1866-01 Annual Report of the Trustees of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn, Together with the Reports of the Treasurer and Superintendent. January, 1866.

ANNUAL REPORT. 7

OF THE

TRUSTEES

OF THE

Cemetery of Mount Auburn,

TOGETHER WITH

THE REPORTS

OF THE

TREASURER AND SUPERINTENDENT.»

“ty, M

JANUARY, 1866.

BOSTON: 1866.

J.H. EASTBURN’S PRESS,

This page is blank

TRUSTEES’ REPORT.

THE year 1865 has not been marked by any very noticeable changes in the condition of Mount Auburn Cemetery. The principal operations have consisted in a steady prosecution of the work of reclaiming sunken tracts of ground, and in levelling and smoothing off asperities of the surface. The bog on Thistle Path has been completely filled and made solid, by the introduction of about 9,000 loads of gravel taken from the adjacent elevations. An ornamental lawn is thus created, inclosmg the new fountain, and giving space for many desirable lots, a large portion of which are already sold.

The Mound, or newly finished bank on the south side of this lawn, being too steep for profitable occupation, has been set apart, by vote of the Trustees, to be forever kept open. In this state it forms an agreeable feature in the general landscape.

Much work has been done in improving and grading the uneven land about Harvard Hill and Rose Path. A new avenue has been made, rendering this quarter‘accessible to carriages. Fountain Avenue and Halcyon Avenue have been extended and widened by the reclaiming of adjacent land, and the work is still in progress under the care of the superintendent. It is computed that not less than two acres of valuable new land have thus been made during the last two years.

On account of the steep declivities existing in Mount Auburn, considerable damage has been done, in former years, by the washing from freshets occasioned by sudden rains. This evil has been partially, but not completely obviated, by paved gutters, in steep places, at the sides of the avenues. ‘This year a more thorough paving has been made by the Superintendent, with larger stones and deeper gutters. From two to three thousand feet of such gutters have been made, and wholly

with stones found on the premises.

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The drought of the last year, which has occasioned a general scarcity of water throughout the State, has caused a relative lowness in the level of the lakes and ponds at Mount Auburn. Nevertheless a daily supply of water for the fountains has been pumped up from the large reservoir or well, the bottom of which is below the level of Charles River. The only limit to this supply is, that if, in any given day, the water is pumped too low, or drawn off too fast, it is liable to become turbid with sand.

In the course of the last year the Board of Trustees has lost one of its most valued members, George Livermore, Esq. <A suitable notice of his excellent eharacter and useful services, has been entered on the Records of the Board, and communicated to his family.

The receipts for sales of land, during the last year, have exceeded those of any preceding year. By the Treasurer’s Report it appears that the Permanent.Fund for the ultimate preservation of the Cemetery has grown to $53,865.93. The Repair Fund is now $32,057.62. Besides which there is a disposable su rplus of cash and invested propety, estimated at about $39,000.00, which is held as a reserve to supply from time to time the necessary exigencies of the Corporation.

Among the occurrences worthy of note at the present time, is the completion of the new and elegant Horticultural Hall, in Boston, an event to which Mount Auburn Cemetery has largely contributed, and which furnishes a gratifying example of the benefit of codperation between institutions having a common interest, though a different character. In 1830, the present President of Mount Auburn Cemetery was a member of the Government of the Horticultural Society, holding the office of Corresponding Secretary in that newly incorporated institution. He had, as it is known, been for some previous years endeavoring with the aid of his friends to effect the establishment of a rural or suburban Cemetery, near Boston, but the object had beer delayed by the difficulty of procuring a tract of land altogether suitable for the purpose. At length, in 1830, he succeeded in obtaining from its owner, Mr. G. W. Brimmer, the refusal of the estate which is now

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Mount Auburn, for the price of $6,000. This offer was laid by him before the Government of the Horticultural Society, with the recommendation that they should accept the proposal and undertake the Cemetery as soon as a sufficient number of lots should have been subscribed for by individuals, to cover the cost of the purchase. The arrangement, although new to the Horticultural Society, and not among its professed objects, was accepted by the President and Officers with the condition that an experimental garden should be added to the proposed Cemetery.

A subscription was set on foot, and the sum required for the purchase was raised by one hundred subscribers agreeing to take lots at $60.00 each. From that time the establishment of Mount Auburn has rapidly increased, and its importance has been attested by its. imitation in almost all the large cities of the United States.

In a few years after the establishment of the Cemetery, it became apparent that a concern involving dissimilar interests was too complicated to move easily or satisfactorily to all parties. To prevent difficulty and insure future harmony, an amicable adjustment was made, by which the Horticultural Society sold Mount Auburn to a new Corporation, composed of the lot proprietors, who agreed to assume and . carry on the Cemetery, paying to the Society, annually, one-quarter part of the gross proceeds of sales, after deducting $1,400 for expenses. The result of this arrangement has been auspicious to both parties. The Horticultural Society has become opulent and prosperous, as it is useful to the public; while the Proprietors of Mount Auburn, after paying to that Society, at different times, over one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars, have been able to expend more than three hundred thousand dollars in the preservation, improvement, embellishment and enlargement of their Cemetery. For the Trustees, JACOB BIGELOW, President. Boston, January, 1866.