Exploring Mount Auburn (Cemetery) Cultural Landscape for Spring Bloom!

I thought that now would be a good time to visit Mount Auburn Cemetery since everything will be in full spring bloom!

Please Note: Mount Auburn is a New England’s "Garden Cemetery" and it is on the list as one of the country’s if not the World’s Best Garden Cemetery.

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Mount Auburn Cemetery is a National Historic Landmark and is one of the country's most significant cultural landscapes. Founded in 1831, it was the first large-scale designed landscape open to the public in USA. Today its beauty, historical associations and horticultural collections are internationally renowned. Its impressive collection of over 5,000 trees, thousands of shrubs and herbaceous plants weave through 175 acres of hills, dells, ponds, woodlands and clearings.

Landscape reflects different styles ranging from Victorian-era plantings to contemporary gardens, from natural woodlands to formal ornamental gardens, and from sweeping vistas through majestic trees to small enclosed spaces.

A variety of maps +materials about the Cemetery are available at the Entrance Gate and in the Cemetery office. Wonderful view of Boston and Cambridge from Washington Tower in Mt. Auburn Cemetery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/point08/sets/72157600645503795/

Special notes: Visitors are allowed to drive in the Cemetery and may park on any roads without a green line. Bicycles and motorcycles are not permitted, but may be parked at the Entrance Gate area.

Etiquette: Mount Auburn is still an active burial place. It is a sacred site, and visitors are expected to behave appropriately. Pets are NOT permitted. Recreational activities such as picnicking, jogging, and rollerblading are not permitted. Gravestones are fragile. Please do not touch them. Gravestone rubbing is prohibited. Photographing funerals is prohibited.

Meet in front of Bigelow Chapel: see photo of it at this Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bigelowchapel.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Bigelowchapel.jpg/220px-Bigelowchapel.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bigelowchapel.jpg)

Bigelow Chapel is on Chapel Ave which on the right about 600 feet after you enter the of Mount Auburn Cemetery from the Mount Auburn St. Enterance. Note: When you enter Mount Auburn Cemetery from the Mount Auburn St. Enterance. Please stop off at the at the side of the front gate for a minute and pick up a Map of Mount Auburn Cemetery (Do not park there long) ….yes you should donate a dollar for the Map and some money for what other brochures or pamphlet you take. There is a box in that area to put your money in. It costs them money to keep this place nice so contribute please. Park your car somewhere safe in the surrounding area inside the Mount Auburn Cemetery and walk back Bigelow Chapel. (I posted the photo) Website: http://www.mountauburn.org/

Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Auburn_Cemetery

Great views from this main tower in Mount Auburn Cemetery:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/MtAuburnTower.JPG/220px-MtAuburnTower.JPG (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MtAuburnTower.JPG)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/BostonFromMtAuburn.jpg/1200px-BostonFromMtAuburn.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BostonFromMtAuburn.jpg)

Directions: http://www.mountauburn.org/visit_participate/directions.cfm Oh and yes this is T Accessible (MBTA or Public Transportation as you may call it) At Harvard Square Station (Red Line), take either the Watertown Square or Waverley Square trolley (#71 or #73). Get off on Mount Auburn Street at Aberdeen Avenue. Cross Mount Auburn Street to the Entrance Gate. (Check schedules on the MBTA website.)