New for 2008: The Mount Auburn Book Club

Would you like to combine your passion for books with your love of Mount Auburn Cemetery? You can by joining the new Mount Auburn Book Club! Each month, we will read a different book, fiction as well as non-fiction, that speaks to one of Mount Auburn's many facets - history, horticulture, nature, or the lives of those commemorated here.

We will meet on the second Thursday of each month at 10 AM in Story Chapel to discuss the month's selection. Coffee and tea will be served. FREE.

Thursday, January 10: We will discuss Mansions of the Dead by Sarah Stewart Taylor. Taylor's mystery, set against the backdrop of greater Boston, includes scenes at Mount Auburn Cemetery.

*Printed Winter 2008 program brochures are being prepared and will be sent by mail shortly to all members of the Friends of Mount Auburn.

To celebrate this new edition of the definitive book on the history of Mount Auburn Cemetery and the beginnings of the American rural cemetery movement, we invite you to join us at three special events taking place in Boston and Cambridge next month.

Tuesday, February 5, 6:00 PM

"Mount Auburn Cemetery and Landscapes of Memory" - a conversation at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Join us at the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston for a conversation about the roles of cemeteries and other landscapes in preserving family, community and national memory. The discussion will be led by Bill Clendaniel, President, Mount Auburn, Blanche M. G. Linden, author of Silent City On A Hill, and Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, President, Foundation for Landscape Studies and author of Landscape Design: A Cultural and Architectural History. Copies of Silent City will be available for purchase.

This free program is part of the MHS History and Memory Series. Refreshments will be served at 5:30 PM. Advanced registration is required. Please register by calling the Massachusetts Historical Society at 617-646-0560.

Friday, February 8, 6:30 - 7:30 PM

"Silent City Celebration in Harvard Square" - Author Event. Blanche M. G. Linden will discuss and sign copies of her newly revised book at The Harvard Book Store during this special event, which is free and open to the public.

Friday, February 8, 7:30 - 9:30 PM.

Champagne Reception. Following the event at the Harvard Book Store, you are invited to an intimate reception at Upstairs on the Square. Enjoy wine, hors d'oeuvres, dessert and conversation with author Blanche M. G. Linden and others who share an interest in Mount Auburn.

Space is limited and advanced registration is necessary. Please call 617-607-1981 or register online by February 5th. $60 for members; $75 for non-members.

Worldwide there are 805 taxa (species, subspecies and varieties) of conifers, compared to 300,000 taxa of flowering plants. Although the number of varieties is relatively low, conifers are some of the smallest, largest, and oldest woody plants.

"Conifer" comes from Latin and means "to bear cones." While most conifers do bear cones, a more common feature of coniferous plants is their needle-like or scale-like leaves. Because most conifers shed only some of their needles or scales in the fall, they are also known as evergreens.

The Pinus aristata pictured to the left above, is located on Central Avenue near Walnut Avenue in the Cemetery, and is number 76 on Mount Auburn's "Unusual Trees" map. More commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pine, this dwarf tree is native to the mountainous regions of the southwestern United States - specimens of which are some of the oldest living plants in the world.

If you would like to learn more about some of the conifers that make up this ancient, often underappreciated group of plants, please join Dennis Collins, Mount Auburn's Horticultural Curator for "Conifers: Surviving Harsh Winters with Grace" a walking tour on Tuesday, January 22, at 2:00 PM.

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

Please register< /a> online for this program and other events at the Cemetery.

Learn more about Mount Auburn's horticultural collections.

Cremation is an increasingly popular alternative to casket burial. Mount Auburn, which has the first crematory in New England to be operated by a cemetery, conducted its first cremation in 1900. We now perform over 900 cremations annually.

Join us for a free presentation about cremation at Bigelow Chapel on Saturday, January 19, at 1:00 PM. Mount Auburn Crematory Manager Walter L. Morrison, Jr., will answer any questions that you may have about cremation procedures and costs. After the presentation at Bigelow Chapel, there will be an opportunity to tour the crematory.

Please register< /a> online for this presentation and other programs at Mount Auburn.

Learn more about Mount Auburn's many burial and memorialization options.