Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Mount Auburn as a Natural Habitat | Page 14

Cemetery Development:
Innovation, Beauty and Conservation
by Candace Currie, Project Manager, Mapping and Planning
‘…Mount Auburn’s landscape itself is the best memorial to the deceased.
ments’, like Azalea Wall and the obelisk at Begonia Garden
Monuments are an essential element of the landscape and so, too, is their
sold quickly.
1
balance and relationship with the nature that surrounds them.’
Recently in the oldest, northeastern portion of the
From 1831 until the 1870s, much of the northeastern part grounds, Halcyon Garden and Nyssa Path have been com-
of the Mount Auburn Cemetery (from today’s Halcyon Lake posed using similar ‘community’ concepts for both casket
area to Asa Gray Garden at Lawn Av-
and urn burials. By patronizing art-
enue) was, essentially, a wetland. It was
ists of our time as Mount Auburn’s
shaped and molded into the landscape
founders once did, Urban Instru-
that exists today, in part to remove
ments of Newton has designed
mosquito breeding grounds and also
elegant, respectful and timeless
to create new burial space. 2
monuments for memorial tribute
inscriptions in both of these new
Today, Mount Auburn faces the
areas.
challenge of finding appropriate burial
solutions for caskets and urns while
In our continuing effort to find
respecting the landscape, the cultural
new ways of memorialization,
mores and the genius loci. Over the
Birch Gardens mentioned in the
next few decades, cremation burials
President’s Corner, will come to
are expected to surpass casket burials,
fruition this year and next. In the
but even with burial spaces becoming Nyssa Path memorial, designed and
planning and design phase over the
smaller, the bigger question remains:
past two years, focus groups, cus-
installed in 2003
how do we memorialize someone?
tomers and visitors have strength-
ened
and
softened
the
design
ensuring that it says “Mount
The Master Plan of 1993 noted:
Auburn” and provides what today’s customers are seeking
“The science of ecology and the environmental awareness of
– comfort and commemoration. Upcoming issues of Sweet
the late twentieth century have taught two important lessons
Auburn will describe the garden, burial options and memo-
that are relevant to the basic design principles and to Mount
rialization options in more detail.
Auburn’s development: the planet’s resources are limited and
With these new landscape embellishments, the staff at
need to be conserved; and the interdependence of all living
Mount
Auburn strives to uphold the vision of our found-
things requires us to live as a community if the needs of all are
ers
as
well
as respect our diminishing resource of available
to be met.”
land, recognize the interdependence of all living things, be
So does this mean if we ‘live as a community’, then
of service to our customers and nurture the spirit of Mount
perhaps it’s OK to be memorialized as a community? Yes.
Auburn.
Mount Auburn sees these community alternatives as viable
1
Mount Auburn Cemetery Master Plan, 1993, p65.
solutions and so do many of our customers. The granite
2
curb-like structure along Vesper Path was very popular when Today, Mount Auburn diligently abides to the state and federal wetland regula-
tions and wouldn’t even consider altering the landscape in such dramatic ways,
it was designed in 1995. Other community-minded ‘monu-
but in the 1800s there were no laws governing the manipulation of
“the kidneys of the earth.”
12 | Sweet Auburn
2005 Volunteer Bulb Planting
On October 20, 2005 seven hearty volunteers planted 2,000
Siberian squill near the intersection of Indian Ridge and Lilac
Paths. Come see these early bulbs with blue star shaped flowers in
March!
Volunteers: (l. to r) Bob Greenland, Judy Jackson, Nancy Caraboolad,
Irene Dygas and Miyako Fujiwara.