Pachyderm Parade

After several years of hearing people talk about this event and glimpsing photos, I was finally able to go see it for myself—elephants marching on Memorial Drive. Yes, REAL elephants.

Every year the Ringling Bros. Circus comes to town, and every year they walk their elephants from a railroad car somewhere behind the MIT campus to TD North Garden along the streets of Cambridge and Boston. I have heard different theories. Some say that it is an old tradition and a way for the circus to announce their arrival into the city. Perhaps once upon a time that was true. However, the parade is not publicized, does not involve anyone but elephants and their caretakers, and seems to be conducted as quickly as possible.

So the theory I prefer to believe is that there is no way to get the special train cars that elephants travel in up to TD North Garden, and so the animals have to make the last ½ mile of the journey on foot. This theory would also explain why a similar parade happens when the circus is leaving town.

Nick and I arrived at the intersection of Mass Ave and Memorial Drive just as the police was gathering there, preparing to close the streets. There was no crowd, but a few curious bystanders. In just a few minutes, we saw a slow moving lead vehicle and elephants walking behind it!

There were 6 Asian elephants—5 adults and one baby (or at least a juvenile). All but the lead elephant were holding on to the tail of the elephant in front of them. The baby elephant let go of the tail in front of him quite a bit, but the extra trainer walking next to him kept encouraging him to hold on.

I walked next to the last elephant in the procession for a little bit, and it was having some tail issues as well. The elephant in front of it really wanted to use its tail to swat its own back. But every time the elephant in the front pulled out its tail to do that, the elephant behind him grabbed on to it again. It was rather amusing to watch.

The elephant procession came and went very quickly. Even though the whole spectacle lasted no more than 10 minutes, it left me feeling giddy for the rest of the day. Elephants!

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