It has been a mystery we’ve been trying to solve for some time now. We knew that the grave of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, America’s first internationally-acclaimed classical composer and pianist, had been adorned, soon after his death, with a marble angel. We had photographs of it–from the 19th century, even from as late as 1930 … Read more
Whenever I visit Washington, D.C., I try to visit my favorite museums there: the National Portrait Gallery, National Building Museum, the American Art Museum, and the National Museum of American History. Sometimes I find “old friends,” items I’ve seen many times, on display; sometimes I come across things I’ve never seen before. During my visit … Read more
In the early years of our Civil War Project, circa 2003, we started Volunteer Research Days, in which our Historic Fund Volunteers came to the cemetery conference room one Saturday every month or so to search the cemetery records for information that might result in the identification of Civil War veterans who are interred at … Read more
Louis Comfort Tiffany was quite the genius. The son of Charles Tiffany, who founded Tiffany and Company, he was a talented painter, interior designer, and stained glass artist. He is, of course, interred at Green-Wood Cemetery. Tiffany is best known today for his stained glass lamps. But, that would have greatly frustrated him. He did … Read more
I thought the snow storm we had a few weeks ago was pretty severe. With all that wet snow, many wonderful trees lost limbs. Discussing that storm with our Superintendent of the Grounds, Art Presson, a few days after it struck, we marveled at the fact that all of the falling limbs then had somehow … Read more
Richard Upjohn was a pioneering American architect. In the 1840’s, he designed Trinity Church, which stands at Broadway and Wall Street, . He was the first president of the American Institute of Architects. He also was Green-Wood Cemetery’s chosen architect of the mid-nineteenth century, designing the Arches at the grand entrance to the cemetery (the … Read more
Friday morning I entered the cemetery at the Fort Hamilton Parkway entrance, and walked across Green-Wood to our offices. It was drizzling, good cemetery weather, and it was a treat to wander the quiet grounds. As I got near the Catacombs, I reached the grave of Edward Anthony. Now, I know he is a rather … Read more
I’ve been wandering Green-Wood Cemetery for almost 25 years. Yet, I have never seen this monument before. It really is unusual–I’ve never seen anything like it in any cemetery. Thanks to Frank Morelli, supervisor of our Restoration and Preservation Program, who found this gravestone depicting a baby carriage. Quite a find!
Well, I guess Nature giveth and Nature taketh away. We do have a great collection of trees at Green-Wood Cemetery–an expert from the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens recently described our trees as the best collection of mature trees in New York City. We have about 7,000 trees–some just getting started, some more than a century old. … Read more
This is another entry in the Green-Wood-connections-are-everywhere file. So, we go out for lunch in Santa Barbara, California, and can’t quite figure out how to get into the selected restaurant. Finally it occurs to us that access is through Sullivan Goss, An American Gallery. And who do you think is the featured artist in the … Read more