Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Mount Auburn as a Community Resource | Page 5

studies I teach, and also into the seminars. It
struck me that all departments of the Design
School—architecture, landscape architecture,
urban design and planning, environmental
studies—could be interested and informed by
the role that cemeteries play.
When I was studying landscape architecture
at the Design School in the early 1990s, our
class went to Mount Auburn with our instructors.
We examined the use of different plant materials
and how Mount Auburn had been designed, as
far as the manipulation of its grade and water
bodies. I really liked that project. It was a factor
in my deciding to pursue an additional degree
in theology.
What is very compelling about Mount
Auburn from a design school perspective is the
successive approaches to burial at the Cemetery and the
different ways to insert them into this strong landscape
fabric. Mount Auburn has sought contemporary ex-
pression, turning to some very interesting practitioners,
through a very long “dialogue” about commemoration.
Mount Auburn has a persistent and unique history of
pursuing design excellence.
There are many instructors at the Design School who
take their students over to Mount Auburn, for botanical
research, or looking at site-engineering, or understanding
the cultural history of changing ideas of the landscape.
Mount Auburn has been a great resource through the
years, for everybody.
Robert Tucker Gregg, Preservation activist
Vine Lake Cemetery, Medfield, MA
Rob used his research at Mount Auburn Cemetery to establish the
Vine Lake Preservation Trust in 2009 to preserve and protect his
own town’s cemetery, a National Historic Landmark. Vine Lake’s
earliest marked grave is dated 1661. Rob is the sole proprietor of
Classic Chair Seating, a Medfield-based business which repairs,
refinishes, and reseats antique and specialty chairs.
Rob Gregg (right) watches Preservation Craftsman, Steve Brown, clean the
1832 Hannah Adams monument–the Cemetery’s first monument–on June
18, 2009. The Friends of Hannah Adams, the Medfield Historical Society,
and the Medfield Historical Commission partnered to fund this project.
I
initially came to Mount Auburn for genealogical research.
I discovered that I have 95 relatives interred at Mount
Auburn, both ordinary and extraordinary people. Those
visits stimulated my thinking about Medfield’s historic Vine
Lake Cemetery and its three types of graves: Colonial, Rural,
and Landscape Lawn. In addition, I knew preservation issues
abounded in Medfield. To explore establishing a trust to
preserve our cemetery, I met with Bree Harvey [Mount
Auburn’s Director of Education & Visitor Services]; I also
took Medfield leaders on two field trips to Mount Auburn.
Paul Walker [Superintendent of Grounds] was extremely
helpful about discussing how Mount Auburn is addressing
the need for additional burial sites in a finite space, a situation
identical to ours at Vine Lake.
Once you identify the cultural resources inherent in a
cemetery, the possibilities are endless! For us, Vine Lake,
like Mount Auburn, can be seen as an outdoor museum,
and our trust is already presenting interpretive programs
celebrating that viewpoint.
After our trust was founded, I continued to have productive
sessions with Meg Winslow [Curator of Historical Collections]
and Natalie Wampler [Preservation & Facilities Planner],
exploring how to compile a gravestone inscription and
condition catalog. David Gallagher [Chief of Conservation]
has offered his wealth of experience in answering additional
questions about preservation.
Mount Auburn has a substantial role as a community
resource, beginning with providing an approachable,
generous, and insightful staff. Their attention to detail is
one of the Cemetery’s strengths, and to walk the grounds
with them is a terrific inspiration. In fact, the spirit of the
Mount Auburn staff is the best commercial the Cemetery
can have.
Fall 2009 | 3