Join us for a rare opportunity to hear readings of selected Longfellow sonnets. Hosting the program is Paul Blandford, longtime Longfellow National Historic Site Ranger. Guest readers at the event this year will be:

Charles Calhoun, author of Longfellow Rediscovered, a recent biography of the poet, Adu Laitan Matory, 8th grade honors student at the Kennedy-Longfellow School, J. Lorand Matory Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology and of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University, Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club, a New York Times best-selling historical mystery novel, Nancy Jones, Visitor Services Coordinator & Museum Educator at Longfellow National Historic Site and Bree Harvey, Director of Education & Visitor Services at Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Wreath-laying at the Longfellow Family Lot. After the indoor program, we will hold a short wreath-laying ceremony at Longfellow's grave on Indian Ridge Path and then return to Story Chapel for birthday cake.

This program is free to the public and will be held at 10:00 AM on Saturday, February 23rd at Story Chapel, Mount Auburn Cemetery. Coffee and tea will be served at 9:30 AM. Please register online for this event.

This event is co-sponsored with The Friends of the Longfellow House and the Longfellow National Historic Site.

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 this 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 Cemetery, 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.

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 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 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.

Widely popular outside China today, the Metasequoia glyptostroboides has been propagated and distributed to many parts of the U.S. and Europe through the generosity of Harvard University's Arnold Arboreteum in sharing seeds and seedlings obtained during a 1946 expedition.*

Number 60 on Mount Auburn's "Unusual Trees" Map, and #37 on the Cemetery's "Big Trees" Map, the striking 76 foot-tall Dawn Redwood - pictured above with cardinals on branches with snow - has a fluted trunk with striking reddish-brown bark. One of the few non-evergreen, deciduous conifers in the world, the bright green feathery leaves of the tree turn a vivid orange-copper color before dropping off in the fall.

The first part of the name Metasequoia comes from the Greek term meta meaning "like, among, akin, with, of or after" and sequoia for the reason that it appears to be a relative of the Coastal Redwood and the Giant Sequoia of Northern California. The second part of the name notes the connection to Glyptostrobus, another deciduous conifer from Southeast Asia.

Occasionally referred to as a Water Larch, the Metasequoia glyptostroboides is a member of the former Taxodiaceae (Redwood) family, which also includes Taxodium distichum or Baldcypress (number 109 on Mount Auburn's "Unusual Trees" Map). We now consider the former Taxodiaceae family (with the exception of Sciadopitys) to belong to the family Cupressaceae (Cypress). Both the Dawn Redwood and the Baldcypress can be found growing near the shores of Auburn Lake at the Cemetery.

*Two Dawn Redwoods on the northeast edge of Auburn Lake and a large tree on the northeast shore of Willow Pond at the Cemetery are all from the original USDA distribution of seed from the original 1946 collecting expedition, and were planted at Mount Auburn in 1951.

Learn more about Mount Auburn's horticultural collections.

Approximately 620,000 soldiers lost their lives during the Civil War and this enormous death toll drastically affected how Americans viewed death and commemoration. President Faust will discuss the realities of death during and following the war including burying, honoring and commemorating the dead and the resulting rise of the undertaking profession, national cemeteries for the Union dead and the creation of private cemeteries in the South to honor the "Lost Cause." Copies of This Republic of Suffering will be available for purchase.

Following the lecture President Faust will sign books during a wine and cheese reception. Learn more about Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust and her latest book, This Republic of Suffering.

Space is limited and advanced registration is necessary. Please call 617-607-1981 or register online. $10 per person for members of the Friends and $20 for non-members. Wednesday, March 19, 5:30 PM at Mount Auburn Cemetery.