Mount Auburn Cemetery: A New American Landscape (Teaching with Historic Places)

Drawing of man and child walking past cemetery.

(From James Smillie's Mount Auburn Illustrated in Finely Drawn Line Engravings. Courtesy Mount Auburn Cemetery)

The situation of Mount Auburn, near Boston, is one of great natural fitness for the objects to which it has been devoted.... In a few years, when the hand of taste shall have scattered among the trees, as it has already begun to do, enduring memorials of marble and granite, a landscape of the most picturesque character will be created. No place in the environs of our city will possess stronger attractions to the visitor.... [T]he human heart...seeks consolation in rearing emblems and monuments.... This can be fitly done, not in the tumultuous and harassing din of cities,...but amidst the quiet vendure of the field, under the broad and cheerful light of heaven,....

Jacob Bigelow, 1831¹

The enduring memorials of which Jacob Bigelow so lyrically spoke were the monuments of people that would be buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery. The establishment of Mount Auburn Cemetery, about four miles outside of Boston, marked a major shift in the way Americans buried their dead. As the country's first large-scale designed landscape open to the public, it inspired many offspring--other rural cemeteries, the first public parks, and the first designed suburbs in the 19th century.

¹From "A Discourse on the Burial of the Dead," a speech delivered by Jacob Bigelow to the Boston Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge in 1831.

About This Lesson

This lesson plan is based on the National Register of Historic Places registration file, "Mount Auburn Cemetery" (photographs), and other documents related to the cemetery. It was produced in collaboration with the National Park Service Historic Landscape Initiative. Janet Heywood, Director of Interpretive Programs at Mount Auburn Cemetery, and Cathleen Lambert Breitkreutz, formerly Assistant Director of Interpretive Programs, wrote Mount Auburn Cemetery: A New American Landscape. Jean West, education consultant, and the Teaching with Historic Places staff edited the lesson. TwHP is sponsored, in part, by the Cultural Resources Training Initiative and Parks as Classrooms programs of the National Park Service. This lesson is one in a series that brings the important stories of historic places into classrooms across the country.

This lesson looks at cemeteries and attitudes towards death and burial. Teachers are advised to judge the emotional state and maturity level of their students before using these materials.

Where it fits into the curriculum

Topics: This lesson plan focuses on the development of new attitudes toward death, nature, and family life in the early 19th century, a time of rapidly growing urban centers and changing ideals. It can be used in U.S. history, social studies, and geography courses in units on urbanization and reform movements.

Time period: Early to mid 19th century

United States History Standards for Grades 5-12

Mount Auburn Cemetery: A New American Landscape relates to the following National Standards for History:

Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)



Curriculum Standards for Social Studies

National Council for the Social Studies

The lesson plan relates to the following Social Studies Standards:

Theme I: Culture




Theme II: Time, Continuity and Change





Theme III: People, Places and Environments






Theme IV: Individual Development and Identity



Theme V: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions


Theme X: Civic Ideals and Practices


Objectives for students

1) To examine the historical causes that led to the founding of Mount Auburn Cemetery.
2) To describe the role that Mount Auburn cemetery played in early 19th-century leisure activities and the development of other rural cemeteries.
3) To analyze the landscape character of Mount Auburn Cemetery and explain how landscape qualities can affect visitors' emotions and feelings.
4) To compare the origin, design, and use of a cemetery or park in their own community with Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Materials for students

1) two maps of the site and surrounding region;
2) three readings about Mount Auburn's history and landscape design;
3) six drawings of Mount Auburn;
4) one photo of Mount Auburn.

Visiting the site

Mount Auburn Cemetery is located at the Watertown-Cambridge border, about 4 miles from downtown Boston and about one mile west of Harvard Square. The grounds are open every day of the year from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with extended hours to 7:00 p.m. in the summer. The office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday; and 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturdays. Mount Auburn remains an active cemetery and also offers a wide variety of tours and lectures throughout the year. For more information, contact the Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 or visit their website.

Getting Started

Inquiry Question

Drawing of man and boy walking by cemetery.

What do the people in this engraving appear to be doing?

What time period is represented?

Setting the Stage

During the first quarter of the 19th century, Boston, Massachusetts, grew from a small village into a major commercial center. Land was at a premium in the newly incorporated city, which had used up much of its original peninsula and was in the process of filling adjacent areas for expansion. Among the first priorities was the development of a safer, healthier city. Boston's burial grounds were seriously overcrowded in the rapidly expanding city; additional space was no longer available within the city limits. Residents were concerned that the burial grounds were contaminating water supplies and that gases emanating from graves threatened public health.

Attitudes about death and burial were changing significantly around this time. In Boston the burial grounds were barren landscapes—crowded, poorly maintained, devoid of plantings, and with little sense of permanence—which reinforced old Calvinist teachings about the horrors of death. As Puritanism declined, and their notions about death were replaced by gentler ideas about mortality, New Englanders began to embrace melancholy and sentimentalism as desirable states of mind.

Mount Auburn Cemetery, founded in 1831, reflected these changing notions about death and at the same time addressed the problem of overcrowded city cemeteries. Located about four miles outside of Boston, Mount Auburn Cemetery provided ample space for burials amidst a tranquil, natural setting. As the country's first large-scale designed landscape open to the public, Mount Auburn attracted not only mourners, but city dwellers wanting to experience nature, students, and tourists as well.

Locating the Site

Map 1: Boston and vicinity, 1830.

Map of early Boston.

(Adapted from a map published in 1830 by Abel Brown.)

Unlike earlier burial grounds in Boston, Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 by Bostonians for their use, but it was located about four miles west of the city. It was the country's first large-scale designed landscape open to the public.

Questions for Map 1
1. Locate Boston. What limited the city's ability to expand?
2. Find the location of Mount Auburn Cemetery (denoted by a black star) on this map drawn in 1830. Why did Bostonians need a cemetery outside of the city limits?
3. From the evidence you see on the map, how is the area where the cemetery is located different from downtown Boston? How might those differences have contributed to the decision to build a cemetery in that location?
4. Since the automobile was not invented until the last decade of the 19th century, and a public horse-drawn trolley to Mount Auburn was not established until the 1840s, how might a resident of Boston have traveled to Mount Auburn in the first decade after its founding in 1831?

Locating the Site

Map 2: Mount Auburn Cemetery, 1847.

Aerial map of Mount Auburn Cemetery.

(From James Smillie's Mount Auburn Illustrated in Finely Drawn Line Engravings. Courtesy of Mount Auburn Cemetery.)

The roads and paths of Mount Auburn Cemetery were laid out in a pattern designed to complement the natural, picturesque beauty of the rugged, wooded site. Early monuments were scattered widely throughout the rather dense, native forest growth, in stark contrast to the barren, flat, unplanted burying grounds of the inner city.

Questions for Map 2
1. Based on the map, what features made Mount Auburn Cemetery such a desirable place to visit? What might the shaded areas represent?
2. If you were standing on the top of the hill labeled "Mount Auburn" in the southern section of the site, what would be the shortest path to reach the Entrance at the far north edge of the site?

Determining the Facts











Questions for Reading 1
2. Where was the new cemetery located?


Determining the Facts










Questions for Reading 3

²Andrew Jackson Downing,

Visual Evidence

Drawing 1: Engraved view of Copp's Hill,
Boston, 1851.

Drawing of old city of Boston with buildings along the harbor.



Drawing of man and boy walking by cemetery.

Questions for Drawings 1 & 2


Visual Evidence

Drawing 3: Engraved view of Stow Gardens, England, circa 1760.

Women sitting on bench by pond.
(Courtesy of Mount Auburn Cemetery)

Drawing 3 depicts a typical English picturesque landscape.

Drawing 4: Engraved view of Gossler Lot, Mount Auburn Cemetery, 1847.

Drawing of people standing by grave site.

Questions for Drawings 3 & 4
1. Study Drawing 3 and Drawing 4. Do you think the landscape of the new cemetery (Drawing 4) successfully captured the same feelings that the English landscape (Drawing 3) embodied? Explain your answer.
2. Which do you feel are more prominent in Drawing 4, the trees or the tombs? Why would the designers of Mount Auburn Cemetery have wanted this to be the case?

Visual Evidence

Photo 1: Stereographic view of Jones Lot, Mount Auburn Cemetery, 1860s.

Photo of enclosed headstone.
(Courtesy of Mount Auburn Cemetery)

The Joneses had embellished their lot with additional furnishings, much as they had decorated their home.

Drawing 5: Engraved view of Appleton Lot, Mount Auburn Cemetery, 1847.

Young men sitting by graveside.
Nineteenth century guidebook for visiting Mount Auburn.

(Courtesy of Mount Auburn Cemetery)

Questions for Photo 1 and Drawings 5 & 6
1. What objects do you see in Photo 1, and what would they have been used for?
2. What do the people in Drawing 5 appear to be doing? Are they paying any attention to the monument? What does this indicate about how people used the cemetery?
3. Can you identify the architectural style of the monument in Drawing 5? (Use additional sources to find out if you're not sure.)
4. Study Drawing 6. Can you identify the architectural style of the entrance gate? (Use additional sources to find out if you're not sure.) Why might they have chosen that style?
5. What does the guide book cover tell you about some of the people who wanted to visit Mount Auburn? What edition is the guide book? What does this indicate about the popularity of the cemetery? How is this book similar to modern vacation guides?
6. After having seen Drawings 5 and 6, who do you think might visit the Jones Lot in Photo 1?

Putting It All Together

The following activities will help students discover the history of a cemetery in their community and how it compares to Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Activity 1: Map Mania
1. Using an enlarged copy of Map 2, the site map (the bigger the better), cut the map into 16 square pieces of roughly equal size.
2. Mix, and then have students draw pieces. Instruct them to try to piece the map back together.
3. Discuss as a class the clues they used to put the map back together. What made the task difficult? What made it easy? Would they describe the circulation system in Mount Auburn Cemetery as simple or complex?

Activity 2: Location is Everything
Ask students to identify the location of a local cemetery on a map of their community. Is the cemetery near the center of town, or is it near the edge? Then coordinate with your local library or historical society to arrange for students to see maps that show the location of the cemetery. Ask students to describe what the surrounding area looked like when the cemetery was first created. Why was the cemetery built in that location? Has the area around the cemetery changed substantially since it was founded?

Students may conduct additional research for substantiating evidence at your local town hall, library, or historical society. They might share their findings by writing an essay or article that compares the founding of your local cemetery with the founding of Mount Auburn Cemetery or making an exhibit comparing and contrasting the local cemetery with Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Activity 3: Observing the Landscape
Arrange for students to visit a local landscape, either a cemetery or park, and ask them to:

  • Compare the landscape of their local park or cemetery with that of Mount Auburn Cemetery. In what ways are they similar or different? In what ways is the overall plan similar to or different from Mount Auburn Cemetery?

  • Identify how people of their community use this landscape. How do they seem to feel about it?

  • Assess their emotional reaction to the landscape of their local cemetery and explain why they have that feeling.

Students may describe their experience either by writing about it or creating a graphic representation of it (drawing, painting, photograph, or collage.) Also, consider working with the organization that manages the cemetery to arrange a clean-up or preservation project at the cemetery.

Mount Auburn Cemetery: A New American Landscape--

Supplementary Resources

By looking at Mount Auburn Cemetery: A New American Landscape, students will learn about revolutionary changes in American landscape design and funerary practices that took place in the early 19th century. Those interested in learning more will find that the Internet offers a variety of interesting materials.

Mount Auburn Cemetery
Although still an active cemetery, Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 as America’s first landscaped or garden cemetery. Comprising 175 acres, it has been nominated as a National Historic Landmark. For more information visit the Mount Auburn Cemetery website.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The Cultural Landscape Foundation is the only not-for-profit foundation in America dedicated to increasing the public’s awareness of the importance and irreplaceable legacy of cultural landscapes. Visit their website for more information on what cultural landscapes are and what they represent. Also learn about endangered landscapes and grassroots efforts to preserve them.

Boston National Historical Park
Boston National Historical Park is a unit of the National Park System. Visit the park's Web pages for the virtual Freedom Trail tour that shows the Granary, King's Chapel, and Copp's Hill burying grounds today.

Arnold Arboretum
The landscape and design at Mount Auburn Cemetery by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society helped to pave the way for Charles Sprague Sargent and Frederick Law Olmsted in their creation of the Arnold Arboretum, part of Boston City Park's Emerald Necklace.

Making of America
The Making of America site by Cornell University features a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. Included on the web site are images of many sources featuring and discussing Mount Auburn Cemetery, including a journal that printed Joseph Story's speech at the dedication of the cemetery.

Search the HABS/HAER collection for detailed drawings, photographs, and documentation from their architectural survey of Mount Auburn Cemetery. HABS/HAER is a division of the National Park Service.

Last updated: February 20, 2020