 Join us on Sunday, December 11th, 2011 from 4:00 to 8:00 pm at Forest Hills Cemetery’s Forsyth Chapel to participate in the Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting service.
Love doesn’t end with death. Families that have lost a child understand that. This year, the local service of the 15th Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting Ceremony will be held at the Forsyth Chapel in Forest Hills Cemetery.
Held annually the second Sunday in December, the Worldwide Candle Lighting unites family and friends who light candles for one hour to honor and remember children who have died at any age from any cause. As candles burn down in one time zone, they are then lit in the next, creating a virtual 24-hour wave of light as the observance continues around the world.
“The Worldwide Candle Lighting allows grieving families to know that their children have not been and never will be forgotten, whether that child died 60 years ago or yesterday,” says Patricia Loder, Executive Director of The Compassionate Friends. “This event surpasses all artificial, religious, and cultural boundaries, allowing us to mourn as one when death robs the world of its most valuable resource.”
The event will be held from 4:00 – 8:00 pm. For those using public transportation, use the Tower Street shortcut from Forest Hills Station (Orange Line). Parking is also available on both sides of Forest Hills Avenue. Please bring a flashlight to see yourself safely back to your destination.
The Compassionate Friends has more than 630 chapters in the United States offering support to bereaved families after the death of a child. To learn more about The Compassionate Friends and its many programs for bereaved families, call toll free 877 969 0010, or visit them on the web at compassionatefriends.org.
Decorate your loved one’s resting place with an elegantly trimmed Holiday Wreath. It’s not too late to call our Office at 617 524 0128, or to download the form to order a Holiday Wreath to adorn your loved one’s resting place.
 The Eclectic Men and Women of Forest Hills
Explore the Forest Hills Cemetery and arboretum — Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and dedicated to nature, art, and remembrance. Join us every Sunday in October 2011 as we tour with an expert guide through this picturesque landscape.
October 2 at 2pm: A Library of Life Stories
There are more than 100,000 people buried at Forest Hills. Hear some of their stories and view their monuments — some lavish and dramatic, and others modest or mysterious — in an illuminating introductory tour with historian Elise Ciregna. $9
October 9 at 2pm: Neighbors
Forest Hills is made up of many family lots — entire families laid to rest next to one another. These lots create a neighborhood of Victorian families. Join social historian Dee Morris as she explores some fascinating families and their “neighbors.” $9
October 16 at 2pm: A Visit with E.E. Cummings
Join tour guide Jonathan Clark for an afternoon exploring the work and themes of innovative poet E.E. Cummings, whose playful style and daring typography made him one of the most influential poets of the 20th century. Hear some of Cummings’ poems as well as stories from his eclectic life. $9
October 23 at 2pm: The Women of Forest Hills
Join guide Dee Morris as she leads visitors through the stories of some of the most celebrated and fascinating women of 19th and 20th century Boston. A hotbed of feminism and firsts in the Victorian era, Boston gave rise to such pioneers as suffragette and abolitionist Lucy Stone, historian-author Annie Haven Thwing, and others both notable and notorious — artists, politicians, School Board activists, even spirit mediums. $9
October 30 at 2pm: Victorian Spiritualism Tour
Spiritualists believed that death was a transition to a new form or existence; people who had “crossed over” could be contacted through séances and spirit guides. Visit some of the religious leaders and practitioners — as well as skeptics — of this controversial 19th-century faith. $9
 PLEASE JOIN US for the 13th annual Lantern Festival on July 14th, 2011, beginning at 6 PM (rain date: Thursday, July 21st). Forest Hills Cemetery will be hosting its signature event, the annual Lantern Festival on Thursday, July 14th.
A much-loved event for Jamaica Plain as well as the Greater Boston community, the Lantern Festival draws its inspiration from the Japanese Bon Festival — a celebration held each year when a door opens to the world of their ancestors, allowing loved ones to send messages to the other side. It is a time when friends and family come together to share stories, to celebrate, and to honor the memories of loved ones.
Although the Lantern Festival is inspired by Japanese Buddhist tradition, it incorporates the diversity of the community, providing a setting that includes many multi-cultural events throughout the day.
Admission and entertainment is FREE, with a $10 requested donation per lantern. There is a $10 parking fee, so we do encourage people to take the MBTA! For more information, call 617 524 3150 or visit www.foresthillstrust.org.
We hope to see you there!
[Photographs here and on our Home page, by Chris Engles]
 Saturday, June 18th, 2011 — 2:00PM
Meet us at the Cemetery’s Main Entrance
Forest Hills Cemetery will host our 2nd annual observance and memorial for General Joseph Warren, hero of the American Revolutionary War.
Gardner’s Regiment, Boston based Revolutionary War re-enactors, and General Leonid Kondratiuk, Historian for the Massachusetts National Guard, will lead a graveside celebration of the life and death of Doctor Joseph Warren.
Doctor Warren, the man who ordered Paul Revere and William Dawes Jr. on their famous midnight rides, was a Physician, Poet, General, Mason, President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and member of the Son’s of Liberty. He gave his life fighting at the Battle of Bunker Hill. In the words of Abigail Adams: “When he fell, Liberty wept.”
Please join us for this informative and inspirational event.
William Dawes is also interred at Forest Hills, and our procession will file by his gravesite.
See photographs of the 2010 event.
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