Isabella Stewart Gardner and Her Circle

Join us for this walking tour exploring the enigmatic art-collector, Isabella Stewart Gardner and her artistic contemporaries. Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924) amassed a world-class art collection and became a legend in her adopted city of Boston. This walking tour, led by cemetery docent and Gardner Museum volunteer Robin Hazard Ray, will visit Gardner’s family mausoleum and the burial places of many in her luminary circle of acquaintance, including Julia Ward Howe, Charles Eliot Norton, and William Sturgis Bigelow. Along the way, we’ll explore the life, times, and mind of this dynamic Bostonian. About Your Guide: Robin Hazard Ray is a historian, crime fiction writer, editor, and cemetery tour guide. Her writings have been published in the Boston Herald, the MIT News, Quaker History, Italian Americana, Mystery Magazine, and elsewhere. Her two historical mystery novels, The Strangers’ Tomb and The Soldiers’ Rest, and her recent collection Clay and Other Cemetery Stories are set in and around Mount Auburn Cemetery in the 19th century. She volunteers with the horticulture department of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, helping tend the plants in the courtyard. She lives in Somerville, MA, with her husband David and two black cats. Check in at The Egyptian Revival Gateway Plaza Experience a deeper connection to Mount Auburn Cemetery with free or discounted access to all our public programs and special events by joining the Friends of Mount Auburn. Our robust roster of programs each year is made possible by the generous support of our donors and in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. For inquiries about accessibility, to request an accommodation, or if you have any questions about your membership, please contact [email protected].