Silent City on a Hill

At one time holding mausoleums owned by the larger hotels whose guests died on the premises were common. Other institutions also had them such as Harvard University for students who died during the winter or too far from home. This did not have to be far as we view it today since there was no refrigeration or streamlined transportation. One of the officials of Mt Auburn Cemetery who wanted, expected and had made arrangements to be buried there, unpredictably died in Paris. So he was buried in Paris. Silent City on a Hill is a book subtitled Landscapes of Memory and Boston's Mount Auburn Cemetery. It is a large coffee table style book which details an excellent view of the history of cemeteries revealing our changing attitudes. The today historic downtown Boston cemeteries were in neglect and few thought much of them prior to the 1830s. As the city became crowded and wealth increased, luxuries like memories of the dead became possible. Death was more real and expected even as their view of the future did not stretch out so far as to envision the luxury of memorials. Mount Auburn was perhaps the first garden cemetery and is still today is a beautiful park accommodating bird and tree enthusiasts. There is quite an interesting history to cemeteries and the memorial statuary alongside celebrities remembered there.