Pleasure Grounds of Death: The Rural Cemetery in Nineteenth-Century America

Rural cemeteries in the US were established in the 19th century as cultural landscapes that served the needs of the living and the dead, offering a mirror for societal transformations and conflicts. Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was the nation's first such burial ground to combine the functions of a public park and cemetery, becoming a popular place for picnics and strolls. The book explores the history of rural cemeteries, their role in shaping community and national identities, and the various issues surrounding burial reform, taste, respectability, and public behavior.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 290 pages
Publication date: 31 July 2024
Publisher: The University of Michigan Press

Rural cemeteries, named for their expansive and picturesque landscape design rather than location, emerged in the United States during the middle decades of the nineteenth century. An instant cultural phenomenon, Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, became the nation's first such burial ground to combine the functions of a public park and a cemetery, becoming a popular place for picnics and strolls even for those without graves to visit. This sparked a nationwide movement in which communities sought to establish their own cities of the dead. "Pleasure Grounds of Death" explores the history of the rural cemetery in the United States throughout the nineteenth century, highlighting its significance as a critical cultural institution in shaping community and national identities, as well as major sites of contest over burial reform, taste and respectability, and public behavior. It also examines issues concerning race, class, and gender, conflicts over the burial of the Civil War dead and the formation of postwar memory, and the most appropriate ways to structure the landscape of the dead in a modern and progressive society. As cultural landscapes that served the needs of the living as well as the dead, rural cemeteries offer a mirror for the transformations and conflicts taking place throughout the nineteenth century in American society.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780472056897