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Founding
The Lowell Cemetery was conceived by a group of prominent Lowell citizens in 1840 as a
private, non-sectarian, non-profit cemetery corporation. The Cemetery was dedicated on
June 20, 1841, at a time when there were no parks in Lowell, and it soon became a place of
refuge for outdoor pleasures such as strolling and bird watching amid shrubs and flowers
close to the city.
A visit to the Cemetery today and an examination of the stones and tombs all evoke
memories of Lowell's past and the lives of some of its most prominent citizens and the
part they played in the development of their city, state and nation in war, as well as in
peace. It is the memory of these ancestors that makes the Cemetery a very special place to
visit.
Design
The Lowell Cemetery was modeled after Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, which was
organized a few years earlier as the first garden cemetery in America. These new
cemeteries emphasized the physical beauty of the surroundings and created a restful
sanctuary for those contemplating the departed, which was in sharp contrast to earlier
burial grounds, crowded and unorganized, sometimes dispassionate and severe.
To accomplish these ends, the Lowell corporators chose an eminent surveyor, George P.
Worcester, to design their chosen site with its natural setting of hillocks and trees. He
enhanced his work by designing curved roads and paths under a planned canopy of oaks,
beeches and ashes. As the Cemetery grew, some local citizens memorialized their dead with
elaborate carvings of stone, and the grounds became a depository of cemetery art. Many of
these stones are of elaborate design by local artists to be studied and admired. Some few
are even carved by internationally famous sculptors.
In 1885 a solid granite chapel was donated and erected by a benevolent lot owner in
memory of her husband. This physical structure is today regularly available for memorial
services.
Majestic gateways into the Cemetery Park were also gifts by local benefactors and
added to the beauty of the site, now comprising 85 acres.
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