Cambridge: Mount Auburn Cemetery

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Founded in 1831, Mount Auburn Cemetery is widely acknowledged as the catalyst for the “garden cemetery” movement, where landscaped parks become an alternative to burial in church graveyards. General Henry A. S. Dearborn, president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, along with Alexander Wadsworth, a civil engineer and surveyor, and others, banded together to create a tranquil and beautiful landscape that not only honors the dead, but provides enjoyment, succor, and inspiration for the living as well. Mount Auburn became the model for cemeteries nationwide and inspired the creation of America’s public parks.Today, Mount Auburn Cemetery has over 5,000 trees, representing 630 taxa, and thousands of shrubs and herbaceous plants throughout 175 acres of hills, dells, ponds, woodlands and clearings. There are Victorian and formal ornamental gardens, contemporary gardens and natural woodlands. Open daily, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. October through April.; 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. May through September. Photo: Richard Cheek [ info ]