Mount Auburn is the resting-place for many notable musicians, composers and music educators, including some with connections to the New England Conservatory.

The New England Conservatory's Parker String Quartet will perform works by celebrated classical composers during an hour-long concert in celebration of the Thanksgiving season and the beauty of late autumn at the Cemetery.

The award-winning Parker String Quartet was founded at the New England Conservatory, where it was selected as the NEC's Honor Ensemble in both 2002 and 2003. Recently it was selected for the prestigious Professional String Quartet Training Program. All of the Quartet's members are presently pursuing graduate degrees in performance and chamber music at the New England Conservatory.

Learn more about the Parker String Quartet and the New England Conservatory.

Seating for this free event is limited, please register online in advance.

The heart-shaped leaves of the Katsura are attractive in all stages of growth, emerging with a red-purple tinge in spring, a strong blue-green shade in summer, and finally turning to a lovely golden apricot color in autumn. The fall foliage is also notable for its characteristic fragrance emitted by the falling leaves, a sweet smell often likened to burnt sugar or cotton candy.

Pictured to the left above is number 25 on Mount Auburn's "Unusual Trees Map" - a striking multi-trunked, but otherwise standard form of Katsura that can be found growing on the southwest side of Lime Avenue.

A more unusual pendant form and larger single-trunked specimen of the Katsura tree, Cercidiphyllum japonicum 'Morioka's Weeping' is number 26 on the "Unusual Trees Map" and can be found on the southwest edge of Azalea Path near Willow Pond.

Learn more about Mount Auburn's horticultural collections.

Throughout the ages poets and non-poets alike have turned to poetry to soothe and express the grieving heart. Join us as we explore this topic through the words of resident and non-resident poets of Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Weather permitting, we will stroll through the grounds and read poetry. Meet at Story Chapel.

$5 per person for members of the Friends and $10 per person for nonmembers.

Please register online for this program and other events at Mount Auburn.

The foundation for the reflective pool is also now in place and the ornamental iron fencing, reminiscent of the historic fencing at the Cemetery's entrance, which will connect the panels, will be installed before winter.

As we move into November, the colors of the sugar maples and sweetgums at Birch Gardens are spectacular, and the feldspar and quartz crystals glistening on the smooth, hand-chiseled surfaces of the Canadian Mahogony panels add a different kind of beauty.

Existing stately white pines and brilliant red serviceberries embrace one of the new garden rooms where cremated remains will be commmingled (poured directly into the earth without a container) and names put on the panel, much like at our Spruce Knoll garden.

In other garden rooms, there will be more traditional burial spaces for either caskets or cremated remains in the ground immediately under individual inscription spaces that will allow families to personalize their own "headstones." As usual at Mount Auburn, the rich variety of plantings will provide color and texture year-round.

For more information, please email: info@mountauburn.org.