Botanists, Horticulturists, & Garden Enthusiasts of Mount Auburn

Explore Mount Auburn's landscape through the eyes of it's designers, as well as the many notable garden professionals and enthusiasts who chose their resting place here.

Mount Auburn as an Experimental Garden and Historic Landscape

The Genesis of the Experimental Garden at Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mount Auburn was born from the marriage of two ideas: an ornamental cemetery for the commemoration of the dead and an experimental garden in which to practice the art and science of horticulture. The Cemetery’s founders were members of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, established in 1829. The Garden and Cemetery Committee, formed by the Society to investigate the creation of a garden and cemetery, made critical decisions in the initial design and development of Mount Auburn. Early records referred to the site as “the Experimental Garden and Cemetery of Mount Auburn.”

Horticulture and a Tradition of Landscape Design

Generations of landscape architects, gardeners, and horticulturalists have contributed to a continual transformation in Mount Auburn’s character and design. Items from Mount Auburn’s Historical Collections provide a wealth of delightful and surprising details about the Cemetery’s renowned horticultural landscape and design legacy.

From these favorable circumstances and the generous zeal which has been evinced for the energetic prosecution of the labors, which are required to perfect the details of the whole extensive plan, there no longer remains the least doubt that in the summer of 1834, Mount Auburn will rival the most celebrated rural burial grounds of Europe, and present a garden in such a state of fowardness, as will be highly gratifying to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and the public. There has Horticulture established her temple…there will repose the ashes of the humble and exalted, in the silent and sacred Garden of the Dead, until summoned to those of eternal life, in the realms beyond the skies.
Henry A.S. Dearborn
from “A Report on the Garden and Cemetery,” September 30, 1931

Botanists, Horticulturalists, & Garden Enthusiasts

Meet the people who shaped historic Boston's horticultural design, from the landscape of Mount Auburn Cemetery, to the private gardens of Beacon Hill, and even the pleasure grounds of the Boston Public Garden.

Asa Gray (1810-1888)

Botanist & Professor

Jacob Bigelow (1787-1879)

Physician, Botanist, & Founder

Horatio Hollis Hunnewell (1810-1902)

Horticulturalist & Philanthropist

Rose Standish Nichols (1872-1960)

Landscape Architect, Women's Suffragist, & Peace Activist

Zebedee Cook Jr. (1786-1858)

Horticulturalist, Mount Auburn Trustee, & A Founder of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society

Caroline Keller Loughlin (1940-2013)

Landscape Historian & Mount Auburn Trustee

Horace Gray (1800-1873)

Horticulturalist, Philanthropist, Father of the Boston Public Gardens

The Historic Landscape

Mount Auburn features many unique character zones, where horticulturalists and landscape designers work together to bring the historic core of the cemetery to life. Read about the various areas of the cemetery and their thoughtful design.

Consecration Dell

Hidden behind the steep slopes that enclose it, the Dell is a 4.2-acre natural valley with a small vernal pool in its center. In striking contrast to the Cemetery’s otherwise manicured landscape, the Dell is reminiscent of the New England forest. Native woodland trees, shrubs, perennials, and groundcovers provide year-round interest and provide essential food and shelter for resident and migratory wildlife.

Asa Gray Garden

Situated just inside the Cemetery’s Egyptian Revival Gateway, Asa Gray Garden serves as a focal point and gathering place for arriving visitors. Since the 1850s, this ornamental garden has evolved to reflect changing horticultural trends and landscape design styles. Today, visitors will find a garden that is equally welcoming, comforting, and inspiring, a reflection of Mount Auburn’s best qualities.

Auburn Lake

This two-basin pond connected by a bridge and surrounded by hill-side mausolea was developed in the 1850's and has been an integral site of cemetery development and wildlife habitat.

Acknowledgments

The content on this page has been adapted from the research by Bree Harvey in The Botanists, Horticulturalists, and Garden Enthusiasts of Mount Auburn walking tour in 2003.