The Gardens is a Special Place to Honor and Remember the People You Love.

Established 1873



We Will Be Celebrating

Our 150th Anniversary

at Every Event in 2023

Save the Dates!

History of Creating

The Gardens at Gethsemane

In March 1871, the Association of the Evangelical Lutheran Church for Works of Mercy was chartered to operate the Martin Luther Orphan's Home. Its members were the German Lutheran parishes of Boston.

The idea for an orphan's home did not originate from pastoral leadership but rather from a Roxbury parishioner named Gottlieb Burkhardt.

Gottlieb Burkhardt was a German immigrant who made a vow, upon reaching America, that if he became wealthy, he would distribute "God's" wealth to the poor.

When his Roxbury brewery started making money he began to help his neighbors and fellow parishioners.

Gottlieb called on Rev. William Passavant of Pittsburgh to help him organize an orphanage in Boston. On Nov. 10, 1870 Passavant and the Boston pastors met to survey several sites of land and form an association.

Brook Farm, once the site of a famous utopian transcendentalist community, was soon chosen as the optimum site and Gottlieb bought the land with a partial mortgage.

After time was allowed for "God to show that His will lay behind the institution," the Home was dedicated on October 3, 1872. The mission of the home was to raise orphans and half-orphans in a Lutheran home where they would learn the "true Word of God" and be confirmed in the Lutheran Church.

Source: Simmons University

Library

In 1873, 150 years ago, according to Gottlieb Burkhardt's wishes, Gethsemane Cemetery was created.

Now known as The Gardens at Gethsemane, we have continued to honor Gottlieb Burkhardt's wishes and Philosophy.

Resting Place of Gottlieb F. Burkhardt

The Gardens Cemetery is nestled within the 179 acre Historic Brook Farm in Boston, Massachusetts. John Elliot preached to the Native Americans on Pulpit Rock. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne spent summers here. We are also on the site of Camp Andrews, a civil war training grounds for the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry. A cannon from the USS constitution placed at the cemetery in 1932 commemorates all Veterans.

In 1870, Gottlieb F. Burkhardt, a German immigrant and wealthy Boston brewer, purchased the Brook Farm property, and in 1871 formed a corporation called the “Association of the Evangelical Lutheran Church for Works of Mercy”. He did this to provide a temporary home for orphan children and aged, weak and helpless persons, and to establish a cemetery. The cemetery was laid out and officially named Gethsemane Cemetery in March of 1873.

From its inception, the cemetery has been (and remains) non-sectarian, and has no religious or residential requirements.

In the fall of 2002, Alan J. MacKinnon, CCE & current President, joined with loving and caring people from the community and formed a non-profit organization which purchased the cemetery from the Lutheran Social Services of New England. Mr. MacKinnon started his career at Gethsemane Cemetery in Boston over 33 years ago, first as grounds foreman for 5 years, then as general manager for 7 years.

Alan is designated as a Certified Cemetery Executive and is a graduate of the International Cemetery Cremation and Funeral Association University. He is currently one of five in the entire state of Massachusetts and has served as Secretary/Treasurer on the board of the Massachusetts Cemetery Association.

G. F. Burkhardt's Brewery

One of the first German breweries in the Stony Brook Valley, the Burkhardt Brewery opened in 1850. Gottlieb Burkhardt's brewery was soon producing one hundred thousand barrels of beer a year with four kinds of ale and four kinds of lager. In 1870, he bought the Brook Farm property, the site of the famed Transcendentalist experiment in communal living located in West Roxbury. In 1912, in partnership with the Red Sox, the Burkhardt Brewing Company

(by that time run by the founder's son) brewed Red Sox Beer and Pennant Ale. The Sox won the World Series that year. (Coincidence?) In 1920, in order to keep up the business during Prohibition, the Burkhardt Brewery switched to producing cereal, but it eventually succumbed and closed in 1929.

Happy Lunar New Year!

2023 is the Year of the Rabbit

Bernard's Restaurant, Chestnut Hill

George and Alan from Bernard's

Groundhog Day

We have our own resident Groundhogs, but we couldn't catch them to ask about how long winter will last

Happy Valentine's Day to our

Friends and Family at The Gardens

Laughing Moon Chocolates from Stowe, Vermont. If you haven't tried them,

here is a link to their website.

Nature-Love All Animals

Cremation Association of North America (CANA) Getting Back to the Conferences

Barbara Kemmis, Executive Director, CANA and Alan

Rob Espinoza, Assistant Manager,

Starts New Position at The Gardens

Another Article in the

American Cemetery &

Cremation Magazine

Preparing your Cemetery Grounds for Spring

Missy Not Feeling Well

She's 13 years old and never missed a day of work.

Alan and Rob Went to the

Mob Museum While Attending the

International Cemetery, Cremation

and Funeral Association (ICCFA)

Annual Conference

Pasquale's New Mausoleum

Waterfalls

with Solar Powered Pump

Watch the Video - Click Below

18th Annual Easter Sunrise Service

9th Annual Blessing of the Bikes

Demetri Singing Click Below

New Tool Cat and Cemetery Truck

Our New Work Truck

is a Chick Magnet

Another Successful Memorial Day

Honoring Veterans who made the Ultimate Sacrifice

Frigid Casket Lowering Devices

Came to Service our Equipment

and Provide Some Training.

First Ever Rib & Brisket Truck on Father's Day - 275 Meals in 4 Hours

Hillside Garden

On a gentile hill as you enter the cemetery, this garden includes pond and waterfall views.

The Terrace

High upon a hill overlooking woodlands and meadows just above the pond and 9 waterfalls.

Pond View Garden

With Koi Pond, 9 Waterfalls and Hidden Patio

Another Successful Vegetable Garden For Our Friends and Families

The Gardens Continues to

Own, Operate and Maintain

The Charles Sumner Bird Cemetery,

Formerly the East Walpole Cemetery,

in Walpole and Norwood, MA.

Found Some Old Bottles

Another Green Funeral Conference in Albuquerque

and Alan Speaking on a Panel.

National Funeral Directors Association

(NFDA) Conference

Continuing to Learn Best Practices

Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association (MFDA)

President John Bresnahan,

C.R. Lyons and Alan

Attended 8 Festivals and Bazaars at Some of the Churches We Help Support.

Daughters of the American

Revolution Came to Host a

Class of Memorial Cleaning.

Scouts Flag Retirement Ceremony

Giving Back



Helped Many Organizations

with Holiday Meals