Bigelow began working with MGH co-founder James Jackson in 1811, and they were considered the most popular medical practitioners in Boston for the next 60 years. He was on staff at MGH from 1836 to 1856. Bigelow conceived of the idea for Mount Auburn Cemetery, in part because he was concerned that burial under churches was unsanitary. The cemetery opened in 1831, and Bigelow himself was buried there almost 50 years later.