Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Inspiring All Who Visit | Page 18

People and Happenings
Remembering the Armenian
Genocide
On Saturday, April 25th over 50 people attended “The
Armenians of Mount Auburn Cemetery” walking tour
led by Stephen Pinkerton, Friends of Mount Auburn
Docent, Marc A. Mamigonian, Director of Academic
Affairs, National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research (NAASR), Belmont, MA and Ruth Thomasian,
Founder and CEO, Project SAVE Armenian Photograph
Archives, Inc., Watertown, MA. The tour explored the
history of the Armenian community centered in Watertown
and Belmont through stories of selected former area
residents interred at Mount Auburn.

Birders Meeting

Family Nature Celebration
On Friday, April 24th the Friends of Mount Auburn and Belmont
Savings Bank hosted local families at the Cemetery to celebrate
Arbor Day and the return of spring with child-friendly naturethemed activities like sketching and nature hikes. Participants
also received copies of our new “Mount Auburn Family Nature
Guide.” Written and illustrated by naturalist and educator Clare
Walker Leslie, the guide was made possible with generous support
from the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation.
16 | Sweet Auburn

On Saturday, March 7th Dave Barnett spoke to an audience
of over 300 attendees at the 23rd annual Mass Audubon
Birders Meeting, held at Bentley University in Waltham,
MA. The theme of this year’s meeting was Managing for
Birds, with a focus on managing landscapes as an important
part of bird conservation. Dave spoke to a highly receptive
crowd on “Respecting Birds, People, and History at Mount
Auburn Cemetery,” about some of the changes made
over the past 20 years to Mount Auburn’s landscape to
improve wildlife habitat while also preserving its historic
character and respecting its status as an active cemetery,
and about some of the challenges of managing an urban
multi-use human landscape with avian habitat in mind.