Mount Auburn Comes “ Aboard ” as an Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Site
Map Quest : Alexander Wadsworth 1806 – 1898
Mount Auburn Comes “ Aboard ” as an Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Site
By Bree D . Harvey , Director of Public Programs
In September 2006 Mount Auburn Cemetery was designated a site in the National Park Service ’ s Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program . The Cemetery is the resting-place of a number of prominent abolitionists and other figures associated with the Underground Railroad , the clandestine movement that helped African-Americans escape from slavery in the antebellum and Civil War South .
Among those buried at Mount Auburn who contributed to the emancipation of slaves are Harriet Jacobs and her brother John Jacobs , each of whom published a narrative about their escape from slavery to gain support for the abolitionist movement . Peter Byus was another former slave who made it to freedom ; his evocative marble monument shows a slave shedding his chains . Charles Torrey was responsible for helping hundreds of fugitive slaves escape to freedom through Baltimore . Convicted for his activities , Torrey was known as the “ martyr of liberty ” because he died in prison in Maryland . His beautiful monument at Mount Auburn was financed by an abolitionist society , the Friends of the American Slave .
The National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom was established to help scholars and others researching topics related to Underground Railroad activities . Mount Auburn ’ s neighbor , the Longfellow National Historic Site , was designated a research facility on the Network to Freedom , and to celebrate the designations of both institutions , Mount Auburn ’ s annual birthday celebration for Henry Wadsworth
New millenium fans of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow celebrate the poet ’ s 200th birthday in February in Story Chapel . the poet ’ s connections to
Longfellow focused on
( Photo by Jennifer Johnston ) the Underground Railroad . This year ’ s celebration also commemorated Longfellow ’ s 200th birthday and was held on Saturday , February 24 , 2007 , in Story Chapel .
Map Quest : Alexander Wadsworth 1806 – 1898
By Bree D . Harvey , Director of Public Programs
Alexander Wadsworth — surveyor , civil engineer and mapmaker — got the unique job of creating the first map of Mount Auburn before the Cemetery was even consecrated . The Cemetery ’ s founders , Dr . Jacob Bigelow and Henry A . S . Dearborn , gave him the assignment in the summer of 1831 . Simultaneously Wadsworth worked under the direction of Dearborn — who is often credited with laying out Mount Auburn ’ s early roads and paths — to lay out Mount Auburn ’ s first 100 lots , located throughout the Cemetery . In November 1831 Wadsworth completed that first map . Although Dearborn ’ s association with Mount Auburn ended in 1834 , Wadsworth continued to lay out roads , paths and burial lots at Mount Auburn through the 1850s .
Wadsworth was one of eleven children born to Charles and Ruth Wadsworth in Hiram , Maine . His cousin , the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ( Lot # 508 on Indian Ridge Path ), was a childhood playmate . After studying civil engineering at the Gardiner Lyceum in Maine , Wadsworth moved to Boston in 1825 and found work as a surveyor .
Wadsworth applied his experience at Mount Auburn when designing two other cemeteries : Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem ( 1839 ) and Woodlawn Cemetery in Chelsea ( 1850 ). In addition to his work on cemeteries , Wadsworth was commissioned to survey sections of Boston , including Dawes Wharf ( 1833 ) along the waterfront , and Pemberton Square on Beacon Hill ( 1835 ). He later designed several new , suburban residential communities along the commuter rail lines just beyond Boston , including Strawberry Hill in Cambridge ; Spring Hill in Somerville ( 1843 ); Walnut , Kendrick , and Auburn Parks in Newton ( 1844-47 ); and Green Street ( 1837 ) and Sumner Hill in Jamaica Plain ( early 1850s ).
Wadsworth served on the Boston City Council and the Cochituate Water Board . He was a member of the Boston Athenaeum and a deacon at West Church in Boston . He died in Boston in 1898 at age 92 and was buried in his family lot ( Lot # 1664 on Spruce Avenue ).
Source : Biographical information about Alexander Wadsworth is largely from : Krim , Arthur , “ Alexander Wadsworth ” in Pioneers of American Landscape Design , Charles A . Birnbaum and Robin Karson , eds ., New York : McGraw- Hill , 2000 .
Oakes Ames , the Cemetery ’ s new president , establishes a strong commitment to horticulture and education . 10 | Sweet Auburn
1934
1938-1939
A hurricane on September 21 destroys hundreds of mature trees . In 1939 , more than 500 new trees are planted to replace those that perished in the hurricane .
1941-1945
The Cemetery joins in patriotic efforts , including donating 20 tons of scrap metal salvaged by removing half of Mount Auburn ’ s remaining iron fencing .