Mount Auburn Cemetery

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United States of America - Massachusetts - Cambridge

Institution Code: MACA

BGCI Member: No

ArbNet Accredited: Level III

About the Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mount Auburn Cemetery has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the Department of the Interior, recognizing it as 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 the United States. Today its beauty, historical associations and horticultural collections are internationally renowned.

Our founders believed that burying and commemorating the dead was best done in a tranquil and beautiful natural setting at a short distance from the city center. They also believed that the Cemetery should be a place for the living, "embellishing" the natural landscape with ornamental plantings, monuments, fences, fountains and chapels. This inspired concept was copied widely throughout the United States, giving birth to the rural cemetery movement and the tradition of garden cemeteries. Their popularity led, in turn, to the establishment of America's public parks.

Main Address:
Mount Auburn Cemetery
580 Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge
Massachusetts 02138 United States of America

Telephone: 617-547-7105
Fax: 617-547-7230
URL: www.mountauburn.org
Primary Email: info@mountauburn.org

Staff Details

  • Director's Name: Matthew Stephens
    Curator's Name: Dennis Collins
    Plant Records Officer's Name: Samantha Richardson

About the Garden

  • Institution Type: Botanic Garden
  • Status
  • Status: Private: Yes
  • Date founded: 1831
  • Physical Data
  • Total Area: 71 Hectares
    Latitude: 42.3752940
    Longitude: -71.1449400
    Altitude: 0.00 Metres

Features and Facilities

  • Herbarium: No
    Arboretum: Yes
    Arboretum Size: 111
  • Micropropagation/ Tissue Culture Facilities: No
    Seed Bank: No
    Published Plant Catalogue: No
    Computer Plant Record System: Yes
  • Open to public: Yes
    Friends society: Yes
    Disabled access: Yes

Plant Collections

  • Accession Number: 12171
    Cultivation Taxa Num: 2388
  • Special Collections:Abies (24 spp., 37 taxa), Acer (43 spp., 104 taxa), Betula (15 spp., 23 taxa), Cornus (15 spp., 59 taxa), Fagus (3 spp., 19 taxa), Magnolia (10 spp., 52 taxa), Malus (19 spp., 79 taxa), Picea (15 spp., 45 taxa), Pinus (35 spp., 67 taxa)
  • Invasive Species Monitoring: Yes
    Invasive Species Policy: Yes
    Plant Collection Policy: Yes

Conservation Programmes

  • Conservation Programme: No
    Medicinal Plant Programme: No
    Ex Situ Conservation Programme: No
    Reintroduction Programme: No

Research Programmes

Education Programmes

  • Visitor/Education Centre: Yes
    Education Signs in Garden: Yes
    Public Lectures/Talks: Yes
    Education Booklets/Leaflets: Yes
    Guided Tours: Yes