Blog 7

Mt. Auburn Cemetery built in 1831 marked a departure from the usual typology of graveyards such as the Old Burial Ground built 1635. While the 2-acre Old Burial Ground is located in the urban heart of Cambridge adjacent to Harvard University, the 174 acre Mt. Auburn is set in a vast landscape of lush vegetation with classical monuments throughout the diverse terrain. 

Established at the dawn of colonial settlement in the area, the Old Burial Ground was in operation for over two centuries before the church and state were legally separated in 1883. The bind of religion and government permeated the influence of the church into the beliefs and lifestyle of the citizenry. Christ Church and the First Parish Church border the historic graveyard, denoting the religious affiliation of the Old Burial Ground. 

 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/old-burial-ground

The tombstone above of Walter Hasting who died in 1699 holds an engraving of a winged skull and reveals the Puritan perspective of death that pervaded through society at the time. The symbol reflects the fearful and desolate perception of death that stems from the belief that mortality is God’s punishment for the original sin committed by Adam and Eve. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mary_Baker_Eddy_Memorial,_Mount_Auburn_Cemetery.JPG

Mt. Auburn Cemetery typifies the paradigm shift in religious and cultural ideals with tombstone motives and the overall design of cemeteries no longer acting as harsh reminders of human mortality. America’s first garden cemetery memorialized the deceased in a very different way to Cambridge’s first graveyard. Mary Baker Eddy’s monument above is a circular colonnade of classical style that commemorates the life of Eddy, contributing to the cemetery’s revolutionary design as much more than a graveyard and also reflecting the secularization that occurred in the late 19th and early 20th century. The somber and reductive style perpetuated by the Puritans in the Old Burial Ground can be contrasted with the manicured design of Mt. Auburn that is both a cemetery and arboretum. The serene atmosphere and ornamentation promote a more positive attitude towards death than the Old Burial Ground.

https://huh.harvard.edu/media-gallery/detail/1375087/1077723

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Parish_in_Cambridge_MA.jpg

Ironically, the architecture of the First Parish Church next to the Old Burial Ground reflects the cultural and religious transition illuminated in the comparison between the Mount Auburn Cemetery and the Old Burial Ground. In 1914, a faction perturbed by the Gothic elements of the First Parish Church and the Gothic architecture of a renovation proposal succeeded in implementing a remodel of the church to a more inconspicuous Georgian style. Many parishioners favored Gothic because they felt a colonial structure seemed too secular to them. The renovation in favor of a less religious architecture illuminates the decline in societal influence of the church. 

Sources:

https://www.funeralhelpcenter.com/headstone-symbols-deaths-head/

https://cemeterytravel.com/2011/09/07/cemetery-of-the-week-31-mount-auburn-cemetery/

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1962692/old-burying-ground

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Auburn_Cemetery

Maycock and Sullivan's Building Old Cambridge