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Preservation Case Study: Mount Auburn Cemetery By the late 1980s, the spirit of Mount Auburn’s past had been overshadowed by demands to provide more graves and reduce costs. Traditional burials had consumed most of the remaining open space, leaving an estimated eight years of active use. A century and a half of acid rain and snow had eroded thousands of marble grave markers. Some areas needed new plantings, and other spaces were overcrowded with trees and shrubs. “From the moment I got here I had to make decisions about repairing or replacing structures and plantings, but had no well-thought-out guidelines to work with,” recalls William C. Clendaniel, the cemetery’s president from 1988 to 2008. The chief challenge was clear: In an active cemetery with a significant history, how does one balance the needs of the present with the desire to preserve the past? When the original edition of Blanche M. G. Linden’s Silent City on a Hill was published the year after Clendaniel arrived, it established the cemetery’s historical context and described how its landscape had given form to contemporary ideas about commemorating individuals. “It was a serious work of scholarship that provided the intellectual underpinning for preservation,” Clendaniel notes. He recognized the need for a master plan, and in 1990 the Halvorson Company (Boston) was commissioned to create one. The principal author of the 1993 document, Elizabeth Vizza, says the plan “strives to integrate new cemetery development, landscape design, and horticultural collections.” Clendaniel summarized a set of guiding principles based on the findings of Halvorson’s research and reaffirming the founders’ vision that the landscape as a whole would act as a memorial. “The visual character of the landscape of Mount Auburn is of paramount importance in realizing Mount Auburn’s mission,” Clendaniel wrote. “Landscape preservation and enhancement will take precedence in decisions about development.” The Halvorson Company recommended establishing character zones that would emphasize the landscape’s diversity and historical layering. They also spelled out a horticultural mission that would place the display of plantings within the historical design context. And they urged the preservation of individual monuments, curbs, and other historical structures. They advised placing limits on new development and protecting areas of historical and aesthetic integrity. They encouraged cremation and innovative, space-saving memorials. Vizza summed up the most urgent challenge facing Mount Auburn and other historical cemeteries: “If the landscape is the best memorial, to what extent should there be new development? There are tensions between the need to remain financially viable and the need to preserve the genius of the place.” The Halvorson plan guided Clendaniel throughout his tenure, which included significant new development. “It’s important to remain an active cemetery for as long as possible and to commemorate people in ways that are relevant today,” he observes, noting that road removals and space-conscious interments have added decades to the cemetery’s active life. “But preservation of the historic landscape character must come first. The design of new development must be informed by what is already here. Linden’s book has been helpful in this process.” One example of innovative recent development is Halcyon Garden, a grass path bordered by groves of birch and redbud covering almost one hundred graves, designed by Reed Hilderbrand Associates, of Cambridge. Another is Spruce Knoll, a woodland cremation garden created by Vermont-based landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy. A contemplative grassy area designed by the Halvorson Company near Willow Pond is encircled by trees and groundcover beds that contain memorial “ledger stones.” Not all of the recent intellectual effort has been expended on grounds and buildings. Research by Janet Heywood, Mount Auburn’s vice president of interpretive programs, led to new interpretive tools, such as audio tapes, illustrated booklets, and outdoor panels displaying historical images. Clendaniel says that much of this work was made possible by the foundation laid by Silent City. In turn, he observes, the revised, LALH edition has been informed by new scholarship and materials found in the cemetery’s archives. “After nearly twenty years,” he reflects, “we have come full circle. The original book inspired new thinking that has now led to a new edition.” Photographs: |
