PURCHASE OF SWEET AUBURN BY MR. BRIMMER. 73 



place, both in company with Mr. Brimmer, and before 

 his purchase, proposed to him in 1830 the purchase of 

 the whole for an ornamental cemetery ; and notwithstand- 

 ing his attachment to the place, which he had learned 

 to love while in college, visiting it as he often did in 

 company with his fellow-students, 1 so anxious was he 

 to advance the science and art of horticulture, and to 

 encourage the foundation of a rural cemetery, that he 

 liberally offered to surrender the whole estate for these 

 purposes, at the original cost to himself, although the 

 land had risen in value, and could probably have been 

 sold, at no distant period, for a large advance. 



Dr. Bigelow, in his History of Mount Auburn, states 

 that Mr. Brimmer was prompted to the purchase by his 

 appreciation of the beautiful in nature, to preserve from 

 destruction the trees and other natural features of that 

 attractive spot, until some appropriate use should be 

 found for it. The Account of the Proceedings in rela- 

 tion to Mount Auburn, in the Transactions of the Hor- 

 ticultural Society, differs. " The land," it says, " had 

 been purchased by Mr. Brimmer, with a view of appro- 

 priating it to a country residence, and he had planted 

 out many ornamental trees, and opened several exten- 

 sive avenues, which rendered it a favorite resort for the 

 students of the university, and the inhabitants of the 

 town." 2 The latter statement is doubtless correct ; for 

 it was corroborated by David Stone of Watertown, who 

 sold the land to Mr. Brimmer. Mr. Stone added that 

 Mr. Brimmer went so far as to have the land staked out 



1 Mr. Brimmer graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1803. 

 Among his classmates were the late Rev. Drs. Edward Payson and Samuel 

 Willard, Professor John Farrar, James Savage, LL.D., and Benjamin 

 Bussey. 



2 Transactions of the Mass. Hort. Soc. for 1832, p. 61. 



