Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Community, Conservation & Citizen Science | Page 23

Caroline’s Path
By Melissa Banta, Mount Auburn Cemetery Historical Collections Consultant
Mount Auburn is pleased to celebrate the completion of Caroline’s
Path, connecting Story Chapel to Asa Gray Garden. Funded by a generous donation
from the Caroline Loughlin Fund of Vanguard Charitable, the path is dedicated
to the memory of Loughlin, a devoted volunteer, supporter, and trustee of Mount
Auburn Cemetery. Designed by Craig Halvorson and the landscape architects of
Halvorson Design Partnership, the pathway represents the first phase of the renovation
of Asa Gray Garden. This larger project has involved researching primary documents
in the Cemetery’s Historical Collections Department to inform the contemporary
design. It is thus closely allied with the interests of
Caroline, who volunteered in the historical collections
for 13 years.
Starting at the steps of Story Chapel, a granite
intersection leads across the street to the begin-
ning of the path. Here, visitors find a low, granite
bench inlaid with wood. Semicircular in shape, the
inviting bench looks as though it had always been
situated in front of the large European beech tree
across from the Chapel. “Craig Halvorson’s work
always strives to be about Mount Auburn and to
feel like it belongs, the genus loci, of and from this
place,” observes Ricardo Austrich, senior associate
at Halvorson Design. The path gracefully wends its
way down a sloping retaining wall, which blends
harmoniously into the lawn. Following the curve
of the road, it gradually ends at a smaller bench
with “Caroline’s Path” engraved in a panel on the wall. From this vantage point,
visitors can look into Asa Gray Garden, another elegant, elliptical form within the
Cemetery landscape.
The path, described by Austrich as a “quietly seamless and artful transition
space,” serves as a welcoming threshold into the entryway of Mount Auburn.
“In many ways, the path fulfills a need we didn’t realize we had, and you can’t
imagine it not being here now,” explains Curator of Historical Collections Meg
Winslow. “Caroline would be happy to know her path has become a central
meeting area for those gathering together to further explore the Cemetery grounds.”
2017 Volume 2 | 21