The Lively Place: Mount Auburn, America’s First Garden Cemetery, and Its Revolutionary and Literary Residents

Most cemeteries carry a certain macabre energy, serving as temples of the dead, monuments to mortality. Some are beautiful, some are spooky, and some are downright depressing. But others, a select few, stand not only as thoughtful resting places for those who are gone, but as places of peace and reflection, celebrations of life amidst death where vibrancy still abounds. Mount Auburn is one of those select few, and The Lively Place celebrates its legacy and value, both past and present.

Part history lesson, part nature guide, and part ecological statement, this is a flowing, loving tribute to a landmark that represents so much to so many. This is truly a tribute to American transcendental ideals realized in impressive fashion. People who couldn’t find equality in life found it in death here, at rest with historical figures who changed the world, especially with regards to slavery and the Civil War.

But it’s about more than death. It’s about the importance of wildlife, the harmonious marriage of nature, flow, freedom, and utility. For one place to encompass so much is rare, and for it all to be discussed in one volume without feeling overloaded, overwritten, or rambling is a triumph.