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News & Events, October 2009
Dear Friend,
The Friends of Mount Auburn is pleased to present the October 2009 edition of our electronic
newsletter. We invite you to join our email list to receive this mailing on a monthly basis. To
address book today.
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 Neighbors and Networks: The Olmsted Firm
and the Development of Brookline 1880-1936.
Please join us at Wheelock College on Thursday, October
29th for this special Friends of Fairsted lecture by Professor
Keith Morgan of Boston University.
Through more than three hundred commissions and multiple
associations, the Olmsted office played a seminal role in the
appearance and organization of Brookline.
A study, led by Professor Morgan and sponsored by the National Park Service and the Organization
of American Historians, explored the impact of the Olmsted office and family on the evolution of the
town. Based on this work, Professor Morgan will discuss the network of personal and professional
relationships that facilitated the careful development of the suburban landscape surrounding Fairsted.
This lecture is free to the public and will take place at the Wheelock College Auditorium at 43 Hawes
Street, Brookline. Reception is at 6:00PM and lecture is at 7:00 PM. Seating is limited. Please RSVP by phone to 617.566.1689 ext. 235 or to friendsoffairsted@gmail.com. _______________________________________________________________________
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Horticultural Highlight
Text and Photo by Jim Gorman, Mount Auburn Cemetery Docent
Fothergilla major, or large fothergilla, is an upright
multiple-stemmed deciduous shrub that normally grows
to about 6 feet in height although some may be slightly
taller. Native to the southeastern U. S. it is perfectly
cold hardy (USDA Zones 5-8) during Mount Auburn's winters.
Before the leaves appear in the spring, Fothergilla has sweetly fragrant white flowers with 12 to 32 stamens (no petals) forming an interesting bottle-brush shape that cover the shrub and may be as much as three inches long.
Between 1765 and 1773 Linnaeus' correspondence shows that he initially believed this to be a common witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) to which the leaves are very similar in size and shape. Eventually he determined it was a then new genus Fothergilla although it is in the same botanical family as witch hazels, Hamamelidaceae. The genus name honors Dr. John Fothergill (1712-1780), a Quaker physician and philanthropist of London who maintained a life-long interest in natural history and maintained an extensive garden and greenhouse where he grew plants from around the world.
For the home landscape fothergilla is attractive enough to perform as a specimen planting or to be included in a shrub border where a tall hedge or screen effect is desired. For those wishing to help reduce the numbers of invasive plants in our area we recommend this as an alternative to the heretofore far too frequently planted burning bush (Euonymus alatus) which, although it has brilliant red autumn foliage color, is now included on the Massachusetts voluntary do not plant list.
On your autumn foliage visit to Mount Auburn look for large fothergilla on Asphodel Path, Heliotrope Path, Spruce Avenue, Birch Avenue, Rosebay Avenue and Meadow Road. Dwarf fothergilla (Fothergilla gardenii) is a 2-to-3 foot mounded shrub that likewise provides spectacular red autumn foliage and earlier spring fragrant, white bottle-brush like flowers. The dwarf fothergillas are found at numerous locations throughout our landscape.
Bulb Planting at Mount Auburn: On Wednesday, October 14th volunteers are invited to join the Cemetery gardening staff at 9:30 AM for our annual free bulb planting event. Bring your work gloves and trowels along with lots of energy and enthusiasm and help us add blooms to Mount Auburn's early spring season! Dress for garden work. In the event of inclement weather this program will be held on Thursday, October 15th.
Awash in Color - Fall Foliage Walks: Experience the beauty of autumn at Mount Auburn on one of our "Awash in Color" fall foliage walks! At 2:00 PM on Saturday, October 17th and again on Saturday, October 31st, we will visit some of the more colorful trees in our landscape in addition to looking for the plants and shrubs putting out their fall fruits and nuts. These walks will be held rain or shine. $5 for members of the Friends and $10 for non-members.
"Big Trees at Mount Auburn" and "Unusual Trees of Mount Auburn" maps are available for purchase at the Mount Auburn Entrance Gate and in the Visitors Center.
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 Friends of Mount Auburn October Programs
Our Fall 2009 Program and Event schedule is
and register for them on our website today!
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
Mount Auburn Book Club on Thursday, October 8th
at 10:00 AM. This month we'll discuss For the Prevention of Cruelty: The History and
Legacy of Animal Rights Activism in the U.S. by Diane L. Beers (2006). Although many
believe that that Animal Rights Activism first took off in the 1970's with the publishing of
Peter Singer's famous book, Animal Liberation - two early leaders of the movement are
buried at Mount Auburn. George Angell and Emily Appleton founded the Massachusetts
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1868. Meet at Story Chapel. FREE.
The Ice-Age Legacy of Mount Auburn Cemetery - a walking tour with Robin Hazard
Ray, Docent, Mount Auburn. Join us at 2:00 PM on Saturday, October 10th for a leisurely
tour of some of the many glacial features preserved at Mount Auburn, including an esker,
a kettle pond, and erratics, and see how they fit into the larger geological context of the
Boston Basin. We will begin with a brief presentation in Story Chapel. $5 for members of the
Friends; $10 for non-members.
What Goes Around - a presentation by Dee Morris, Social Historian. Victorians loved the
ancient symbol of the circle. Dating from pagan times, the image represented eternity,
never-ending life, victory, and fidelity. There are many variations displayed at Mount Auburn
such as wreathes, Celtic crosses, large spheres or even circles with wings. The symbol was a
natural choice flowing from daily life - being surrounded by circles of family and friends,
wearing wedding and mourning rings, and seeing the symbol adorn public buildings, they found it a reassuring motif for their cemetery monuments. Meet at Story Chapel at 2:00 PM on Sunday, October 18th. $5 for members of the Friends; $10 for non-members.
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Birds & Birding at Mount Auburn
White-throated Sparrow
By Robert H. Stymeist
Photo by Jeremiah Trimble
October is sparrow month - those little brown birds that some people think "all look alike" and are hard to tell apart. Well, some sparrows need closer inspection, for instance, one of the most familiar - the White-throated Sparrow.
Pete Dunne, a well known birder and author of many books on birds once said, "White-throated Sparrows come in two plumages - stunning and shabby." In the fall one is more apt to see the shabby variety, but chances are also good that a smartly marked adult will be nearby.
The White-throated Sparrow is a bird of the woods, a habitat that is not favored by other sparrows. It can be fun to watch a White-throated Sparrow kick with both feet to uncover prey at Consecration Dell in Mount Auburn Cemetery. White-throats tend to gather together while scratching through the leaf litter, searching for food on the ground under the rhododendrons in the Dell area at this time of year.
Every year, the White-throated Sparrow returns to Mount Auburn in late September and
can be quite numerous into late November. The numbers of sparrows drop with the first
snow and at that point the feeding station at Auburn Lake is one of the best areas to watch
for the birds feeding alongside Song Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, and of course House Sparrows. Usually pecking at fallen seeds, White-throats prefer to have a bush or brush pile nearby to dart into in the event of an approaching hawk or cat.
There is a big build-up of White-throated Sparrows in April during their northward
migration. I have seen well over 100 individuals in the spring with most of them singing.
The song is loud and distinct, a series of whistled notes often paraphrased as "Old Sam
Peabody, Peabody, Peabody" or "Oh sweet Canada, Canada, Canada". The last migrants
go through Mount Auburn by the second week in May.
Mount Auburn Cemetery is an important wildlife refuge - ecologically rich, botanically
diverse and increasingly vital as a large, undisturbed open space in a highly developed urban area. A wide variety of wildlife visits or lives within Mount Auburn's 175 acres and has been doing so since before the Cemetery was founded in 1831. See Mount Auburn wildlife photos on Flickr.
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Birds and Birding at Mount Auburn Cemetery: An Introductory Guide by
Christopher Leahy and Clare Walker Leslie, 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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 Understanding Cremation
Mount Auburn is still a unique choice for burial
and commemoration. We offer a variety of innovative
interment and memorialization options: traditional
earth burial for caskets or cremated remains, indoor
or outdoor niches for cremated remains, and outdoor
garden crypts for caskets and urns.
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.
October 24th at 1:00 PM. Mount Auburn Crematory Manager, Walter Morrison, Jr., will
answer any questions you may have about cremation procedures and costs. After the
presentation at Bigelow Chapel, there will be an opportunity to tour the crematory.
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 Mount Auburn: October History Highlight
By the early 19th century, Boston and Cambridge had
become a center for the growing movement for abolition.
The anti-slavery community was an interesting and diverse
group of individuals working together in a number of different ways, all fighting for a common cause.
Several individuals involved with the cause for abolition are
buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery including: Harriet Jacobs,
freedom-seeker and author of the slave narrative Incidents In the Life of A Slave Girl; Charles
Turner Torrey, a minister who turned his attentions to assisting fugitive slaves escape safely
through Baltimore; Joshua Bowen Smith, a Boston caterer who employed fugitive slaves and
kept them safely hidden from bounty hunters; George Luther Sterns, an abolitionist who hid
fugitive slaves at his Medford Farm; and, Senator Charles Sumner, who began his political career
as an outspoken defender of the abolitionist movement and later sparked national political
controversy for his speeches against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
To recognize the important role that Boston and Cambridge played in the anti-slavery movement, museums and sites throughout the region are offering programs about the cause to end America's"peculiar institution." Join us here at the Cemetery on Friday, October 16th at 12:00 PM for a brown-bag lunch program The Network to Freedom: Mount Auburn's Connections to the Underground Railroad - an indoor talk about Mount Auburn's community of abolitonists. Or come in on Thursday, October 22nd at 2:00 PM for an outdoor walking tour, Harriet Jacobs and her Network of Friends to learn more about Jacobs, an escaped slave from North Carolina who published her personal accounts of life as a slave, Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl, Written by Herself, in 1861 and her circle of friends.
And, on October 23rd & 24th, attend a public symposium at Suffolk University, Abolitionism
in Black & White: The Anti-Slavery Community of Boston and Cambridge, to learn
even more about this important chapter in the history of this region and our country. For more
information on the Symposium, including a list of speakers and registration details, please visit:
www.abolitionisminblackandwhite.com.
*The memorial for Peter Byus (Lot # 3752, Magnolia Avenue) briefly shares the life story of an escaped slave:
"In memory of Peter Byus, born in Hampshire County, Virginia, a slave. At the age of about thirty six he fled
to Boston for freedom where he resided for the last thirty years. He died the 27th of February 1867. Aged 66
years. He was a sincere Christian, a true friend and an honest man."
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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
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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Connect with the Friends of Mount Auburn! Please visit us online and
become a "fan" of our page. Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc. |
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View Friends of Mount Auburn photos on Flickr. Flickr is a free
photo hosting website - we are now sharing our photos with the world
through Flickr.
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Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery
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email: friends@mountauburn.org
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