Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn In Celebration of 175 Years | Page 3

“Still an active cemetery, Mount
Auburn is using non-traditional
concepts as it goes forward, cre-
ating spaces and structures that
preserve and enhance the existing
landscape, while paying tribute to
those buried here… Mount Auburn
embodies history and the future at
the same time.”
—G ARDEN D ESIGN M AGAZINE ,
October/November 2006
“Mount Auburn’s founders strove
for a balance of art and nature.
From its early days on the cem-
etery also functioned as a public
park, arboretum, and a museum.”
—AmericanHeritage.com,
August 18, 2006
Photo ©Richard Cheek 1996
175 Years of Stewardship:
Looking Back and Moving Forward
By Stephen H. Anable , Communications Coordinator & Writer
H
ere at Mount Auburn we are mending broken
angels and meeting 21st-century needs for crema-
tions and interments. We are comforting the be-
reaved while honoring diverse cultural traditions and using
state-of-the-art technology to locate a visitor’s ancestor. We
are offering the public lectures and walking tours and caring
for works of art out-of-doors, exposed to the vigorous New
England elements, in the midst of a renowned col lection of
horticulture whose own demands can sometimes conflict
with those of the monuments. (See Sweet Auburn Summer
2006.)
We are always conscious of our history, and conscious too
that we are making history as we maintain and enhance this
extraordinary place. For 175 years, Mount Auburn has ex-
emplified stewardship, or, as we say, preservation and ser-
vice. We work to balance the needs of art and nature, and of
history and the future. Through the years we have preserved
our unique natural and cultural landscape with its varied and
beautiful “character zones” while continuing what can be
called a “tradition of innovation” by offering the public the
very highest level of service.
Think things are static in a cemetery? Think again. Since
our founding in 1831, over 94,000 people have been in-
terred at Mount Auburn, over 60,000 cremated, and tens of
thousands of monuments have been placed on our grounds
to commemorate these lives. Millions of visitors—more than
200,000 every year—have learned about the many facets of
Mount Auburn, including horticulture, birding, art and the
life stories of those buried here. All this activity means that
there is a lot of life here—varied, challenging, evolving and
rewarding—and never dull.
Stewardship is not static either. Stone, especially marble,
weathers in an outdoor environment. Plants grow and die,
and the scope and style of horticulture has changed dramati-
Spring 2007 | 1