Around Town

Mount Auburn Cemetery Adds New Pedestrians Gates in Effort to Welcome the Community

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Photo by Charlie BreitroseThe opening of new pedestrian gates at Mount Auburn Cemetery was celebrated with a ribbon cutting. Pictured, from left, Mount Auburn Cemetery Trustee Sean McDonnell, Bree Harvey, Vice President of Cemetery & Visitor Services; Assistant City Manager Steve Magoon, State Rep. Steve Owens, Mount Auburn Cemetery President and CEO Matthew Stephens, and Cemetery neighbor Sarah Baker. Mount Auburn Cemetery opened its gate to the public, literally, on Friday when they celebrated the four new pedestrian entrances installed along the fence around the historic cemetery located in Watertown and Cambridge. Matthew Stephens, President and CEO of Mount Auburn Cemetery, said that the gates are part of Mount Auburn’s effort to make the property more open and welcoming to the public. “We want the community to be here in Mount Auburn,” Stephens said.

Around Town

CPA Projects: Walker Pond, Pavilion & Historic House Repair Approved; Mount Auburn Cemetery Request Rejected

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Courtesy of the City of WatertownThe pavilion that will be built at Saltonstall Park. The City Council approved funding for an ecological study at Walker Pond, building a pavilion at Saltonstall Park, and to help repair Watertown’s oldest home. They rejected a proposal to restore a historic memorial at Mount Auburn Cemetery. The four projects were brought forward as recommendations from the Community Preservation Committee to be paid for using money from the Community Preservation Act funds. The dollars in the fund come from a local property tax surcharge and state matching funds, and can be used on historic preservation, open space/recreation, and affordable housing.

Around Town

Recycle Electronics at Mount Auburn Cemetery Event

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Mount Auburn Cemetery will host an electronics recycling event on Saturday, Jan. 6. See the announcement below. SAVE THE DATE! Saturday, January 6, 10 am – 1 pm

Bring your old electronics over to Mount Auburn’s Preservation Services Building to recycle!  Enter at 24 Cottage St.

Entertainment

Solstice Winter Light Show Returns to Mount Auburn Cemetery

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Solstice returns to the Mount Auburn Cemetery in December. (Courtesy Photo)

The following announcement was provided by Mount Auburn Cemetery:

Mount Auburn Cemetery announced the return of SOLSTICE: Reflections on Winter Light, created by artistic partner, MASARY Studios. After a full & meaningful inaugural year, the SOLSTICE celebration is now positioned to be an annual Mount Auburn tradition, just a stone’s throw from Boston in Cambridge and Watertown. Designed to be a positive place of reflection, Mount Auburn’s historic landscape and architecture offers a unique backdrop to the drama of MASARY’s kaleidoscopic and elegant light and sound installations, drawing guests through a transformative outdoor journey. The unparalleled outdoor winter scenery of the illuminated landscape transitions into a warm, welcoming experience inside Mount Auburn’s two non-denominational chapels.

Around Town

Take a Walk Through Mt. Auburn Cemetery with Live Well Watertown & the Business Coalition

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Mount Auburn Cemetery. The following announcement was provided by the Watertown Business Coalition:

Live Well Watertown’s and Watertown Business Coalition’s WALK N’ TALK Series continues in October with a visit to Mount Auburn Cemetery. Join us on Thursday, Oct. 12 at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Walk starts @ 1 p.m. – arrival 12:45 -1 p.m. ENTER via Main Entrance at 580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge.

Around Town

Civil War Clergy at Mount Auburn Cemetery: Rev. Joseph Thayer

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Rev. Joseph Henry Thayer

By Bill McEvoy

In honor of Memorial Day, local historian Bill McEvoy has compiled histories of some of the Civil War clergy who are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. This is part 15 of 15. Reverend Joseph Henry Thayer was born November 7, 1828, in Boston. He died on November 26, 1901, at Cambridge, from general sarcoma. He graduated from Harvard College in 1850.

Around Town

Civil War Clergy at Mount Auburn Cemetery: Rev. George Oviatt

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Rev. George Alexander Oviatt

By Bill McEvoy

In honor of Memorial Day, local historian Bill McEvoy has compiled histories of some of the Civil War clergy who are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. This is part 14 of 15. Reverend George Alexander Oviatt was Born on April 11, 1811, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He died June 1, 1887, in Sudbury, Massachusetts, from paralysis. Reverend Oviatt, graduated from Yale in 1835, and then its divinity school.

Around Town

Civil War Clergy at Mount Auburn Cemetery: Rev. Charles Noyes

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By Bill McEvoy

In honor of Memorial Day, local historian Bill McEvoy has compiled histories of some of the Civil War clergy who are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. This is part 13 of 15. Reverend Charles Noyes was born October 26, 1835, in Petersham, Massachusetts, and died on May 23, 1916, in Norwich, Connecticut. He attended the Hopkins classical school in Cambridge, and later the Cambridge High School. He graduated from Harvard College in 1856 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1859. 

In January 1860, he was installed as the pastor of the Unitarian society at Brighton, Massachusetts, from which he resigned in 1864 due to ill health.