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News & Events, May 2009
Dear Friend,
The Friends of Mount Auburn is pleased to present the May 2009 edition of our electronic
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 Spring Celebration & Open House
May 2nd & 3rd, 1:00 - 6:00 PM
Join us to celebrate the beauty of spring at
Mount Auburn and discover more about the
Cemetery with the entire family! Enjoy a
trolley ride through our historic landscape
while observing the spring blooming trees
and learning about the history of this National
Historic Landmark.
Scavenger hunts, hands-on activities,
demonstrations and tours will highlight the Cemetery's efforts to preserve our
historic landscape and the many works of art and architecture throughout the grounds.
This free event will be held rain or shine. No preregistration is necessary.
This Open House weekend celebrates Mount Auburn's participation in Partners in Preservation - a joint initiative of American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Mount Auburn and 24 other sites in Greater Boston are currently competing in an online contest to win $1 million in preservation funds. Now through May 17, cast your vote for Mount Auburn and help us win funding to preserve our Egyptian Revival Gatehouse.
Watch video of Mount Auburn's Gateway on youtube and see photos at Flickr.com! _______________________________________________________________ |
 May is National Preservation Month!
Join us on Sunday, May 17th at 2:00 PM for "Preserving Our Cultural Landscapes" - a Preservation Month Lecture by Arleyn Levee, landscape historian and preservation consultant.
Landscapes are an important part of our cultural heritage, illustrating man's changing relationship with nature through time. And, like historic buildings, landscapes must be preserved in order to protect the stories of our past.
During this illustrated lecture, Ms. Levee will discuss the evolution of designed landscapes, mainly cemeteries and public parks, and address the issues of preserving these spaces for future generations. Meet in Story Chapel.
Weather permitting, we will conclude the program with a brief tour of Mount Auburn to discuss some of the Cemetery's recent preservation initiatives. Doors will open at 1:30 for light refreshments. This program is co-sponsored with the Society of Architectural Historians, New England Chapter. Please register online, $5 FOMAC or SAH members; $10 non-members.
And if you would like to actively assist us in preserving this cultural landscape, then please join us for a free "Monument Inscription Workshop" the following Sunday, May 24th at 2:00 PM! Help us to preserve valuable historical information by deciphering inscriptions that are disappearing from 19th century monuments - as marble wears away and brownstone disintegrates. Wear proper clothing and plenty of sunscreen. Meet at the Entrance Gate.
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Horticultural Highlight
Regarded a "national favorite"for thousands of years in China, Paeonia suffruticosa or Tree Peony has been grown as an ornamental plant since the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD).
There are two distinct groups of peonies, the herbaceous and the woody-stemmed species. While herbaceous peonies are perennials with annual stems of large glossy leaves produced by fleshy rootstocks, the Tree Peony is actually a slow growing, but long lived woody-stemmed shrub that can outlive the person planting it - taking decades to grow anywhere between 3 - 5 feet tall.
It is not uncommon for tree peonies to continue blossoming for well over a hundred years - justifying the belief held by some gardeners that even a ten year old plant be considered a seedling.
Tree peonies have large fragrant flowers which often bloom a few weeks earlier and in a range of colors rarely seen in herbaceous peonies.
Visit the tree peony on the northwest side of Pine Avenue at the Cemetery, which is now over 50 years old.
Learn more about Mount Auburn's horticultural collections.
For those who appreciate the early morning or who are looking for a quick walk before work, check out Mount Auburn's Early-Risers' Horticultural Club! These free walking tours with Horticulture staff will highlight what's in bloom throughout the Cemetery - from early bulbs to magnificent flowering trees. Walks will begin promptly at 7:00 AM and last approximately one hour. No preregistration is required for these free walks. Fridays, May 15th and 29th, and June 5th |
 Friends of Mount Auburn Spring Programs
Our Spring 2009 Program and Event schedule is available online. View the complete list of events and register for them on our website today!
"Memories of Mothers" - a Mother's Day walking tour. Please join us on Sunday, May 10th at 2:00 PM for a tour to explore the symbols of motherhood on monuments throughout the Cemetery. We will visit the graves of some of the notable mothers buried here - including Julia Ward Howe, founder of Mother's Day for Peace. $5 members; $10 non-members. Mount Auburn Book Club. On Thursday, May 14th at 10:00 AM, we will discuss the classic book on modern archeology, In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life by Jim Deetz (1977) in honor of Preservation Month. Learn how American life is studied through everyday details. We will also talk about how Mount Auburn supports contemporary archaeology by contributing to the work of researchers and genealogists. Meet at Story Chapel. FREE. "E. H. Wilson's Legacy of Chinese Plants at Mount Auburn" - a walking tour with Mount Auburn Cemetery Docent and Boston Architectural College Lecturer Jim Gorman, on Saturday, May 30th at 2:00 PM. Ernest Henry Wilson's reputation today is that of one of the most successful plant collectors who traveled in remote areas of China 100 years ago. Over 1,000 kinds of plants - including the Dove Tree, Paperbark Maple, Leatherleaf Viburnum, and Tea Crabapple, among others - were introduced to the west by E. H. Wilson. This walk will visit many of these trees found today in Mount Auburn's living collection. $5 members; $10 non-members. "Beautiful, Timeless and Still Available" - Join us on Sunday, May 31st at 2:00 PM for a free virtual tour of Mount Auburn Cemetery that will begin in Story Chapel and then proceed by van to explore the spring beauty of this historic landscape. Experience how contemporary landscape design and architecture are shaping the burial spaces for the 21st-century. The driving tour will end at Bigelow Chapel for a brief tour of the Cemetery's oldest chapel. Limited enrollment. Preregistration required. ________________________________________________________________________________ |
Birds & Birding at Mount Auburn
The Wood Thrush Text and Photo by Robert H. Stymeist
It is "the sweetest sound in nature," wrote author John Burroughs, while Henry David Thoreau once said "The Wood Thrush alone declares the immortal wealth and vigor that is in the forest. Whenever a man hears it, he is young, and Nature is in her Spring."
The Wood Thrush or Hylocichla mustelina is the largest of the spot breasted thrushes that migrate back to our area each spring and is the easiest to identify. It is distinguished from the other thrushes by its rusty-orange colored head and large spots on its breast.
The Wood Thrush is an outstanding virtuoso, often described as flutelike as it sings from a high and concealed perch in Mount Auburn Cemetery's Consecration Dell. The song of the Wood Thrush is really three-parted - the first part is almost inaudible unless you are really close and have a "good ear," the second part is the loudest and most recognizable and has been described as sounding like "ee oh lay," and the third part is a low trill.
The Wood Thrush sings the most at dawn and again at dusk.
Listen to the Wood Thrush at Cornell University's Laboratory of Ornithology online archive from their world renowned Macaulay Library - the world's largest natural sound and video archive of animal behavior.
During the day and when not singing, the Wood Thrush spends a lot of time on the ground moving through the leaf litter searching for insects. Mount Auburn Cemetery has been fortunate to have a pair successfully breed in Consecration Dell during the last three years. Last year the pair here in the Dell managed to fledge two birds on the first brood and one on the second brood. Both parents help in rearing the young, however only the female incubates. The nesting birds are usually gone by early September.
Recently the Wood Thrush has become a species of special concern - as the number of neotropical migrant birds has decreased over much of their former range. Forest fragmentation both here in the breeding ground as well as in the winter range has had a measurable impact on the population.
The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the USDA Forest Service coordinate Birds in Forested Landscapes, a citizen-science project that links volunteer birders and professional ornithologists in a study of the habitat requirements of North American forest birds, including the Wood Thrush. To learn more about the project and how you can participate, visit: http://birds.cornell.edu/bfl/. ____________________
Birds and Birding at Mount Auburn Cemetery: An Introductory Guide is regularly available for purchase at the Cemetery from 8:30 AM to 4 PM everyday (except holidays). The cost is $8.00. Copies are available by mail order by sending payment to the Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery, ATT: Bird Guide, 580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Please include the cost $8.00, plus $2.00 for mailing and handling (total $10) for each copy ordered.
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 Service of Commemoration
Mount Auburn Cemetery cordially invites you to remember the lives of friends and loved ones at our annual Service of Commemoration on Saturday, May 23rd at 1:00 PM.
Religious and community representatives will lead the ceremony, which will be held on the lawn in front of Bigelow Chapel. This year's ceremony will feature Reverend Dave Schmelzer, Senior Pastor from Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church of Cambridge and Reverend father Arakel Aljalian, Pastor from Saint James Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown.
This free event is offered every year to set aside time to celebrate the lives of those who have gone before us and to experience the uniqueness of Mount Auburn as a memorial of beauty and peace.
If special assistance is needed, transportation from the Entrance Gate to Bigelow Chapel and seating can be provided. For more information, visit mountauburn.org or call 617-547-7105. In the event of rain, the service will be held indoors.
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 Stories Behind the Stones
Our Roots & Hearts are in Mount Auburn Cemetery
By Brian A. Sullivan, Archivist
On August 29, 1977, educator Phoebe Cutler Greene (1900 - 1987) wrote to the staff of Mount Auburn Cemetery for advice relating to burial and commemoration, "I refer to the plot purchased by my great-grandfather, Pliny Cutler, on November 12, 1840, and taken over by my father, Colman Ward Cutler, M.D," she wrote, "It is on Fir Avenue (#767). When I was in school and in Radcliffe College in Cambridge I knew my way to it perfectly. Mount Auburn probably means more me than any member of the family. Perhaps one has to live outside one's country to reverence fully one's native soil."
Mrs. Greene's husband, Theodore Chase Greene, M.D. (1899 - 1988), a graduate of both Harvard College and Medical School, served under the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in medical work in China, 1926 - 1950. Mrs. Greene and their children accompanied him there. "Dr. Greene (who has taught anatomy at Johns Hopkins Medical School and elsewhere) and I," she wrote, "have willed our bodies to Vanderbilt Medical School...Our roots and hearts, however, are in Mount Auburn Cemetery," she stated, "Would it be possible for our ashes to be sent to you...to be buried in the family plot...We are only 76 and 77 years old, very active still. But we should have this matter settled in our wills, to make things easy for our daughter [Joan Greene Smith, who as a Radcliffe student found solace at the family lot when her parents were unreachable in China during the Communist Revolution] and her astronomer husband [Harlan Smith, who died in 1992 and is also buried in the lot]..."
"...If there is no room for our ashes in the family plot by the time my husband and I die, I suppose we should plan to have our ashes buried here [Nashville, Tennessee], but the thought does not appeal to us. We both want to go HOME to Mount Auburn. Have you ever done such a thing as this, namely, to record names in your ledger in your Office, or at the Information Desk, and state "buried elsewhere"?
Mrs. Greene also inquired about placing a commemorative stone at the Cutler Greene lot indicating that "We have often wished we could have such a marker to include the name of our son who died in West China at the age of 13, in 1941. His death was indirectly due to World War II," she continued, "The happiest year of his life was 1939 - 40 when he attended Browne and Nichols School, and made a kayak which he sailed up and down the Charles River, from M.I.T to Watertown."
A granite lawn marker was eventually placed over what became the resting place of Phoebe and Theodore Greene - and, as they wished, their son Ralph is commemorated there as well. Above their names is inscribed - in Chinese characters - "God is Love." In making Mount Auburn the consistent burial and commemoration choice for her family, Phoebe Cutler Greene has given her descendants a site of pilgrimage and solace.
*Photo above: View of Lot 767 on Fir Avenue.
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Think green. Do not print this email and you will help to conserve valuable resources. Thank you!
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You can now join or renew your membership in the Friends of Mount Auburn quickly, securely and easily online! The Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery was established in 1986 as a non-profit educational trust to promote the appreciation and preservation of Mount Auburn. Join the Friends of Mount Auburn. Learn about volunteer opportunities at Mount Auburn.
Mount Auburn Cemetery is still a unique choice for burial and commemoration. It offers a wide variety of innovative interment and memorialization options for all. Learn about Mount Auburn's many burial and memorialization options. |
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Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery
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email: friends@mountauburn.org
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