Archive for October 11th, 2005

In the spirit of October and Halloween, I spent the last couple of days checking out a few cemeteries.

The first one I went to was Greenwood, located on 25th St and 5th Ave in Brooklyn. Massive, peaceful and quiet would be the three adjectives I would use to describe this place. After spending three hours wandering, eventually becoming disoriented and lost, I think I only saw a small portion of the grounds, and never came across another person. The graves were all packed in tight, which made it beautifully macabre, and the headstones ranged from tiny slabs to beautiful cement statues to enormous crypts. I swear that some of these people are buried in places larger than my apartment.

The second cemeterie(s) I checked out was New York Marble Cemetary. It’s split into two parts, one on 2nd St between 1st and 2nd Ave, which you can see through the gate, and one on 2nd Ave between 2nd and 3rd St, which is completely hidden except for it’s entrance. It’s normally closed to the public, but I was able to go in as part of Open House New York. I have to admit I expected it to be a little more “secret garden”. It actually was pretty plain, most of the markers were just slabs on the ground, with a couple of larger tombstones thrown in. But then I learned it’s history and how it’s built, which I found fascinating. Apparently back in the early 1800’s there was a problem with cemeteries corrupting the water supply, so NYMC corrected the problem by building marble vaults the size of small rooms underground. Entire families would be buried in the vault, marked overhead with only a marble slab. So the entire area underground is pretty much hollow. Very interesting.

I apologize, all this talk of architecture takes away from the mood, so let me leave you with these photos to put you back in the spirit of the month:

Greenwood Cemetery:

New York Marble Cemetery: