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News & Events, December 2009
Dear Friend,
The Friends of Mount Auburn is pleased to present the December 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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 Special Event: A Discussion of Encylopedia of the End with Deborah Noyes
Thursday, December 3rd at 5:30 PM. Story Chapel.
Death is the one thing that all humans share in common. Yet, it is also one of life's greatest mysteries. Throughout time and spanning cultures across the globe, humans have tried to understand death in a myriad of fascinating ways.
Join us for a talk with author and photographer Deborah Noyes, whose book Encyclopedia of The End: Mysterious Death in Fact, Fancy, Folklore, and More (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008), explores topics related to "the end" including epitaphs, funeral foods, and the afterlife.
Following the discussion, join us for a reception during which the author will sign copies of the Encyclopedia. Copies will be available for sale during the program. $5 for members of the Friends and $10 for non-members for the event.
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Horticultural Highlight
little tree
little silent Christmas tree
you are so little
you are more like a flower
who found you in the green forest
and were you very sorry to come away?
see I will comfort you
because you smell so sweetly
-E. E Cummings
Balsam fir - text and photo by Jim Gorman, Mount Auburn Cemetery Docent
Abies balsamea, balsam fir is familiar as the traditional, fragrant Christmas tree among many people. The human nose can detect thousands of different odors - a whiff of the ocean, freshly cut grass, vanilla, coffee, lilacs - but many of us experience distinct emotions reaching back to childhood memories of Christmas when smelling a balsam fir. To quote Helen Keller, "Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we have lived."
Native to North America, especially at higher altitudes, from Labrador to northeastern British Columbia and south to northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and throughout northern New England this is a cold climate tree that does not do well in the Boston area.
Its needles are flat, ½ to 1 inch long, bluish-green above with a double-white stripe underneath. The needles are spirally arranged but often appear in flat rows on either side of the branch or twig. Their fragrance is pungent sweet.
Balsam fir cones, two to four inches long, with a purplish color, sit upright on top of branches until seeds inside ripen. Then the cones disintegrate by dropping their scales. Seed production begins when trees reach about fifteen years of age and then will produce heavily every two to four years.
Balsam fir seed is the preferred food of boreal and black-capped chickadees, evening and pine grosbeaks, purple finch, red-crossbill and spruce grouse. This seed is also eaten by gray jay, blue jay, ruffed grouse, white-breasted nuthatch as well as red squirrel and mice. The tree's sap nourishes the yellow-bellied sapsucker and moose and deer browse on its needles. The tree is used for nesting by many bird species, for their first nest of the season, which is commonly built before deciduous trees produce leaves.
As for our use of these as Christmas trees, contrary to E. E. Cummings' allusion above, they are currently generally farm-grown taking seven to nine years to reach the five to six foot height we purchase. During this season's holidays reacquaint yourself with the ineffable aromatherapy emitted from this sentimental favorite.
Some close relatives of the Balsam Fir that you can find at Mount Auburn Cemetery are:
Abies fraseri, Fraser Fir
Abies koreana, Korean Fir
Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica, Arizona Fir
Abies nephrolepis, Manchurian Fir
Abies veitchii, Veitch Fir
Learn more about Mount Auburn's horticultural collections.
"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 Events in December at Mount Auburn
Our Late-Fall 2009 Program and Event schedule is
and register for them on our website today!
Discover Mount Auburn Cemetery - a walking tour. Mount Auburn, designated a National Historic Landmark, is one of the country's most significant designed landscapes. Here the arts of horticulture, architecture, and sculpture combine with the beauty of nature to create a place of comfort and inspiration. This 1.5-mile walking tour will focus on stories of history, monuments, and the lives of those buried here. $5 for members of the Friends and $10 for non-members. Saturday, December 5th at 2:00 PM.
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. This month we will discuss The Dante Club By Matthew Pearl (2006). In this suspenseful novel, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell team up to use their knowledge of Dante's Inferno to catch a serial killer. All three men are buried in Mount Auburn.
Meet at Story Chapel. FREE. Thursday, December 10th at 10:00 AM.
" . . . A voice, a chime, a chant sublime. . ." - annual caroling event at Mount Auburn. Please join us for this event to celebrate the coming of winter. While strolling through Mount Auburn's grounds, we will read poetry and sing carols appropriate for the season. We will include visits to the graves of Phillips Brooks, the author of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, author of the poem "Christmas Bells." Warm refreshments will bring the walk to a happy conclusion. $5 per family, members; $10 per family, non-members. Saturday, December 12th at 2:00 PM
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Birds & Birding at Mount Auburn
The Northern Cardinal
By Robert H. Stymeist
Photo by Anne Haggerty
Most everyone is familiar with the Cardinal; the male is unmistakable with his bright red plumage, a crest, and a contrasting black around the base of a bright red bill. The females have warm red tones including a crest and red bill.
It may surprise most folks to know that the Northern Cardinal is actually a fairly recent bird of the northeast. The first attempted nest in Massachusetts was not documented until 1960 in Amherst, that nest failed, and in 1961 the first successful breeding was in Wellesley. Throughout the 1960's, Cardinals rapidly increased and now they can be found in almost everyone's back yard! A far cry from the 1800's when Cardinals were captured by the thousands to satisfy the caged bird industry. This thankfully ended with the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.
The Cardinal is named after the red robes worn by Roman Catholic cardinals and are noted for their loud whistled songs, often sung from the top of a tree. The female Cardinal also sings especially during the breeding season letting the male know to bring food to the nest. Typical habitats are thickets and brushy areas around forest edges and clearings as well as parks and residential areas. At Mount Auburn the Northern Cardinal is a common breeder, often with two broods; I have found many nests over the years most often in yews, rhododendrons, and low in evergreen trees. It is not unusual to see "double-digit" Cardinals in the winter months especially at the feeder at Auburn Lake. There is almost nothing as beautiful as seeing several Cardinals in in newly fallen snow.
The Cardinal is a year-round resident of Massachusetts and Mount Auburn, in fact the Cardinal maybe the least migratory land bird in Massachusetts not counting the Rock Pigeon and those pesky House Sparrows! The Northern Cardinal is also the State Bird of seven states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia; that's more than any other species.
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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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Candlelighting Ceremony at Mount Auburn
Thursday, December 17th at 3:30 PM. Story Chapel.
Mount Auburn Cemetery cordially invites you to participate in our seasonal candle lighting service. We hold this program to remember the lives of the many who have gone before us and to experience the uniqueness of Mount Auburn as a memorial of beauty and peace.
Candles will be available at cost for those who want to light a candle in honor of someone they wish to remember. Weather permitting, we will place the lighted candles in nearby Asa Gray Garden at the conclusion of the Service.
We welcome you to join us as we continue from Asa Gray Garden to Bigelow Chapel for refreshments and conversation. FREE.
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 December History Highlight
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Mt. Auburn Memorial
"A token of all the heart can keep, of holy love in its fountains deep."
Mt. Auburn Memorial was a weekly newspaper that discussed many topics related to Mount Auburn. The eight page publication was produced by Mount Auburn's gatekeeper, Truman Hopson (T.H.) Safford, and his son DeForest (D.F.) Safford.
The first edition was published on Wednesday, June 15, 1859. Features included poems, stories, news from other cemeteries, advertisements for local services such as dentists and Iron Fence retailers, horticulture notes, record of interments, memorials to notable residents and "The Tour" which was an ongoing feature that supplied a 'general description of lots and monuments on the various avenues and paths.'
Although most pieces were written by T.H. and D.F. Safford, the father and son team also included submissions and works from other publications. In addition to the Gatehouse at Mount Auburn, the paper could also be purchased at the Bowdoin Square railway station in Boston, the Cambridge Post Office, and the publisher's office in Cambridgeport. The price of the paper was 4 cents per copy or $2.00 per year. It ran for two years until the death of T. H. Safford. Flip through Mt. Auburn Memorial online today!
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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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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
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Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery
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email: friends@mountauburn.org
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