Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn In Celebration of 175 Years

Mount Auburn’s Maps: Going Electronic On the earliest map of Mount Auburn, hand-drawn by Alexander Wadsworth in 1831 (see sidebar profile on page 10), we can note the outlines of some 200 lots, sym- bols for hundreds of individual plants, shading depicting seven hills, and darker hatching marking water bodies. All of these renderings seem to “pop” from the page, and each feature is easily distinguishable from the next. This earliest map is like a work of art. Now, 175 years later, in a new millennium, maps at Mount Auburn have “gone electronic.” In 2006, Mount Auburn installed a commercially available geographic information system (GIS) software package called PlotFinder that allowed us to create an interac- tive online map with data drawn from hard copy and computerized sources. This PlotFinder map includes data about lots, lot own- ers and residents buried at Mount Auburn—and even depicts the Victorian granite curbs around some lots and the actual graves within lots. It allows us to see a burial or lot in the greater context of surrounding lots and burials, and PlotFinder’s layering features provide a clearer picture of areas within Above: The first map of the Cemetery, drawn by Alex- ander Wadsworth in 1831. Left: Its digital descendant, a segment of the Cemetery on PlotFinder. the Cemetery that can potentially be developed as burial spaces. Alexander Wadsworth would be amazed! Consecration Dell Guidebook Published A beautiful new booklet focusing on “the geographical, historical and metaphorical heart” of Mount Auburn—A Guide to Consecration Dell at Mount Auburn Cemetery—was published by the Friends of Mount Auburn in 2006. Edited by former Vice President of Interpretive Programs Janet Heywood, it features essays by Christopher Leahy of the Massachusetts Audubon Society and photo- graphs by Richard Cheek. Funding for the Guide was gen- erously provided by the Anthony J. & Mildred D. Ruggeiro Memorial Trust and by Suzanne R. Weinstein in honor of Frederic D. Weinstein. A Guide to Consecration Dell at Mount Auburn Cemetery is available for purchase at the Cemetery’s Administration The Cemetery publishes Mount Auburn Notable Bi- ographies, profiling more than 500 notable people buried here. 1953 building on weekdays. The cost is $10 ($8 for members of the Friends of Mount Auburn). You may also order copies by mail by sending payment to the Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery, Attn: Publications, 580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Please add $2 for shipping and han- dling. Dr. Donald Wyman identifies more than 2,000 trees on the grounds. The Cemetery begins adding labels to trees to educate the public about its horticultural collection. 1964-1965 Auburn Court Gar- den Crypts opens, the first of its kind in the Boston area. 1973 Spring 2007 | 11

Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn In Celebration of 175 Years | Page 13