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the Society included between seventy and eighty acres, extending from the road nearly to the banks of
Charles River.
The Experimental Garden commenced by the Association was to have been upon that portion of the ground next to the road, and separated from the
Cemetery by a long water-course, running between this tract and the interior wood-land.
The latter is covered, throughout most of its extent, with a vigorous growth of forest trees, many of them of large size, and comprising an unusual variety of kinds.
This tract is beautifully undulating in its surface, containing a number of bold eminences, steep acclivities, and deep shadowy vallies.
A remarkable natural ridge with a level surface runs through the ground from south-east to north-west, and has for many years been known as a secluded and favorite walk.
The principal eminence, called
Mount Auburn in the plan, is one hundred and twenty-five feet above the level of
Charles river, and commands from its summit one of the finest prospects which can be obtained in the environs of
Boston.
On one side is the city in full view, connected at its extremities with
Charlestown and
Roxbury.
The serpentine course of
Charles River, with the cultivated hills and fields rising beyond it, and having the
Blue Hills of
Milton in the distance, occupies another portion of the landscape.
The village of
Cambridge, with the venerable edifices of Harvard University, are situated about a mile to the east-ward.
On the north, at a very small distance, Fresh Pond appears, a handsome sheet of water, finely diversified by its woody and irregular shores.
Country seats and cottages seen in various directions, and those on the elevated land at Watertown, especially, add much to the picturesque effect of the scene.
