This is the main entrance gate at 5th Ave and 25th Street.
home | blog | emailMy brother, his girlfriend, and I toured Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. I took photos of famous people, headstones I liked, and lots of other random things.
Fun fact: As you'll see, some of the more famous "residents" of Green-wood have really understated gravesites, and some of the biggest, most ostentatious final resting places belong to people you've never heard of.
This is the main entrance gate at 5th Ave and 25th Street.
The chapel.
I have no idea who this Brunjes guy is, but his headstone has a bust of him.
These are the headstones of the Prentiss brothers. We were directed to these via the Forgotten New York book. During the Civil War, one soldier joined the Union army and the other went south.
This angel is fairly typical of the monuments in the cemetery.
Louis Comfort Tiffany (and family).
This monument is blue.
This is the Irish Korean War veterans memorial, which is not quite completed.
The plot here containes many people named Bergen, we thought maybe of Bergen Street. The Bergens were a prominent Brooklyn family for many generations.
My brother said, "A weeping angel? Isn't that a bit presumptuous?"
This poor guy Frank seems to have not gotten married but has a double tombstone. Or else the wife remarried and is buried elsewhere. I also like that profile in the background.
Samuel F. B. Morse of Morse Code fame.
Here's a view with better lighting so that you can actually read it.
Some tombstones are in other languages. I'm guessing Chinese here? (Sorry it's kind of fuzzy.)
...the hands of fate?
Actress Laura Keane, a popular actress of the mid-19th Century and witness to the Lincoln assassination (she was starring in Our American Cousin). I can't find a good link about her, but she is currently the subject of an Off-Broadway show starring Kate Mulgrew.
Don't know who this guy is, either, but my brother said, "When I die, I want you to put a life-size statue of me on my gravesite." This got us scheming about what we'd want our monuments to look like. Mechanical waving arms were involved. We are so going to hell.
Here's a dramatic one.
My brother's girlfriend said, "Here's how Christmas died." It was funny at the time. See above about us going to hell.
Henry "Old Brains" Halleck, who commanded the Western Theater then became general-in-chief of the Union army for a time during the Civil War.
...and his dog?
Beer. Heh heh.
We wondered if this was an acestor of Commander William Riker. Heh. Actually, this guy was a Civil War vet, fought at Fair Oaks.
I liked the architecture of some of the mausoleums.
This mausoleum is topped by a statue. The name on it is Wood.
Charles Feltman has quite an elaborate gravesite. Apparently his main claim to fame is that he was the first person to put a hot dog on a bun. A key innovation, you will agree.
A fireman killed in the line of duty. It says he was killed when thrown from a supply wagon en route to a fire.
This is a memorial to several firemen killed in the line of duty.
I... we were tired and hungry and getting a little punchy by this point.
Several Civil War vets seem to be interred here, but the monument is too eroded to be able to read it well.
Two Charles Havilands are buried here. We thought the plaque might tell us a bit about them, but it's instead a poem called "Colloquy on Death."
Henry Ward Beecher. See also his memorial at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights.
Henry Bergh was the founder of the ASPCA, hence the sculpture of the boy helping a horse. (Wikipedia)
Yes, it says Riblet. See above about the punchy.
Here lies Peter Cooper, founder of Cooper Union.
Abraham Duryee was a Civil War general. Google produced these illustrations of an early battle.
I just thought this was neat.
A bear! Our #1 Threat!
Elias Howe, inventer of the sewing machine.
Battle Hill, the tallest point in Brooklyn.
The Soldiers and Sailors monument atop Battle Hill, a Civil War monument.
Close up.
View of lower Manhattan from Battle Hill.
Minerva on the Altar to Liberty.
...something something something something LEONARD BERNSTEIN!
Charles Ebbets, who owned dem bums the Brooklyn Dodgers... as in Ebbets Field.
This one's got guard dogs.
Henry Chadwick, the father of modern baseball. This is one of my favorite monuments. Check out the four bases that surround his grave.
My brother says there was a period of time in which Egyptian-themed gravesites were all the rage.
The larger than life monument to DeWitt Clinton, whose greatest claim to fame, IMHO, is imposing the grid on Manhattan. Now New York City is easily navigable.
From the front.
The main entrance gate on the way out.
Bonus Links!
List of notable burials at The Cemetery Project.
Official Website. (Warning: There's music on the main page.)
