Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Mount Auburn as a Horticultural Innovator | Page 14

“Sleep soldier still in honored rest
your truth and valor wearing
the bravest are the tenderest
the loving are the daring”
— from the monument of William Bradford Homer,
(Lot 1321, Yarrow Path)
“Her path was surrounded
by radiance and fragrance
and she was an inspiration
and a joy to all her friends”
— from the monument of Susanne Wheeler
Bennett, (Lot 2178, Greenbrier Path)
The
“Say not goodnight but
in some brighter clime
bid me good morning”
—from the monument of Charlotte E. Greene,
(Lot 1256, Geranium Path)
Written landscape
Participants in the Monument Inscription Workshop
literally read the landscape as an effort to record inscriptions that
are disappearing as marble wears away and brownstone disintegrates.
Through this program inscriptions are transcribed by volunteers
and become part of Mount Auburn’s Historical Collections. The
knowledge gained from the monument will therefore be preserved
in our archives even after the carvings vanish.
Volunteers are working in the historic core of Mount Auburn
and discovering valuable information about many of our residents.
These monuments are archives in the landscape that commemorate
individuals who frequently do not have heartfelt biographical infor-
mation elsewhere. Often we find cenotaphs, which are monuments
commemorating someone whose remains are located elsewhere.
Locating a cenotaph is particularly exciting since this is typically
someone not otherwise known by Mount Auburn. Currently, the
Cemetery tracks residents by their remains, so when a person is
not interred here, there is not typically institutional knowledge
of a monument in their honor. This exciting project that captures
unique and threatened inscriptions would not be successful without
our dedicated group of volunteers.
We will resume our Monument Inscription Workshop in spring
of 2011. Please check our website at www.mountauburn.org for a
list of dates.
12 | Sweet Auburn
During our Monument
Inscription Workshop,
volunteers decipher
fading words by using
flashlights, mirrors, and
just their eyes.