It was a pleasantly warm day in Boston. After having a very filling lunch with Ward's sister and family, we were deciding how we wanted to spend the afternoon. The lunch had lulled us into a lazy-afternoon-feeling, so we decided to stroll among some gardens of the area which were in full spring bloom. One of them was the Mount Auburn Cemetery. Now I'm not one to visit cemeteries regularly, but this one had more to see than usual. It was founded in 1831 and was America's first landscaped cemetery as well as the first large scale green space open to the public. Today it is an arboretum/botanical garden, a bird sanctuary, as well as a place steeped in history.
You see, the map included the locations of 62 notable sites of the over 1000 notable people who were buried there. I had already picked out the first two graves I wanted to visit—James Russel Lowell and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and they were in the same area that Sis pointed to. Now how was I going to say that I wanted to celebrity grave hop without sounding too shallow? I managed to mumble something about using a quote from James Russel Lowell in my high school graduation speech and how I admired him. So we set off in that direction.
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While the others were enjoying the
blooming dogwoods and azaleas, I hopped out of the car to search the
headstones. After a bit of looking, I found the Lowell family. I went
round and round and found every name except James Russell. I had to
console myself with his wife's spot. She apparently was a well known
poet also. Next to find Henry. After going back and forth several
times, it was determined that I needed to climb a hill to find his
spot. So off I went for a climb while the others enjoyed the scenery
from the comfort of the car. Henry was a bit easier to find. He too
was surrounded by his family.
The afternoon was waning and we had to
leave soon. I had the urge to do one more blitz for a famous monument sighting, but knew that we had something much more important to do. We
were going to visit my brother-in-law's parents' grave. I have to
admit that while I didn't get the same thrill as I did with my famous
sightings, this was a much more meaningful stop. We talked about his
parents and learned family jokes. We asked questions and he told
stories. We left Mt. Auburn with a smile while enjoying the beautiful
scenery and memories of two important family members.
(And, okay, I had some pictures of some
famous people's graves. :) )
I have to say, that's a very pretty cemetery. I'm not the one to go to cemeteries just because either but when I'm there, I like to wonder what those people were like, how they lived their lives. One smart man once said that the most important number on the tombstone is the dash... I love to think about all those dashes.
ReplyDeleteI like that, "The most important part is the dash."
DeleteI spent one summer during my college years working in Amherst Massachusetts. A friend and I had a thing for exploring cemeteries, and Amherst had a nice one, so we spent many an afternoon hanging out there. One day we noticed that people kept driving up, getting out of their cars, snapping photos and then driving off again, so we wandered over to see what the deal was. Turned out it was Emily Dickinson's grave. And here we'd been hanging out with a dead celebrity all summer and hadn't even known it!
ReplyDeleteI love touring the old cemeteries here in Colorado. It always gets to me to see the graves of small children, and sometimes entire families who died within days of each other. It makes one thankful for modern marvels like penicillin.
You and Emily Dickinson--I'm impressed. I usually don't tour many cemeteries because I find them sad. But they are very interesting at the same time. Like, Lena and you, I try to imagine what the people were like who are represented there. It's also interesting to study how grave markers have evolved over the years.
DeleteWhen I was in the 6th grade, our family took a trip out to New England. One of the highlights for my mom was touring grave yards. She took a few rubbings of epitaphs that were, in their own way, humorous. As a kid, all I could think of is, "when are we going back to the motel so we can go swimming?" Sometimes these educational vacations are totally lost on the kids.
ReplyDeleteWhen we first moved to the Washington, DC, area, I tried to impress on my kids how people came from all over the world to see things that were just a short car drive away for them. They should really appreciate their opportunities. However, they were just as happy with the squirrels they saw outside the museums as they were with what they saw inside. Yes, sometimes educational trips are wasted on kids. But maybe not totally. That's what I want to believe anyway.
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