Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Community, Conservation & Citizen Science | Page 4

Burial Gardens within the Greater Garden
By Candace Currie, Director of Planning & Cemetery Development and Bree Harvey, Vice President of Cemetery & Visitor Services
“Mount Auburn is committed to organizational
excellence by sustaining the innovative development
of a diverse mix of new inventory that responds to
evolving client interests and trends while at the same
time ensuring that preservation and enhancement
of the landscape takes precedence.”
-opening statement from Mount Auburn’s current
Strategic Plan (2016 – 2020)
Every time Mount Auburn considers removing
a tree that is a safety hazard, or rejuvenates a tired landscape,
or makes an addition to a building; we ask ourselves, is there
something that could be here that enhances all of Mount
Auburn? Perhaps a view can be opened or a sequestered
bower brightened. Perhaps there is an opportunity to create
new habitat for wildlife or a landscape improvement is
required because heavy rains have adversely affected one
of the ponds. With all the possibilities of what could be
done, how does Mount Auburn decide what projects to
undertake? Who is listening to the landscape for an answer?
2 | Sweet Auburn
When it comes to the creation of new burial space, it
is a multi-disciplinary team of staff members at Mount
Auburn—our Cemetery Development team—that leads
the charge. This team vigorously debates the merits of each
potential development and more favorable proposals are
added to Mount Auburn’s long-term plans. Ultimately, the
Cemetery Development team makes recommendations
to the Board of Trustees, offering for consideration the
projects that best support our goal of creating new burial
options while also enhancing and preserving the character
of our landscape. Those projects endorsed by the Trustees
are then prepared for construction, with one, or maybe two,
being completed in any given year.
Some of our most recent Cemetery Development
projects include an expansion to Spruce Knoll, a popular
woodland cremation garden established more than 20 years
ago, and the creation of Beech Garden, an entirely new
garden located behind Birch Court Crypts so-named for
the large European Beech that anchors the area. The en-
largement of a rain garden at Willow Pond in 2015, which
protects the pond from storm water runoff, also provided
Mount Auburn with the opportunity to create a small
lot adjacent to the new garden and pond. Each of these