Visitng the Mount Auburn Cemetery

Back in September, Nick and I went on a walking tour of Mount Auburn Cemetery.  The cemetery has been on my list of places to visit for a long time, but now I am glad we went when we did.  I have learned a lot of Boston history in the last two years (thank you, Boston By Foot), making our visit more meaningful to me.

It might seem odd that we would tour any cemetery, especially one where none of our relatives are interned...  But Mount Auburn Cemetery is special.  In fact, it was intended to be visited.

Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, Mount Auburn Cemetery was established in 1831 and is America's first "garden cemetery".  It marked a shift in the way the dead were buried in America--moving away from using church graveyards often located within cities, and towards using landscaped, park-like burial grounds outside of the city limits.


Edwin Booth's Headstone

During the walking tour we were surprised to learn that Edwin Booth, the famous 19th century actor (whose infamous brother, John Wilkes Booth, assassinated Abraham Lincoln), is buried at Mount Auburn because apparently his first wife, Mary, was from the Boston area.


The headstone of Charles Bulfinch, prominent American architect



The tomb of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, the Scientist.

We have visited the Longfellow House in Cambridge the previous weekend, and now we were able to see Longfellow's tomb.

The tomb of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Our tour was briefly interrupted by a fox.  He was busy pouncing on something in the grass, completely unperturbed by a large group of people staring at him. 

After the tour, we climbed the Washington Tour, built in 1852-1854 at the highest elevation of the cemetery, for great views of the surrounding area. 


Washington Tour

View from the Washington Tour