Pioneer Information
Shedd & Sawyer was a civil engineering firm with offices in Boston, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island. Founded by Joel Herbert Shedd (1834–1915) and Edward S. Sawyer (dates unknown) during the late nineteenth century, the firm served as consulting engineers on projects throughout New England and the Middle Atlantic region, specializing in drainage, sanitation, and hydraulic issues. Shedd had previously authored a contributing section, entitled “Thorough Drainage”, for a pamphlet by the architect and landscape gardener Charles Follen in Suggestions on Landscape Gardening in 1859.
Shedd & Sawyer consulted on several expansion and renovation projects at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, including the construction of Halcyon Lake from Garden Pond, an iconic natural water feature located in the northeast portion of the cemetery. While employed at the firm in 1870, landscape architect Ernest Bowditch was tasked with general maintenance of the cemetery, laying out gardens, driveways, paths, and curbing.
