Events

It is true that Mount Auburn is first and foremost a cemetery, but it is also a National Historic Landmark, a botanical garden, an outdoor museum of art and architecture, and an important habitat for urban wildlife. Attend one of our many events and discover for yourself what makes this place so special!

 

Mount Auburn is proud to participate in in MCC’s Card to Culture Program. Click here to learn more.

 



Funding for programs has been provided in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

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Cemetery Symbolism Walking Tour

Cemetery Symbolism Walking Tour

Every gravestone tells a story—if you know how to read it. Step into the rich visual language of the Victorian-era cemetery and uncover the meanings hidden in Mount Auburn's landscape that shaped 19th-century memorial art and mourning culture. Together, we’ll examine how changing attitudes toward death, remembrance, religion, and nature influenced the design of monuments […]

Isabella Stewart Gardner and Her Circle

Join us for this walking tour exploring the enigmatic art-collector, Isabella Stewart Gardner and her artistic contemporaries. Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924) amassed a world-class art collection and became a legend in her adopted city of Boston. This walking tour, led by cemetery docent and Gardner Museum volunteer Robin Hazard Ray, will visit Gardner’s family mausoleum […]

Guided Rest and Nature Walk Experience

An outdoor workshop at Mount Auburn focused on Yoga Nidra, a dream-like mindfulness meditation. Federica Torri will lead an outdoor workshop focused on Yoga Nidra, a dream-like mindfulness meditation where attendees will be guided through an imagery journey. Students are welcome to lie on mats or blankets throughout the meditation. A silent nature walk will follow […]

Outdoor Watercolor & Sketch Class

Join us at Mount Auburn for an outdoor watercolor class, taking in the beauty of the landscape and learning about watercolor composition. Taking in the beauty of Mount Auburn Cemetery, we will take a short 5-minute walk from Story Chapel (across from the front entrance of the Cemetery) to a spot where you will choose […]

Nature and Mount Auburn

Join us for a mindful walk through the landscape, exploring the history and founding of Mount Auburn Cemetery. From its beginning, Mount Auburn Cemetery has drawn on nature as a resource for comfort, a focus of study, and a guide for developing its sacred landscape. Its founding, in 1831, influenced the expansion of garden cemeteries, […]

Conversations: Above and Beneath, An Ode to Women Artists

Detritus dance performs a site-responsive dance installation in dialogue with women artists in Mount Auburn’s landscape, past and present. Detritus dance activates the landscape of Mount Auburn Cemetery through a site-responsive, roaming contemporary dance installation entitled “Conversations: Above and Beneath.”  Inspired by Margaret Fuller Ossoli’s “Conversations”, a series of assemblies between 1839-1844 of Bostonian women […]

Conversations: Above and Beneath, An Ode to Women Artists

Detritus dance performs a site-responsive dance installation in dialogue with women artists in Mount Auburn’s landscape, past and present. Detritus dance activates the landscape of Mount Auburn Cemetery through a site-responsive, roaming contemporary dance installation entitled “Conversations: Above and Beneath.”  Inspired by Margaret Fuller Ossoli’s “Conversations”, a series of assemblies between 1839-1844 of Bostonian women […]

Nature & Nourishment

Mindfulness Walk with Stefanie Haug

Join Stefanie Haug, LICSW, ecotherapist and nature and meditation teacher as we step into the restorative beauty of Mount Auburn Cemetery for a gentle, guided mindful nature walk. Together, we'll slow down, awaken our senses, and experience the healing benefits of being fully present in the natural world. Through mindful walking, quiet reflection, sensory invitations, […]

“Worthy to be Any Man’s Friend”: Lecture on Henry David Thoreau

Join historian Richard Smith for a lecture in Story Chapel on Henry David Thoreau and notable figures in Mount Auburn. Henry David Thoreau was one of the most important and influential writers of the 19th Century. And while he isn't buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, he was well acquainted with many of the literary and […]

Conversations: Above and Beneath, An Ode to Women Artists

Detritus dance performs a site-responsive dance installation in dialogue with women artists in Mount Auburn’s landscape, past and present. Detritus dance activates the landscape of Mount Auburn Cemetery through a site-responsive, roaming contemporary dance installation entitled “Conversations: Above and Beneath.”  Inspired by Margaret Fuller Ossoli’s “Conversations”, a series of assemblies between 1839-1844 of Bostonian women […]