at Mount Auburn
Friends of
Mount Auburn _____________________________
January 2011
This brochure includes the angels and cherubs found on the route this tour will follow. See the map on the inside of the last page of this booklet. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Hebrews, xiii, 2 “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." -- (Luke, II, 10-11) Antiphon for Divine Wisdom by Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) Sophia! You of the whirling wings, Circling encompassing Energy of God: You quicken the world in your clasp. One wing soars in heaven One wing sweeps the earth And the third flies all around us. Praise to Sophia! The word angel derives from the Greek “angelos” which means messenger. In Islam the word for angel is “mala” which also means messenger. Angels and Cherubs Represent Messengers and Spirits who * mediate between the human and the divine * sing praises and joy * make music; carry trumpets and harps * point to Heaven * care for the dead * pray for us * watch over children * represent departing spirits * proclaim and carry scrolls and banners * make records in the Book of Life * guide souls to Heaven
Story Chapel. Designed by Willard Sears and built between 1896 and 1898, Story Chapel is used for memorial services and Friends activities. Inside the Chapel a host of angels carved of wood sings overhead. And one [angel] cried to another, and said “holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of God’s Glory.” Isaiah 6:3 Photo of Story Chapel, ca. late 1930s
"Our Dear Lizzie" Butler Lot (Yew Avenue) A GIFT OF GOD SHE WAS THE SUNSHINE OF OUR HOME AN ANGEL TO US GIVEN JUST WHEN WE LEARNED TO LOVE HER MOST GOD CALLED HER BACK TO HEAVEN Inscription on the base of the monument to Lizzie Spooner Butler, who died on May 26, 1882, at 16 years, 3 months and 26 days. Niles Lot (Yew Avenue) In this pair of lots enclosed with a granite curb, there are four women remembered with gravestones bearing angels and cherubs carved on them. These gravestones were produced by the talented firm of John Evans and Company of Boston between 1894 and 1934. The three gravestones with cherubs in the W. Niles lot have quotations carved on them. They mark the graves of three sisters. Emily Hale Niles (March 18, 1839 - September 28, 1908) GIVE HER OF THE FRUIT OF HER HANDS, AND LET HER OWN WORKS PRAISE HER IN THE GATES PROVERBS, 31, 33 Anna Hale Niles (April 18, 1840 – June 27, 1911) THE PATH OF THE JUST IS AS THE SHINING LIGHT, THAT SHINETH MORE AND MORE UNTO THE PERFECT DAY. PROVERBS, 4, 18 Sarah Towle Niles (October 10, 1848 – September 16, 1934) HER WAYS ARE WAYS OF PLEASANTNESS, AND ALL HER PATHS ARE PEACE. PROVERBS, 3, 17
Jones Lot (Garden Avenue) This graceful angel is dedicated "To My Beloved Wife" -- Caroline Coffin Jones (18181877). "A Most Affectionate and Devoted Wife and Mother." Wife of Dr. George S. Jones, M. D. The inscription reads: Lay her gently to her rest amid . . . Herself the pure lily so lovely. The gems of the sod she dearly loved best, Whose fragrance is wafted to glory. (some words unclear) Pettengill Lot (Garden Avenue). An angel carries the baby and assists the mother to ascend to heaven. Sarah Pettengill died at thirty-six in 1864 during childbirth. The egg-and-dart, life-and-death, detailing seems particularly poignant. Her father and mother, Joshua (1808-1883) and Hannah Kendall (1807-1888), are buried in the adjoining lot. Sarah's husband Samuel remarried and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891. The monument is signed by the Graef firm of New York. The inscription reads: Come Ye Blessed Of My Father. I Will Fear No Evil For Thou Art With Me. I Shall Be Satisfied When I Awake With Thy Likeness. Coppenhagen Lot (Sycamore Avenue) This monument is dedicated to "My Beloved Daughter Maria" and depicts an angel carrying a trumpet. Maria Frances Coppenhagen died at thirty in 1869. Her mother died shortly thereafter in 1871. Sculptor, Martin Milmore (18441881) completed this marble angel for Maria in Rome in 1874. Bigelow Chapel Lawn also has a Milmore sculpture, commissioned by Jacob Bigelow to commemorate the end of the Civil War. The Sphinx was completed in 1872.
Mary Baker Eddy Lot (Halcyon Avenue) Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), founder of The Church of Christ, Scientist, is buried beneath the beautiful temple-like monument at Halcyon Lake. My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys. Angels are God’s representatives. The upward-soaring beings never lead towards self, sin, or materiality, but guide to the divine principle of all good, whither every real individuality, image or likeness of God, gathers. By giving earnest heed to these spiritual guides they tarry with us, and we entertain “angels unawares.” Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health Lowell Lot (Fountain Avenue) The monument for James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), the noted 19thcentury poet, is a Colonial Revival marker erected after Lowell's death depicting a winged skull, a "death'shead." This image is found on some of the earliest gravemarkers in New England. A landmark study by James Deetz and Edwin Dethlefsen (1965) established the pattern that can be found in the evolution of images found on New England gravestones – from death's-head to winged cherub to decorative urn.
James Russell Lowell Colonial Revival gravestone, photo ca 1940s
“She had been with us scarce a twelvemonth, And it hardly seemed a day, When a troop of wandering angels Stole my little daughter away;” From The Changeling by James Russell Lowell – written for his daughter who died young.
Kay Lot (Fountain Avenue) A devotional angel child stands on this tall obelisk and marks the grave of Thomas Belcher Kay (1811-1858). This monument is quite similar to that on the Earle Lot on Mistletoe Path. Last line of obliterated inscription: In Death's Cold Arms to Sleep. Jones Family Lot (Central Avenue, on the right) On the central marble monument inscribed "My Wife and Child," an angel lifts the child from the coffin as a cherub watches. The small monument of a sleeping child on the left is dedicated to "Our Angel Boy." With these memorials George Jones remembered his wife Anna who died at twenty-seven in 1853, and their daughter Alice who had died at seven months in 1852. Mr. Jones later remarried and a young son who died at two in 1860 is remembered as "Our Angel Boy." Holbrook Family Lot (Central Avenue, on the left) A tall angel points toward heaven. Five young children were the first burials in this lot between 1860 and 1879.
Hurlbert Lot (Willow Avenue, east) On this brownstone monument two angels bear a woman heavenward. Early burials in the lot include a successful Boston dealer in "paper hangings" Samuel Hurlbert (who died at 35 years) in 1845 and his mother Polly (died at 69) in 1849. His wife Sophia (died at 68 in 1889) and her second husband (William Richardson who died at 42 in 1853) and daughter (Sarah who died at 35 years in 1879) and son (died at 52 in 1896) are also buried here. We don't know who made the monument but the artwork is copied after a proposal titled "Ascension" by the sculptor, Edward Brackett (1818-1908), published in a folio of drawings in 1844. The introduction to the folio proclaimed: "There are few ways in which Sculpture can better satisfy our wants, or more nearly touch our hearts, than in rearing monuments for the dead."
Thayer Lot (Willow Avenue, east) The striking central monument in this lot was placed here before 1838. The angels at the three corners of the base resemble caryatids, female figures serving as an architectural support in ancient structures. The 1839 Picturesque Pocket Companion and Visitor's Guide through Mount Auburn says that the inscription reads:
Illustration from 1839 Guide
“in memory of Amasa Thayer, born in Braintree, March 26, 1764, died in Antigua, Oct. 18, 1813; and of Elizabeth, his widow, born in Boston, May 5, 1760, [died March 7, 1825], interred here May 23, 1834: ---------They meet; To part no more, And, with celestial welcome, greet; On an immortal shore.�
Knox Family Lot (Poplar Avenue) A marble angel carefully makes an entry in the Book of Life. The family lot is that of Robert Knox (1770-1857). He was a naval officer who commanded a gunboat in the War of 1812 and who later worked at the Charlestown Navy Yard until he retired.
Knox lot, photo circa 1890.
Noll Lot (Walnut Avenue) Seven young children were buried in the Noll family lot between 1856 and 1884. The children included Heinrich Noll who died at 4 years, 8 months, 5 days and was buried here in 1856 and Albert Noll who died at 1 year, 6 months, 9 days and was buried here in 1859. This angel child watches over the baby on the monument marking the grave of young Albert. Noll Lot (Walnut Avenue) Photo from Edmund V. Gillon, Jr., Victorian Cemetery Art, Dover, 1972
Tebbetts Lot (Iris Path) An angel with a sword stands at rest atop the Tebbetts family monument. Perhaps this represents the archangel St. Raphael, the chief of the guardian angels and guardian angel of all humanity. He is often represented in art bearing a sword. In Christian tradition, it is Raphael, the guardian angel, who appears to the shepherds on Christmas night. Donaldson Lot (Pilgrim Path) A striking, and rather earthly, angel strides forward from this stone. Her gown is tucked up showing her graceful knees, and she appears to be holding her hands in prayer. The inscription honors Major General James Lowry Donaldson, Colonel and Assistant Quartermaster of the United States Army (1814-1885) and his wife Harriet (1812?-1894).
Poor Lot (Fir Avenue) This marble gravestone carries the image created by Bertel Thorvaldsen "Day -- Aurora with the Genius of Light" in 1815. Samuel P. Allen Lot (Spruce Avenue) Here an angel proudly carries a banner inscribed Samuel P. Allen, died January 24, 1850, aged thirty six years. The first burials in this family lot were that of children. In 1847, two-year old Samuel P. Allen, Jr. was buried, followed in 1849 by eight-year old William. Note the oak leaves and acorns and downward-turned torches. The monument was signed by its maker William Freedley. The 1859 Handbook to Cambridge and Mount Auburn states: "This monument is highly ornamental, and is of a design exceeding difficult to describe in the limited space at command. It should be noticed by all visitors."
Blanchard Lot (Spruce Avenue) The large sarcophagus carries on each corner a cherub face. Each of the four faces has been carefully crafted to show a different expression. The monument remembers John Adams Blanchard, born in Boston April 6, 1842, died in Florence March 25, 1885 and his son George Dove Blanchard, died April 12, 1873 at 16 months. The inscription was once gilded. The monument, signed by maker L. Costoli, Florence, was installed here in the summer of 1887. John Adams Blanchard (1842-1885) is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Florence. With Thee is the Fountain of Life In Thy Light Shall We see Light. Trull Lot (Pine Avenue) Another young angel, tastefully draped, blows a horn on this monument, celebrating John W. Trull, who died April 12, 1867. The monument was carved by a local carver, William Freedley.
"Cherub with Trumpet" Photo from Edmund V. Gillon, Jr., Victorian Cemetery Art, Dover, 1972
Brown Lot (Cypress Avenue) The large Brown family lot at the corner of Cypress and Cedar avenues contains monuments illustrating several generations of styles. Young Lucy C. Parker, granddaughter of William and Lucy Brown, is remembered by a marble angel rising from the earth with her hands held in prayer. Her parents ordered the marble angel from the New York firm of Casoni & Isola after her death on December 20, 1877 and the stone was placed in the Cemetery in May 1878.
Bigelow Chapel (Chapel Avenue) In October 1844 the Trustees of the Cemetery voted to erect a chapel of fine hammered Quincy granite at a cost not to exceed $25,000. The building would serve as a place for funeral services and as a depository for appropriate works of art. Trustee Dr. Jacob Bigelow, physician and Harvard professor, had proposed the winning design for the chapel selected in an architectural competition. His proposal incorporated the use of stained glass windows in the romantic Gothic tradition. Dr. Bigelow sought the advice D. R. Hay of Edinburgh, an influential decorative painter and author, noted for his writings on beauty, proportion and color theory. Hay recommended Ballantine and Allan of Edinburgh. He wrote to Bigelow that they had been selected "by the Royal Commission of the Fine Arts to furnish the painted glass for the principal portions of the new Houses of Parliament." Bigelow requested that they immediately start to make the two large windows. He wrote: In the Nave window [north window] you will fill the large perpendicular lights and Thorvaldsen image of Night (1815) all the smaller lights of the upper compartments, exactly as they now stand in your designs. But the great circular space in this window I wish filled, not with the resurrection piece in your design, but with an allegorical representation of Death, of which I send you a design, in the roll, copied mainly from Thorvaldsen's bas relief of Night, representing a winged sleeping female and two infants. It is the most beautiful & appropriate thing I have seen. In the Rose window you will substitute in the center a design which is also enclosed in the roll, and which is allegorical of Immortality. It is copied from the two cherubs in Raphael's Madonna del Sisto, who are here represented as gazing upward into a light or glory, which proceeds from an invisible source. Raphael's picture is at Dresden. Some parts of it, especially the cherubs wings, are highly colored. If you have good copies in Edinburgh, please to imitate them, paying all attention to keep the expression of the faces. Today the depiction of Thorvaldsen's Night in the north window remains for us to admire but the images of Raphael's cherubs in the center of the south window were replaced by a patterned design in the 1920s.
North window, Bigelow Chapel. Photo, 2003
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9&10 22
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1. Story Chapel
12. Thayer
2. Butler
13. Knox
3. Niles
14. Noll
4. Jones (Garden)
15. Tebbetts
5. Pettengill
16. Donaldson
6. Coppenhagen
17. Poor
7. Lowell
18. Allen
8. Kay
19. Blanchard
9. Jones (Central)
20.Trull
10. Holbrook
21. Brown
11. Hulbert
22.Bigelow Chapel
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Friends of Mou nt Aubu rn
____________________________________________________________________ 580 Mount Auburn Street | Cambridge, MA 02138
We invite you to participate in the programs of the Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery. Membership information is available at the Gatehouse information rack, the Visitors Center, and the Office. Since its founding in 1831, Mount Auburn Cemetery has retained its original purpose of being a natural setting for the commemoration of the dead and for the comfort and inspiration of the bereaved and the general public. Its grounds offer a place for reflection and for observation of nature—trees, shrubs, flowering plants, ponds, gentle hills, and birds both resident and migrant. Visitors come to study our national heritage by visiting the graves of noted Americans and enjoying the great variety of monuments and memorials. Mount Auburn Cemetery began the “rural” cemetery movement out of which grew America’s public parks. Its beauty and historic associations make it an internationally renowned landscape. Designated a National Historic Landmark, Mount Auburn remains an active, nonsectarian cemetery offering a wide variety of interment and memorialization options. t: 617-547-7105 | f: 617-876-4405 www.mountauburn.org
Funding provided in part by The Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery is a nonprofit charitable trust promoting the appreciation and preservation of the cultural, historic and natural resources of America’s first landscaped cemetery, founded in 1831. © Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery, 2011 Walk prepared by Rosemarie Smurzynski Based on Angel walks prepared by Janet Heywood, 1995-2005