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The Tower at Mount Auburn LbNA #24556

Owner:CPAScott
Plant date:Aug 13, 2006
Location:
City:Cambridge
County:Middlesex
State:Massachusetts
Boxes:1
Found by: Rocklun
Last found:Apr 24, 2021
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFaFa
Last edited:Jan 1, 2016
Stamp carved by Scarab (of the Doubtful Guests)

Consecrated in 1831, Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first "garden" cemetery in America. Designed by Jacob Bigelow, the cemetery is renowned for its landscape design, featuring over 5,000 trees from nearly 700 different species from around the world. A large variety of flowers, shrubs, and other flora can also be found here. Also of note is the expansive number of funerary sculpture that adorn many of the gravesite monuments. As the cemetery pre-dates most American art museums and public parks, it was once a popular spot for art admirers who came to enjoy both the landscape and sculpture offered by the Elysium.

Notable persons buried at Mount Auburn include Charles Bullfinch, prominent Boston architect, Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, Isabella Stewart Gardner, philanthropist and notable patron of the arts, Oliver Wendell Holmes, poet, Julia Ward Howe, author of Battle Hymn of the Republic, Henry Cabot Lodge and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., U.S. Senators, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet, and Charles Sumner, prominent abolitionist and U.S. Senator.

Mount Auburn Cemetery is open to the public seven days a week. Hours vary by season. Maps and self-guided tours are available at the Visitor Information Office at the main gate or the Cemetery office next to the Storey Chapel.

Please note that Mount Auburn Cemetery is NOT a public park and remains an active cemetery. Bicycling, jogging, picnicking and other recreational activities are prohibited here (including, technically, letterboxing). Please respect the cemetery as a sacred place and be discreet while hunting this letterbox. Thank you!

For more information about Mount Auburn Cemetery, visit their website at http://www.mountauburn.org.


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To find this box, make your way to the Washington Tower on the top of Mount Auburn. If this is your first time to the cemetery, you may pick up a map at the Visitor Information Office at the main gate, or, if you prefer, rent the one-hour narrated driving tour which provides a great introduction to the cemetery and takes you to the more notable and historic spots (including Washington Tower).

If the door to the tower is open, consider climbing to the top of the tower where unparalleled views of the surrounding area await you. Once you've enjoyed the view, seek the unnamed path that descends the hill just to the left of the Fuller obelisks. When this path intersects with the Rose Path near the crypt of Henry Farnam, turn left, and then left again onto another unnamed path directly across from the Rose Path sign. Follow this path along and down the ridge. Consecration Dell will be on your right as you walk along the path.

Shortly after the path meets another path coming in from your right, a set of stone steps will appear on the left. Climb these steps through the bushes, and take note of the gravestones on the left -- not all graves are manicured here! Your ascent up these steps will be brief, and you should find yourself in a grassy plot. Turn left and seek the marker of McCormick and Eagan.

From the left side of the McCormick and Eagan stone, take approximately ten steps directly forward. A pine tree with another short evergreen in front of it will block your progress further. Turn 90° to your right and note another pine. The letterbox is hidden at the base of this pine, wrapped in camouflage and hidden by bark.

NOTE: This box is on private property. Discretion is mandatory!

PLEASE re-hide this box well!