Turkey at Mt. Auburn

Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA, is a well-known birder hangout -- and the first weekend of May saw birders out in force. This is one reason why. . .

Samuel Greene - Swan Point

Samuel Greene

Born April 16, 1809.

Died Oct. 2, 1852.

For earth, his motto was,

my country - my family - my business.

To the first, a patriotic son.

To the second,

a devoted husband, and kind father,

and affectionate brother.

And in the last, energetic, exact,

and honest in an eminent degree.

For heaven,

it was the great creator:God here, God there,

God always,.

Laura Tyler Green

wife to Samuel Green

Daughter of Capt. Solomon Tyler

March 15, 1805

May 5, 1881

Rest in peace.

Edith Wolt - Mt. Auburn

Daughter of Peter and Mary Helen Wolt, Grandchild of Baker and Mary McNear, born Aug 21 1869, died Feb. 8, 1881.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA

Sleepy Hollow, Concord's largest cemetery with some 10,000 gravesites, is located one block east of Monument Square, on Bedford Street. One of the first "pastoral" cemeteries in the United States, Sleepy Hollow is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Two of the most visited areas are "Authors Ridge"  and the Melvin Memorial.

"Mourning Victory," commonly known as the Melvin Memorial was and commissioned by James Melvin in memory of his three brothers who died during the Civil War, was created by his boyhood friend, Daniel Chester French. Mr. French who also designed the Minuteman Statue at Concord's North Bridge and the Lincoln Statue in Washington's D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial. French is himself buried nearby, on the ridge directly behind the monument.

To the right of the Melvin Memorial, up a short stretch of road lies a hollow, on the far side of which is "Authors Ridge." Here you will find the graves of Henry Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Louisa May Alcott and her father, Bronson Alcott. Each is buried in a family plot and marked with modest stones. Hawthorne's marker, in keeping with his personal reserve, bears only his last name, while Emerson created his own epitaph: "The passive master lent his hand to the vast soul which o'er him planned." (from his poem, The Problem).

Emerson's stone faces a large boulder at the base of the hill, which covers the resting place of Ephraim Wales Bull, the originator of the celebrated Concord Grape. At the Alcott plot, Ms. Alcott is surrounded by her father, mother and sisters, whom she made famous in Little Women. Except for Louisa May, the Alcott stones bear only the occupants’ initials. Tragedy hovers here. Bronson Alcott died on March 4, 1888, and Louisa May, gravely ill with pneumonia and shaken by his passage, died two days later. Both were buried on the same day later in the spring when the ground had thawed sufficiently.

Visit the cemetery website: http://www.concordma.gov/Pages/ConcordMA_Cemetery/sleepy

Swan Point - Memorial Day 2011

A gorgeous late spring day in Providence demanded a stroll through one of New England's premier garden cemeteries -- and being Memorial Day, what we used to call "Decoration" Day, it was doubly important that we stop and pay our respects to so many who have lived, loved and left.

Vinton

Waldo

Richmond

Snow

W. O. Briggs

Robbie Aldrich

Amy Fletcher

Anthony-Bullock

Charles Gauch

Capt. Thomas Vaughn Swan Point - updated 6/7/11

In celebration of Memorial Day, re-enactors from Battery B, 1st Rhode Island Artillery held a quiet ceremony at the graveside of Captain Thomas Vaughn. Recalling his service as the first commanding officer of the battery and his exemplary service in the Civil War, the tribute also noted his strength of character was not confined solely to the army. His death by drowning in 1874 while trying to save the lives of others was recalled with a poignancy that still resonates after more than 135 years.

After the wreath and rose were laid and speeches set aside, the bugler finished the ceremony with Taps.

Mount Auburn - Memorial Day Weekend 2011

Technically, we were there on Friday morning, not the beginning of the weekend per se. Still, it was a gorgeous day, and where better to spend it than in one of America's landmark garden cemeteries?

Walker

Wince-Edwards

Green

Hunt-Brewster

Norcross

John Dix Fisher