Did you know...?
By Steve Brown, Preservation Craftsperson and Katherine Robinson, Cemetery Development & Preservation Associate
• More than 60,000 monuments grace Mount Auburn’ s grounds. Approximately 63 percent are made of granite, while marble, the stone of choice for almost a century, accounts for 32 percent. Limestone, brownstone, wood, and other materials account for the remaining 5 percent.
• The Preservation & Facilities Department includes four full-time staff and various part-time and seasonal employees, and several volunteers.
• Mount Auburn’ s first monument was installed in 1832 to commemorate Hannah Adams, the first woman in the United States who worked as a professional writer. Her monument inscription erroneously states that she was the first person buried at Mount Auburn; actually, it was a child in 1831.
• In 2012, a total of 147 monuments were added to the Cemetery, including a rock sculpture and a Buddhist stupa.
• Monuments at Mount Auburn can come in all shapes and sizes and forms, including benches, trees, kinetic sculptures, and fountains.
• Mount Auburn is world renowned for its birding and wildlife, but the most frequently asked about animals are those found on monuments! There are eight sculptures of man’ s best friend and one feline friend.
• The Shaw monument( Lot 1286 Pine Avenue) is of great national significance, as it includes a panel commemorating Robert Gould Shaw, the Civil War colonel who commanded the all-black 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. Interestingly, the monument incorporates an ancient marble relief imported from Athens!
• Mount Auburn is home to one National Treasure: The Binney Monument( Lots 1390 and 1391 Heath Path). The sculpture is the only realized piece of funerary art by renowned artist Thomas Crawford. It was designated a National Treasure in 1999 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the White House Millennium Committee
• There are hundreds of cenotaphs – monuments commemorating persons buried elsewhere – in the Cemetery. Many honor the memories of notable people or organizations, such as Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, Margaret Fuller, the Naval Monument for the U. S. Exploring Expedition, and a monument erected for Benjamin Franklin by admirer Thomas Dowse.
• During 2012, 146 monuments were repaired or re-set. 3,496 monuments were washed. 3,400 of the monuments washed were covered by Perpetual Care contracts. The remaining 96 monuments were washed through paid customer requests.
Contact us for further information about services such as the washing and resetting of monuments, as well as more intensive repairs and upkeep. Each arrangement is made on a case-by-case basis.
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