70 



Resolved, That the Report of the Committee on an Experimental 

 Garden and Rural Cemetery, be accepted, and that said committee be 

 autliorized to proceed in the establishment of a Garden and Cemetery, 

 in conformity to the Report which has this day been made and 

 accepted. 



It having' been considered important, that the public should be 

 generally informed us to the character of the two associated establish- 

 ments, the Hon. Edward Everett was requested to prepare an Address, 

 explanatory of the objects which it was proposed to accomplish; and 

 he furnished the following, which was published in the Boston papers. 



THE PROPOSED RURAL CEMETERY. 



At the late session of the Genera] Court, an act was passed, 

 enlarging the powers of the Horticultural Society in such a manner, 

 as to enable it to establish a rural cemetery, in connexion with the 

 experimental garden, which forms a part of the original plan of that 

 Society. Preliminary steps have been taken to exercise the powers 

 granted by this additional act of incorporation. The subject has been 

 under the consideration of a large and highly respectable committee, 

 selected for their known interest in the design ; and a plan of meas- 

 ures to be pursued, for carrying the object into effect, has been pre- 

 pared and adopted. 



The spot, which has been selected for this establishment, has not 

 been chosen without great deliberation, and a reference to every other 

 place in the vicinity of Boston, which has been named for the same 

 purpose. In fact, the difficulty of finding a proper place has been for 

 several years the chief obstacle to the execution of this project. The 

 spot chosen is as near Bsston as is consistent with perfect security 

 from the approach of those establishments, usually found in the neigh- 

 bourhood of a large town, but not in harmony with the character of a 

 place of burial. It stands near a fine sweep in Charles River. It 

 presents every variety of surface, rising in one part into a beautiful 

 elevation, level in others, with intermediate depressions, and a con- 

 siderable part of the Avhole covered with the natural growth of wood. 

 In fact, the place has long been noted for its rural beauty, its romantic 

 seclusion, and its fine prospect ; and it is confidently believed, that 

 there is not another to be named, possessing the same union of 

 advantages. 



It is proposed to s'et apart a considerable portion of this delightful 

 spot, for the purpose of a burial place. Little will be required from 

 the hand of art to fit it for that purpose. Nature has already done 

 almost all that is required. Scarcely any thing is needed but a suit- 

 able enclosure, and such walks as will give access to the different 

 parts of the enclosed space, and exhibit its features to the greatest 

 advantage. It is proposed, (as it appears from the report above cited,) 

 to divide the parts of the tract, best adapted to that purpose, into lots, 

 containing two hundred or more square feet, to be used by individuals 

 becoming proprietors of them, for the purposes of burial. It will be 

 at the option of those interested, to build tombs of the usual construc- 

 tion on these lots, or to make graves in them, when occasion may 

 require ; identifying the lot by a single monument, or the graves by 

 separate stones, or leaving the whole without any other ornament, 

 than the green turf and the overshadowing trees. 



