Greenwood Cemetery is well known to the people of the Big Apple as the place where honorary New Yorkers such as Samuel Morse, Leonard Bernstein, and Louis C. Tiffany are buried. Surprisingly, in the most famous cemetery in Brooklyn, you can spend time not just walking among the graves - this is not just a burial place, but a real park with its own traditions and events. We have collected 6 interesting facts about the cemetery for you.
1. Concerts for the Dead
2. Halloween at the graveyard
There is no other holiday that is more logical to spend in a cemetery than Halloween. Green-Wood is hosting many tours and events this year throughout autumn months. Visitors can go on night tours and walk by the light of thousands of flickering candles along the paths of the cemetery, where they will meet musicians, actors and storytellers. Read more about night tours.
3. Where the secrets are kept
Greenwood is holding a campaign that will last 25 years. It is called Here Lie Secrets of the Visitors of Green-Wood Cemetery. The author of the action, Sophie Calle, in 2017 designed a marble obelisk with a slot in it, like in a mailbox, where everyone can throw their secrets written on paper. After 24 years, Kalle will return to Greenwood when the "grave" is full of secrets and burn them in an open ceremony.
4. Historical volunteers
Greenwood Cemetery is almost 200 years old. From the start when it was still rural cemetery, its cemetery staff collected and kept all kinds of records and artifacts about those buried here. These archives are kept at the cemetery to this day, and by the way, volunteers still help to explore them in many ways. There's an old adage that one in seven Americans can trace their roots to Brooklyn, so the fact that the cemetery's archives are important is an undeniable fact.
5. Significant battles took place on the territory of the cemetery
Most Deadly fighting during famous battle at Brooklyn in 1776, the most big battle per revolutionary war, took place on the territory of Greenwood - in the very high point Brooklyn. This place is called Battle Hill. To be honest, the Battle of Brooklyn never got the attention it deserved among military historians who wrote about the Revolutionary War. But one person tried to fix it, which led us to next secret cemeteries.
6. Hello Lady Liberty from the Roman Goddess
Charles Higgins was one of the most successful business people in New York. His company, Higgins India Ink, is still in operation today, even after Mr. Higgins himself went to his last trip in Greenwood Cemetery nearly a century ago. His blueprints for his tomb and Battle Hill, which he also bought, were collecting dust in the cemetery's archives until they were discovered by an archival volunteer. Initially, as conceived by the entrepreneur, the statue of Minerva, which adorns his tomb on Battle Hill, was supposed to look at the building. At the time, the Woolworth building was a symbol commercial success America. However, Higgins changed his desire at some point and decided that it would be better for Minerva to look at the Statue of Liberty and her hand should be raised in greeting and solidarity. Higgins' wish was granted.
Brooklyn map has a large gray area almost correct geometric shape- This is the old cemetery Green-Wood. It takes vast territory and far exceeds in scale many New York city parks. It will take at least half a day to simply walk along all its paths and paths, and it can take more than one day to study it more or less carefully. I already wrote a small one in Queens, and this time I wanted to get more closely acquainted with what a cemetery in New York is like. And so, today, it turned out to be another warm November day, of which there are many in New York, and we are in the company xoxol_xoxlovich and his wonderful wife went to explore this sad, but, unfortunately, an integral part of the city's infrastructure. Inside, we saw many amazing and unusual things for us, and one of the buildings of the cemetery simply amazed us, what we saw there turned out to be so unexpected.
A bit of history: The cemetery was founded in 1838 as the rural cemetery of Kings County, which later became Brooklyn. The peak of "popularity", if I may say so about the cemetery, came in the second half of the 19th century, it was then that it was customary to bury the most famous and wealthy citizens of the city on it.
1. Main entrance. The gate was built in 1861 in neo-gothic style. 
The cemetery is a large and complex park complex with hills, lakes, large quantity trees and numerous paths and paths. This is what attracted and still attracts a lot of visitors who like to just walk between the graves and look at the old mausoleums and family crypts.
2. Cemetery tour bus. 
In the 1850s, the cemetery was one of the most visited places in America and rivaled Niagara Falls in popularity. It was visited annually by up to half a million visitors who loved to spend here family picnics, walking promenades and leisurely carriage rides.
3. Crypts made in the mountainside. 
It was Green-Wood Cemetery that inspired the authorities to create city parks, including New York's famous Central Park. In 2006, the cemetery was designated a National Historic Landmark.
4. Large crypt. 
Despite their own, almost 130 summer history, Green-Wood Cemetery is still active and burials are made there. The area of the cemetery is almost 2 square kilometers, and in this area there are about 600,000 graves.
5. Chapel at the cemetery. Open, as the sign says - for relaxation, meditation and prayer. You can go inside and sit in silence and twilight on a bench. 
Many famous people of New York are buried at Green-Wood Cemetery. Most famous person resting there, it is perhaps Samuel Morse - the inventor of the telegraphic alphabet named after himself. Henry and William Steinway are also buried there - I had about them; founder and head of PanAm - Juan Trip; composer, pianist and conductor Leonard Bernstein; American artist and designer Louis Tiffany; the most notorious corrupt official in New York history, William Tweed; numerous heroes of the civil war, politicians, artists, gangsters and other rich and not very citizens of the city.
6. Family mausoleum 
7. Tiffany's very modest grave. Especially against the background of the company's products. 
From visiting a New York cemetery, there are completely different impressions than from visiting almost any Russian one. Even while walking along Golgotha, I thought about what distinguishes the Russian cemetery from the American one so much, why is there a completely different atmosphere here? My version is this - there are no images of people on American graves, there are no photographs or portraits carved in stone, sometimes there is nothing at all. On the grave it can be simply written - mother, or father, and that's it, no names or dates. Rarely where there are crosses. That is why there is no feeling from visiting a cemetery, as from a trip through the city of the dead, who look at you from every tombstone. A walk through an American cemetery is more like a walk through a landscape park with sculptures, like in some Peterhof or Pushkin. There is no melancholy, fate or human tragedies behind the graves and monuments. These are just silent stones and monuments standing on the sides of the road.
8. One of the graves. No names, no dates. Just father, mother and Kate. 
More distinctive features- there are no fences here and very rarely there are benches near the graves. There are never tables. The graves themselves do not have rectangular shape, most often it is a stone standing vertically, less often a small monument square shape with a statue or a stele, sometimes just a small slab among the grass. There are practically no flowers or wreaths on the graves, neither live nor artificial, they are just tombstones standing on the cut grass among the trees. Despite the outward similarity, the cemetery is different from any park - you can drive a car along any path, and that’s how everyone moves, you can park almost everywhere, and you can smoke here throughout, unlike the same city parks in New York.
9. Mausoleum on the bank of the pond. 
The cemetery is managed by a special foundation, founded in 1999, whose tasks, in addition to managing the cemetery and its preservation, also include the task of promoting it, no matter how strange it sounds. The Foundation hosts various seasonal events such as the annual "Battle of Brooklyn" and Halloween celebrations, as well as daily tours of the grounds. The Foundation attracts volunteers and collects donations. It is also possible to become a permanent member of the foundation, although the call for membership in the cemetery can be regarded rather in two ways. Yes, and photos with happy members of the cemetery, sitting with children on the grass among the graves, make me feel strange.
10. Headstone. 
11.
12. There are trash cans and fire hydrants on the sides of the paths. 
13. Paved paths depart from wide asphalt paths. 
14. Mausoleum 
15. The stone shop caved in from time to time. 
16.
17. Sometimes gravestones are simple. 
18. Sometimes very simple. Only the year and initials. 
19. Sometimes extremely simple - a small stone with only initials. It is possible to determine who is buried here only by the cemetery records. 
20. Very rarely graves are decorated with something. 
21. Russian-Orthodox surrounded by Poles-Catholics. On graves with Russian surnames there is always a photo. 
22. The trees formed a beautiful arch. 
23. And here are indicated not only the names and dates, but even the age at which the person died. But the year of birth must be calculated by yourself. 
24.
25. Old burial. The inscriptions and dates on the stone have been erased in places and are not readable. 
26. Roman column. 
27. More crypts in the mountainside. 
28. Brother and sister. 
29. Arbor. 
30. One more. 
31. Celtic cross. Irish grave. 
32. Praying baby. In fact, he is one and a half times the size of an adult. 
33.
34.
35.
36. Crypt-cross. 
37. General form to the surrounding hills. There are still a lot of free places. 
38.
39.
40. One of the mausoleums outside. 
41. And inside. free space almost not. 
42.
43. Reminiscent of St. Isaac's Cathedral, only without a dome. 
44. Beautiful stained glass. Through it enters sunlight. And on it you can see the Masonic sign. 
45. Good. 
46. Tombstone in the form of a log. Pinocchio's parents? 
47. The man turned all green. 
48. But this building caused us a real shock. They expected to see anything inside, except for what they saw. Inside is... 
Bride of Greenwood Cemetery
In one American city Decatur, which is located in Illinois, has an old Greenwood Cemetery, which rightfully bears the title of "the most damned place in the whole West." Many people who specialize in paranormal activity, believe that it is in this place that the entrance to parallel worlds is located.
The dawn of the cemetery came at the beginning of the twentieth century. At that time, this place was called "The most beautiful city of the dead". It was not an easy cemetery, erected on a site that the indigenous people of these parts used as a burial ground. It was in a way a secular and fashionable place. Now it’s hard to believe that at the beginning of the twentieth century picnics were often held here on the weekends, and paved paths made it possible to get to any corner of the cemetery, water supply quenched the thirst of horses in carriages, which also quite often drove around the territory of the necropolis.
When came" a white man”, this place was special and sacred for the Indians, they believed that there was a direct connection with world of the dead and arranged their cemetery in order to facilitate the transition to another world for the souls of the dead. The Europeans destroyed the mounds erected by the Indians. Of course, the souls of the buried people were also disturbed. To this day there are unmarked graves in the southern part of the cemetery. And in the twentieth century, the cemetery became a very actively visited place, because for the poorer segment of the population it was a great opportunity to get closer to the elite of the city and its amusements. All segments of the population tried to snatch a piece of land in an elite cemetery, so that at least after death they could get closer to the life that one can only dream of.
Today this place is teeming with paranormal cases. It seems that here already everyone can see what seemed hidden to the eyes, so much different stories brought with them by the inhabitants of the city, who visited the graves.
Of course, there are also the most favorite stories. Perhaps one of the most popular is the story of the Greenwood Cemetery Bride. This story begins in the distant 1930s. At that time, "Dry Law" entered. Alcohol was banned but still sold. Of course, the people supplying and selling alcohol were breaking the law. One young and handsome guy, who was extremely successful in smuggling alcohol and delivering it to almost all the institutions of the city, was in love. His love was mutual. Despite the prohibitions of the parents, their story did not turn into Shakespearean, the parents resigned themselves to the choice of their daughter. Perhaps we can say that everything would be fine, but the young man was very fond of quick profits. And even on the eve of the wedding, he could not deny himself to get a little richer. The night before the wedding, the young man and his team went to work, hoping to make a good profit. But it was a set-up, and the competitors, who had been sharpening their teeth for a long time, killed the young man in cold blood, and then pushed his body into the river, located not far from Greenwood. It is believed that it was found and pulled out of the river by local fishermen. The next morning, the young girl, who was about to become a bride, brought sad news. She was already in a dress when she was told that her fiancé was no longer alive. In what is, the girl ran to the river. Soon her corpse was also found there - he floated face down in the very place where the groom died. From grief, her mind was clouded and she drowned herself. The bride's parents buried her in her wedding dress. Deciding that she would like it more than anything. The girl was buried in the same cemetery, on a hill, because it was customary to bury suicides there. Especially none of the townspeople did not attach special importance to this occasion. There was a small article in the local newspaper, nothing more. A day later, everyone had already forgotten, since the young man was not the only victim of the deceased because of the “prohibition”. But not much time passed, and a rumor spread around the city that a young lady in a white dress was walking around the cemetery. She was seen by so many people that even law enforcement agencies became interested in this case. Having carefully checked everything, the police did not find any traces of bare female feet, since everyone was sure that this was just a hoax, and someone was trying to cause confusion by diverting attention law enforcement from something more important. But to this day, many locals we are sure that this is the ghost of the same girl who has been looking for her beloved for a hundred years now. And now, after so many years, a beautiful and sad girl in an old wedding dress, wiping tears from her angelic face, walks among the graves, scaring the cemetery visitors half to death.
Greenwood Cemetery also has a memorial to the fallen in civil war, where both those who fought for the Confederates and those who fought for the Federalists are buried. Before that, there was a mausoleum here, which collapsed in 1967 due to an imperfect design. The bodies were reburied, but the gravediggers did not try to separate the bones, threw them into one pile and buried them. Since then, there have been reports that screams and groans are heard from the abandoned mausoleum, and that strange figures and inexplicable phenomena are seen in places of mass reburial.
From the book of Sagittarius. Man without elbows author Nilin Alexander Pavlovich"... YOU CAN'T GET TO THE CEMETERY" 50Before some holiday at the very end of the eighties, almost before the New Year, Edik called me on the phone to congratulate me. The only one for all the times of our acquaintance and common work once. We didn't even have the habit of calling without business. At
From the book Life of Anton Chekhov author Rayfield DonaldPart VIII Flowering cemeteries Oh, this South, oh, this Nice! Oh, how their brilliance disturbs me! Life, like a shot bird, Wants to rise - and cannot ... [F.
From the book Chief of the Detective Police of St. Petersburg I.D. Putilin. In 2 vols. [T. 2] author Team of authorsMYSTERIES OF THE OHTENSKY CEMETERY VISIONS OF THE CEMETERY GUARD Once Putilin and I were sitting in his office and had a lively conversation on the topic of mysterious phenomena afterlife, about ghosts, about the problems of theosophical science. Putilin was always a great positivist, and I,
From book Selected works in two volumes (volume one) author From the book Where do falcons fly from author Yakovlev Vasily Pavlovich From the book Alexander Gradsky. The VOICE, or "Shit into eternity" author Dodolev Evgeny Yu.Flying cemeteries While the petition was on the staff tables, starting with the regimental ones, the number of planes shot down by Galkin exceeded the second ten, not counting the five that he destroyed at enemy airfields.
From the book I want to tell you... author Andronikov Irakli LuarsabovichGradsky 1994. Fruits from the cemetery He is again in the grip of the grave-digging image. Dirty, like all our reality. But this album has a stylish quality - professionalism from the first to the last chord. Vocal and instrumental professionalism as a signature
From the book People and Dolls [collection] author Livanov Vasily BorisovichTHE MYSTERY OF THE VAGANKOVA CEMETERY I myself understood that I was going the wrong way. It is clear that in the early 1930s N. F. I. got married and changed her surname. It would be much more natural to find her under the name of her husband than in the biography of Fyodor Fedorovich Ivanov, who died at the time when she
From book Free love author Kuchkina Olga AndreevnaXIX May 1923. At the gates of the Russian cemetery Strict Orthodox cross lined with white marble. At the bottom, on a tablet, there is an inscription: “Sofya Sergeevna Kromova” - and the dates of birth and death. Aleksey Alekseevich, placing flowers on the crossbar, stood for a moment, thinking. Then
From the book Napoleon author Johnson PaulAlexander Melikhov At the Volkov cemetery A mathematician by education, a philosopher by mentality, he is one of the best contemporary writers. His books are constantly included in the top ten books in Russia. And "Affair with Prostatitis", being on the list of intellectual bestsellers, is recommended
From the book Life of Anton Chekhov [with illustrations] author Rayfield DonaldChapter 5 Cemeteries of Europe The reasons for the fall of Bonaparte lie in the unwillingness of the British to accept his conquests and recognize them as legitimate by a general peace treaty. After the battle of Trafalgar, they were sure they could survive one way or another - they still did not know for sure
From the book My Great Old Women author Medvedev Felix NikolaevichPart VIII Flowering cemeteries Oh, this South, oh, this Nice! Oh, how their brilliance disturbs me! Life, like a wounded bird, Wants to rise - and cannot ... F.
From the book Cemetery. Book of the Dead-3 author Limonov Eduard VeniaminovichCemeteries and churches did not interest her - You said that the main thing for you is people, but now it turned out that the main thing is still books? - People did not influence, they are just interesting. They say to me: “But don’t you want to go to Zagorsk? Maybe there are places where you would like to
From the book Pushkin Necropolis author Geichenko Semyon StepanovichTWO CEMETERIES (instead of a preface) In the rain Should have done this sometime. I-he rode in the Volga along Kharkov streets next to the "Chevrolet" of an authoritative businessman, where next to the businessman was his friend - an authoritative colonel, as they say, fellow countrymen, childhood friends.
From the author's bookSurviving cemeteries
From the author's bookLost cemeteries
I love old cemeteries. So when I was researching the city on Googlemap, I was interested in a large green spot on the map of Brooklyn next to Prospect Park and botanical garden called Greenwood Cemetery. When I went to read about this cemetery on the net and found out that it is a national park, there are guided tours around it, I realized that I needed to go there. Moreover, the pictures depicted ponds with fountains and goldfish.
A bit of free history.
O one of the first necroparks in America, which in 1840 marked the beginning of a new direction in the organization of funeral and landscape space, is located in Brooklyn on an area of 194 hectares, which is three and a half times the total area of Novodevichy and Vagankovsky cemetery in Moscow.
David Bates Douglas, the cemetery engineer who was commissioned by the New York City to lay out Green Wood, was a romantic, in keeping with the spirit of the first half of XIX century. From the very beginning, he decided that his creation would be not just a burial place for the dead, but also a demonstration of the possibilities of landscape architecture, a park for walking, affirming the idea that death, returning a person to nature, can also be beautiful.
Douglas, in love with his brainchild, came up with poetic names for its corners - Serene Backwater, Forest Cliff, Camellia Way. A guidebook with a map showing all the avenues and paths of Green-Wood clearly reflects the wealth of its botanical world: Iris, Jasmine, Fern, Lotus, vine...
A detail that few even in New York remember. The success of the cemetery in Brooklyn, which became a popular tourist attraction, inspired supporters of the creation of a large public park in New York, later called Central, and quickly became the most prestigious area of the city. Its planners, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, creatively used some of the landscaping techniques tried in Green Wood.
How! And this is just 8 stops on the metro, and without a transfer!
I definitely need to go there!
And on Sunday, left alone at home, I rushed there.
I got out at the 36th Street subway station and immediately did something stupid. Not in vain smart Google drew me a path of 23 minutes around the fence. So it was necessary to go, but I hastily dived into the service entrance and did not go to the main gate.
there were modest burials of the middle class, dated to the beginning of the last century.
And there were no people at all. Only occasionally I was overtaken by cars that came to visit relatives. In America, this day was Father's Day.
But then she reached the beauties, decently circling along the alleys among centuries-old trees.
Unlike our cemeteries, there are no grave mounds, fences and wreaths, there are no photographs on the monuments. Just monuments on a solid green lawn.
although sometimes relatives can plant flowers
Among the monuments there are also family crypts, or mausoleums. paths paved with tiles lead to them
I dont know American history so the names don't tell me anything famous people buried here. But sometimes there are namesakes of people I know. Bender
,
Bradbury
and even Capone. Although the same Al Capone was buried in Chicago, and then his relatives transferred his ashes, in my opinion, to Illinois.
I wandered in silence along the alleys of the cemetery and suddenly heard a very unusual and sad melody. A young man stood among the monuments and played .... the bagpipes. it was so solemn and sad that I sat down under a tree and listened. and remembered that today is Father's Day, and my father, with whom I had difficult relationship, I have never been to his grave, I only know that he was buried in Pskov. here, if you look closely, you can see the piper
and then completely unexpectedly overtook me .... a tram
then I realized that it’s true that I’m not the only tourist here and I don’t offend anyone with my idle wandering among other people’s graves, even if they are a national monument. and continued to stagger with a clear conscience.
Walking, I climbed a high hill and saw a lake below
and by the lake rich crypts of white marble
The sign says Lake avenue (Ozernaya Street)
Americans put one family monument, and around the burial of a family member.
Often simply indicated by "mother", "father" or initials
There are very beautiful monuments
there are old, inscriptions on which it is not possible to read
Walking, I still went to the central alleys
“Today I want to talk about one of the most unusual cemeteries in New York. Not even one, but two cemeteries. They are located in neighboring blocks, have similar names and are equally difficult to visit. It is not surprising that many people confuse them or think that there is only one cemetery. Although, I think that most of them have never heard of them at all,” says blogger samsebeskazal.
(Total 41 photos)
Post sponsor: http://experts-tourister.ru/france/paris/tours : Excursions in Paris in Russian
Source: JJournal/samsebeskazal
1. There are two old cemeteries on the island of Manhattan in an area called the East Village. One is called "New York Marble" and the other is called "New York City Marble". Their main feature is the technology of burial. The difference from any other is immediately visible. The photo shows a cemetery where more than 2,000 people are buried. And almost all of it is in the frame.
Let's start with history. Until 1831, the vast majority of city cemeteries were confessional (Catholics have their own, Protestants have their own, etc.) and were located in the churchyard. The church, as a rule, stood in the center of the city in its most densely populated area. The cemeteries themselves looked quite different from what they look like today. These were untidy and neglected plots of land with small gravestones, overgrown with weeds and vines. They went to them only during the next funeral. The rest of the time, people avoided visiting cemeteries whenever possible. As the population of New York grew, so did the number of cemeteries. The main problem became their overcrowding, as well as the fact that many of them were located in close proximity to residential buildings and sources of drinking water.
With various epidemics that claimed many lives, in those days everything was more than in order. Cholera, yellow fever, etc. A major yellow fever epidemic occurred in 1793 in nearby Philadelphia, which at that time was the capital of the United States. About 5,000 people died from the disease then. And this was about 10% of the city's population. In 1798, the same attack fell on New York. There, within a few months, 2086 inhabitants died. Splashes happened later, but that epidemic was the most serious in the history of the city. People who lived at that time had little idea of the causes of such diseases and even less of the ways to treat them. They looked for reasons in everything they could: in rotten vegetables, spoiled coffee, West Indians who came to New York. Someone said that the terrible living conditions in the shantytowns were to blame (which was partly true, but not the reason). But for the most part, they were pure fantasies, with one idea being more delusional than the other. A newspaperman wrote a long article explaining that the cause of the yellow fever epidemic in New York was the eruption of Mount Etna in Sicily. It was not until 1881 that the theory was advanced that yellow fever was transmitted a certain kind mosquitoes, and only in 1900 it was scientifically proven. Cemeteries located in densely populated areas New York. This was the reason for the closure of several existing ones with the transfer of burials outside the city. The only problem was that this feature was constantly moving south, absorbing more and more cemeteries every year. In 1813 burials below Canal Street were prohibited. By 1851, prohibition had extended to all areas south of 86th Street. An exception was made only for private crypts and some church cemeteries. Most of the burials were moved to Queens and Brooklyn, and former cemeteries became city parks (Washington Square, Union Square, Madison Square and Bryant Park are all former cemeteries).
New York Marble Cemetery was established in 1831 and quickly became popular (if such a word is appropriate for such a place) as well as commercially successful. Commerce implied order and grooming, which were so lacking at that time, and burial technology made the cemetery epidemically safe. So, anyway, they thought then. New York City Marble owners open year later, they simply adopted a successful business model and, having bought a plot of land in a neighboring block, opened exactly the same one, adding only the word “City” to the name. Both cemeteries were founded solely as profit-making businesses, as a result they were non-denominational and open to everyone (well, almost everyone), which only added to their clients in such a multinational city as New York. As businesses, they were designed to make the most of a small piece of land. High price of land in Manhattan has led to the fact that people began to replicate plots up, building more and more high buildings. Cemeteries, by virtue of their specificity, began to grow downwards. The task that confronted the people who organized the New York Marble cemetery can be formulated as follows: how to equip a small area maximum amount burial sites, and even make them safe for the health of residents of the surrounding neighborhoods? The solution was found in the form of capacious stone crypts arranged below ground level. For their construction, they dug a pit, equipped the floor, ceiling and strong walls, and then covered them with earth. It turned out something like a basement, but without the floors above. For access inside, a special hole was equipped (one for two crypts), which was closed with a stone cover.
2. Let's start with the New York Marble. Finding him is not so easy. It is located in the courtyard of a residential area with dense buildings. It is not visible from the street, and you can get into the territory only through a narrow and almost imperceptible passage from Second Avenue. But even if you know where the entrance is, this is unlikely to help you. In 99 cases out of 100 you will see only locked gates. There are only a few days a year when visitors are allowed into the cemetery.
3. If you do not know that somewhere behind the houses there is a cemetery, then it is almost impossible to guess about its existence.
4. And even after going inside, you will most likely think that you are in a small garden.
5. Beautiful green lawn, bushes, trees, benches, garden tools. What other cemetery?
7. The fact is that the cemetery is completely underground. The stones with inscriptions in the wall are not tombstones, but tablets showing the number of the underground crypt and the names of its owners. On the territory of 17 acres there are 156 underground crypts, in which 2080 people rest. The crypts and the wall around the cemetery are made of marble. The same one that was used in the construction of many famous buildings, including the Washington State Capitol. Hence the name - "Marble Cemetery".
8. The tablets are also made of marble, which slowly deteriorates under the influence of time and weather. Therefore, some of the names are no longer readable.
9. Building around.
10. It is interesting that over the years they have not changed much. Here is a photo taken in 1910.
11. And this was done the other day.
12. In the far corner reconstruction in progress walls and you can see construction material. What the crypts look like, you will see below.
13. At the end of the 19th century, the heirs of the owners of the crypts seriously considered the option of transferring burials and selling the land in order to equip a school and a nursery on it. playground. Today, New York Marble Cemetery has two vacant crypts for sale. Each is asking for $500,000. The owners of the cemetery are the heirs of the owners of the crypts. Their great-great-great-grandchildren. They also have the rare opportunity to be buried in lower Manhattan. The rest of New Yorkers are deprived of it. The only active cemetery on the island (Trinity) is located north of 153rd Street. Interesting fact. During genealogical research, it was found that only 3% of the heirs of the owners of the crypts retained the surname of their ancestors.
14. This is the New York City Marble Cemetery, which is located in the next block. It is larger in area (37 acres) and is well visible from the street. Getting on it, however, is just as difficult. It only opens a few times a year.
15. Its main difference is that the stones with the numbers of the crypts are not installed in the wall, but on the ground. Just between them is the entrance covered with earth.
16. There are also steles installed instead of license stones at the request of some owners of the crypts.
17. Crypt number 137. There are 258 of them in this cemetery.
18. Number 150, owned by a certain Ji. Es. Winston.
19. Crypts in marble cemeteries never belonged upper class New York Society. The richest had country estates where they could hide from the hustle and bustle of the city (and from the outbreak of the epidemic). Private family cemeteries were built next to such estates. In the marble cemeteries, mostly wealthy merchants, shipowners and lawyers are buried. People are not poor, but far from the cream of society. There were also exceptions. In 1825, the fifth President of the United States, James Monroe, was buried there. His son owned one of the crypts. After 27 years, in 1858, his body was reburied at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
20. By the 1860s, the number of burials in marble cemeteries had drastically decreased. Greenwood Cemetery was opened in Brooklyn and quickly became fashionable with its parkland scenery and cozy winding paths. In addition, the demographics of the region have changed. Wealthy residents and middle class moved to the neighborhoods to the north, and the area around the cemeteries was quickly settled by poor immigrants who came to America for a better share and did not have money for life, not to mention for a funeral. During this period, about a quarter of all burials from marble cemeteries were transferred to other cemeteries. Most on Greenwood in Brooklyn and Woodlawn in the Bronx. By the 1860s, they had almost ceased to be buried on them. The last burial was made in 1937. Since then, they have stood there, surrounded by dense buildings and closed to visitors.
21. What the crypt looks like. To get inside, you need to remove the sod on the site, dig a hole about 10-20 centimeters deep and find a stone slab that closes the entrance.
22. Then, with the help of a winch and ropes, lift and put aside a heavy cover, under which a rectangular well with stone walls and two stone doors will be found.
23. Each of them leads to a crypt. Interestingly, some doors require a key.
24. Inside is a cramped space with vaulted ceilings and shelves on which lie the decayed remains of coffins, wreaths and other things. The walls, floor and ceiling of the crypts are made of light Takahoy marble.
25. Scheme of the crypt. They write that once every 10 years, new dead can be brought to the cemetery.
26. Only cemetery workers could get into the crypt itself. Heartbroken relatives and the priest remained upstairs. This is an old mechanism that was used to open crypts.
The booth was given interesting statistics by mortality in the 1830s:
13% - died before the age of 6 months,
18% - died at the age of 6 months to 2 years,
15% - died at the age of 2 to 4 years,
7% - died at the age of 4 to 10 years,
4% - died between the ages of 11 and 20,
11% - died between the ages of 21 and 30,
9% - died between the ages of 31 and 40,
7% - died between the ages of 41 and 50,
5% - died between the ages of 51 and 60,
5% - died between the ages of 61 and 70,
4% - died between the ages of 71 and 80,
2% - died between the ages of 81 and 90,
0.5% - died at the age of over 90 years.
Those. most were children. 57% of those buried at the New York Marble did not live past the age of 20. 53% did not live to be 10 years old.
27. After you have seen what is happening below, let's look at what was happening above. Photos taken during OHNY - city day open doors when you get a chance to get to places that are very difficult or simply impossible to get to on a normal day. Marble cemeteries were on the program this year.
28. Pay attention to the fact that the people who came behave as if they were not in a cemetery, but at a picnic in the park. People lie on the grass, walk their dogs, read a book, or simply take a nap in the rays of a warm autumn sun. I can't imagine something like that in a cemetery in Russia, we have such a different mentality and attitude towards death. Perhaps this is due to the age of the burials and the fact that there are no graves, but a similar picture can be observed in any old New York cemetery. Especially during some interesting events.
