Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston's Mount Auburn Cemetery [Paperback]

Blanche M. G. Linden (Author), Richard Cheek (Photographer), Carol Betsch (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2007

Winner of the Historic Preservation Book Award Winner of an ASLA Merit Award Originally published in 1989, this book offers an insightful inquiry into the in- tellectual and cultural origins of Mount Auburn Cemetery, the first landscape in the United States to be designed in the picturesque style. Inspired by developments in England and France, and founded in 1831, Mount Auburn became the prototype for the "rural cemetery" movement and was an important precursor of many of America's public parks, beginning with New York City's Central Park.

This new edition has been completely redesigned in a larger format, with new photographs and a new epilogue that carries the story forward into the twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Praise for the original edition: "Perhaps the greatest virtue of this book is its comprehensiveness. . . . In illuminating the furthest reaches of Mount Auburn's meaning, the author also sheds light on many other aspects of nineteenth-century American culture. . . . Each of the eleven chapters-especially the seven or eight that separate out for consideration specific strands of intellectual and aesthetic influence, such as that of the English garden, the French 'cult of ancestors,' or the American sensibility to melancholy-could stand on its own as an interesting study."--New England Quarterly

"The definitive book on the causes leading to the rural cemetery movement and the founding of Mount Auburn Cemetery. No one in the future will be able to write about nineteenth-century cemeteries in the United States without first study-ing this book. . . . Silent City on a Hill is a lavishly satisfying scholarly book."--Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians

Published in association with the Library of American Landscape History

About the Author

Blanche M.G. Linden received a Ph.D. in the history of American civilization from Harvard University. She is the author of several books, including "Boston Freedom Trail."

Product Details

• Paperback: 373 pages
• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press; New edition edition (October 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558495711
• ISBN-13: 978-1558495715
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 10.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,194,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mount Auburn Cemetery: The First U.S. Rural City of the Dead, July 26, 2008

By 

James R. Holland "Author of Boston's Notable ... (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston's Mount Auburn Cemetery (Paperback)

Thousands of visitors annually visit America's first and best example of a rural cemetery. Mount Auburn Cemetery was consecrated in 1831. It came about as a practical, down-to-earth (no pun intended) solution to a pressing problem. Boston simply had no more room left in which to bury its dead citizens. A group of business men decided it was a good idea to develop a new burial ground well outside the city limits, but close enough for people to easily visit and pray for their departed family members. It was also suggested that the new burial ground should be a pleasant place to visit and where the living could be assured that the departed were residing in a pleasant and peaceful environment. It was decided to enlist the Horticultural Society to help achieve this new concept in rural burial grounds. Since Mount Auburn was the first such cemetery in the United States it was a forerunner of not only rural burying grounds but many landscaped, public parks within city limits. Central Park in New York City was one such result of this new beautiful park concept.
If one doesn't have the patience or interest in reading the rather dry 1861 annual report-like "History of Mount Auburn Cemetery" by Jacob Bigelow, the President of the Corporation and one of the founders of that National Landmark, this is the award-winning coffee table book for you. It's lavishly illustrated with colorful prints as well as photographs and is meticulously researched and well written. More importantly, it's interesting to read. The history of Mount Auburn is fascinating and for those who have actually visited the peaceful location, it will refresh many of their personal memories. In the 19th Century more visitors came to see Mount Auburn than went to see Niagara Falls. It was, and still is, world famous as a "City of the Dead."
The reader won't be disappointed with this volume. It's a publishing gem.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book for anyone interested and cemetery, early American and Boston history!, January 1, 2010

By 

Victorine Louise "Allison Leigh" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston's Mount Auburn Cemetery (Paperback)

This book has been extremely influential for me as an art history student and scholar-in-training. I go to school in Boston and visited Forest Hills Cemetery on a whim. My captivation with this place led me to this book. Forest Hills Cemetery was founded by same man as Mount Auburn Cemetery- Henry A. S. Dearborn. This book was the starting place for my research on Dearborn. Read this book and you will learn the fascinating story of the beginning of the rural cemetery movement. Silent City on a Hill is an excellent piece of scholarship- well written and thoroughly researched! It is also well illustrated with photographs of the places and historical engravings, maps and portraits.