Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, USA, rests on 478 acres of hill-covered land in the center of the city. Visitors enjoy views of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.
Green-Wood Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 600,000 individuals. Their graves are marked with monuments and mausoleums, both large and small. The landscape is filled with plants, ponds and paths. Green-Wood Cemetery is also home to one of the world's largest outdoor collections of 19th and 20th century statues.
HistoryHistory
Established in 1838, Green-Wood was one of the earliest rural cemeteries in the United States. By the early 1860s, it had become so well-known around the world for its incredible beauty that it was not only considered a prestigious place to be buried but it also attracted more than 500,000 visitors per year.
Since many municipalities still lacked proper recreational areas in the mid-1800s, cemeteries were the closest things to modern-day public parks. People began to use them as places for a Sunday walk or carriage ride.[1] Green-Wood Cemetery was even used for family reunions and picnics.[2]
In fact, Green-Wood Cemetery became the inspiration for the development of New York's largest public parks, Prospect Park and Central Park.[3]
Landscape designLandscape design
Green-Wood Cemetery is also a world-renowned arboretum with more than 7,000 trees. Some of Green-Wood’s oldest trees predate the cemetery’s opening in 1838. Each year the cemetery's collection of trees and shrubs continues to expand. Plants are chosen based on their value to the wildlife, beauty, and resilience.
DesignationsDesignations
Greenwood Cemetery has received many landmark designations, including the following.
- Revolutionary War Historic Site - the Battle of Long Island was fought there in 1776
- Civil War Discovery Trail Site - more than 5,200 individuals involved in the Civil War are buried at Green-Wood, including soldiers, nurses, and a 12-year-old drummer boy
- Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System Member - honored for exhibiting environmental responsibility by implementing sustainable practices in water management, wildlife habitat management, and waste reduction
- National Historic Landmark - for its significance in art, architecture, landscaping, and history
- National Register of Historic Places - designated as being a location worthy of preservation
- New York City Landmarks - for the Fort Hamilton Parkway Gate and the cemetery's chapel
ChapelChapel
Constructed in 1911–1913 by Warren and Wetmore, the Green-Wood Cemetery chapel is located on the site of one of Green-Wood's original ponds, near the 25th Street gate. The architects combined late Gothic style with the Beaux-Arts style.
The 3-story chapel is made of limestone, and was patterned after the Tom Tower in Christ Church, Oxford, England. It has multiple towers, including an octagonal tower in the center and 4 octagonal turrets, one at each corner of the building.
The chapel was made a New York City landmark in 2016.
BeesBees
Worldwide, bee populations are in severe decline. Bees have succumbed to pesticides, fertilizers, parasites, deforestation, and habitat destruction. But cemeteries can be a safe harbor for bees.
Beekeepers around the world are taking advantage of protected cemetery space by setting up bee boxes among the graves. The bees have plenty of places to gather nectar with a fresh supply of fresh flowers of all varieties being brought to the cemetery daily for memorial services and hundreds of trees. With such a variety of flora to choose from, their honey may taste of tangerine, mint, clover or more, all within the same cemetery.[4]
There are dozens of bee boxes at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York and each one is home to up to 60,000 bees. And even though the main objective for beekeeping at the cemetery is to produce more bees, there is still “money in the honey”.
Each year, Green-Wood Cemetery beekeepers harvest hundreds of pounds of honey. Visitors can buy a jar of the liquid gold from a wheeled cart outside the cemetery’s gothic main gate or they can sponsor half a hive or a full hive for a donation.[5]
Family history researchFamily history research
Green-Wood maintains a vast genealogical record that may pertain to tens of millions of descendants worldwide. Its archival holdings include burial records, affidavits for heirship inheritances, family correspondence, and memorial inscriptions for graves dating back to the 1840s.
Click HERE for more information about family history research at Green-Wood Cemetery.
Tours and activitiesTours and activities
Green-wood Cemetery caters to the living, as well as the deceased. There are many tours and events to attract visitors to the grounds including:
- Private walking tours
- Trolley ride tours
- Group tours
- Studio space for visual and performing artists
- Bird-watching
- Knitting and crocheting groups for people in mourning
- Night time bat walks and catacomb tours
Notable burialsNotable burials
- Louis Comfort Tiffany (1838 - 1933); painter, designer and world-famous stained-glass artist; Click HERE to see a photo of his gravestone and read his obituary.
- Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990); American conductor, first to lead the New York Philharmonic Orchestra; and composed the score for West Side Story. Click HERE to see a photo of his gravestone and learn more about him.
- Horace Greeley (1811-1872); founder and newspaper editor for the New York Tribune; politician, best known for saying, “Go West, young man”
- DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828); New York Governor; “Father of the Erie Canal”, DeWitt Clinton‘s body was moved to Green-Wood 16 years after his death in 1844 to attract tourists.
Explore more about famous cemeteriesExplore more about famous cemeteries
- Cemetery Picnics Our Ancestors Attended, BillionGraves Blog
- London's Magnificent Seven Cemeteries, BillionGraves Blog
- Documenting Cemeteries with BillionGraves, Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Cemetery Records Worldwide, BillionGraves, MyHeritage Catalog Collection
- The Seven Largest Cemeteries in the World, BillionGraves Blog
- 10 of the World's Most Beautiful Cemeteries, BillionGraves Blog
- Stories in Stone – Cemetery Research, Legacy Family Tree Webinars
ReferencesReferences
References
- ↑ https://blog.billiongraves.com/cemetery-picnics/
- ↑ https://blog.billiongraves.com/cemetery-picnics/
- ↑ https://www.green-wood.com/about-history/
- ↑ https://blog.billiongraves.com/animals-at-the-cemetery/
- ↑ https://store.green-wood.com/products/sponsor-a-beehive?srsltid=AfmBOoo8OjjrkPgPaoawatEBuzZAPYtidNqvgR80uqvt3cQeU1ZeQzQy
