This fall and into the spring, Mount Auburn is excited to begin improvements to Violet Path, a highly-traversed trail in our historic Consecration Dell. Please read on to learn more about this vital work and how your support can reinvigorate this treasured path!

At the heart of Mount Auburn’s historic core, Consecration Dell has undergone careful restoration and extensive care since 1997, and the area now features native New England trees, shrubs, perennials, and groundcovers that provide year-round horticultural interest, as well as food and shelter for resident and migratory wildlife. As part of our ongoing enhancements to the Dell area, the Mount Auburn team will now be focused on the surrounding Violet Path and its impact on visitors and wildlife by augmenting the infrastructure of the walking path while incorporating new native plantings in the neighboring shady slopes.

Starting this fall, contractors will be working on Violet Path to address erosion control issues related to the path itself.  This will then enable additional work on the slope above the path, which will include planting slope-stabilizing plants such as native shrubs and perennials like ferns. While focusing on stabilizing the slope, the plants will also be chosen to support the wildlife habitat in Consecration Dell. This path remediation will benefit our many visitors who walk along the path to witness Mount Auburn at its most rural, harkening back to Mount Auburn’s first President Joseph Story in his 1831 Consecration Address, when he highlighted the unique, naturalistic beauty of the new cemetery with its “sheltered valley… silent grove… lofty oak… rustling pine… and the wildflower creeping along the narrow path.” Beyond the role that plantings play in erosion control, this project will reinforce our commitment to wildlife by featuring leafy shrubs and ferns that will provide a layering of vegetation to increase habitat for many species of amphibians and mammals.

Due to the naturalistic environment in which these new plantings will be installed, they will require time and maintenance to reach their full size and fit together cohesively, which will be essential for the landscape to look the way it was designed. By supporting the ongoing maintenance, your help can ensure the beauty of Violet Path into the future.  As an essential update surrounding one of the most trafficked areas of Mount Auburn, and an extension of our ongoing efforts to incorporate native plantings for their countless benefits, this significant work on Violet Path is key to our mission and will enrich our treasured grounds further.

What to expect

As work commences towards the fall, prepare for Violet Path to be closed between 3-5 weeks. Further details to come.

We need your help!

This work does not get completed on its own! You can help our commitment to improving and maintaining this much-beloved, historic area of Mount Auburn by donating here!