burial space . The emphasis was on monuments and the social and genealogical history of Stereoview of Asa Gray Garden , circa 1870 . the residents rather than the natural landscape . The trustees wanted the cemetery to have a “ more finished and ornamental appearance ” ( Bigelow 90 – 91 ). The new aesthetic called for far fewer trees , smoother terrain , greater use of flowering plants , and more evidence of human