Curbed Maps: Mapping 15 of America's Most Beautiful Historic Cemeteries

Tuesday, August 6, 2013, by Rob Bear

Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. Photo: bostonian13/wiki

While today usually regarded with a fear-of-death-induced deference, cemeteries were once popularly used as public greenspaces, particularly in the days before public parks became common in America. Thanks to the work of landscape architects like Alexander Dearborn and Fredrick Law Olmsted, thousands of urban dwellers could escape the confines of the city for a picnic on the verdant hillsides of Mount Auburn Cemetery (above) in Cambridge, Mass. or in the shadow of elaborate mausoleums of Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, Calif. Find 15 of the country's most beautiful public burial grounds and then head over to the Curbed city sites for a more detailed look at historic cemeteries from across the Curbed Universe.

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