Green-Wood Cemetery
Chapel in Green-Wood Green-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 as a rural cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, several blocks west of Prospect Park. In the New York Times it was said to be the "ambition of the New Yorker to live upon the Fifth Avenue, to take his airings in the Central Park, and to sleep with his fathers in Green-Wood". Inspired by Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where a cemetary in a naturalistic park-like landscape in the English manner was first established, Green-Wood was able to take advantage of the varied topography provided by glacial morainess. The cemetary was the idea of Henry Evelyn Pierrepoint, a Brroklyn social leader. It was a popular tourist attraction in the 1850s and was the place most famous New Yorkers who died during the second half of the nineteenth century were buried. It is still an operating cemetery with approximately 600,000 graves. The rolling hills and dales, several ponds and an on-site chapel provide an environment that still draws visitors. On weekends cars are allowed on cemetery grounds. There are several famous monuments located there, including a statue of DeWitt Clinton and a Civil War Memorial. During the Civil War, Green-Wood Cemetery created the "Soldiers' Lot" for free veterans' burials.
List of notable deceased Notables buried at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York:Albert Anastasia, (1903 - 1957) mobster, "Lord High Executioner" for "Murder Inc."Othniel Boaz Askew (1972 - 2003) politician, assassin of James E. Davis. (cremated)Jean-Michel Basquiat, artistHenry Ward Beecher (1813 - 1887) - abolitionistJames Gordon Bennett, Sr (1795-1872), founder/publisher of the New York HeraldHenry Bergh (1818 - 1888) - founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to AnimalsLeonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990) - composer, conductorSamuel Blatchford - US Supreme Court JusticeHenry Chadwick (memorial), Baseball Hall of Fame memberDeWitt Clinton - unsuccessful US presidential candidate 1812; US Senator from New York; seventh and ninth Governor of New YorkPeter Cooper (1791-1883) - inventor, manufacturer, abolitionist, founder of Cooper Union Mausoleums in Green-Wood Nathaniel Currier (1813 - 1888) - artist ("Currier and Ives")Bronson M. Cutting (1888 - 1935) - United States Senator from New Mexico (1927 - 1928; 1929 - 1935)James E. Davis (1962 - 2003) - assassinated City Councilman, was buried here for a few days, near a mausoleum containing the ashes of his assassin: On August 3, 2003, his family had his body exhumed and reintered in the Cemetery of the Evergreens.Thomas Clark Durant (1820-1885) key figure in building the First Transcontinental Railroad Charles Ebbets (1859 - 1925) - baseball team (Brooklyn Dodgers) owner; built Ebbets FieldCharles Feltman (1841 - 1910) - claimed to be the first person to put a hot dog on a bunJoey Gallo (1929 - 1972) - mobsterLouis Moreau Gottschalk (1829 - 1869) - composerHorace Greeley (1811 - 1872) - unsuccessful US presidential candidate 1872; founder of the New York TribuneTownsend Harris (1804-1878) - first U.S. Consul General to JapanWilliam S. Hart - star of silent "Western" moviesThomas Hastings (1784-1872) - wrote the music to the hymn "Rock of Ages" Elias Howe - invented the sewing machineWalter Hunt (1785 - 1869) - invented the safety pinJames M. Ives (1824 - 1895) - artist ("Currier and Ives")Leonard Jerome (1817-1891), entrepreneur, grandfather of Winston ChurchillLaura Keene - actress (on stage when Lincoln was shot)Florence La Badie, (1888-1917) - actressJohn La Farge (1835-1910), artistLaura Jean Libbey (1862-1924), popular "dime-store" novelistBrockholst Livingston - US Supreme Court JusticeWilliam Livingston - signer of the US Constitution; first Governor of New JerseyPierre Lorillard (1833-1901) - inventor of the tuxedoHenry James Montague (1840-1878) stage actorLola Montez (1821 - 1861) - actress; mistress of many notable menSamuel F.B. Morse - invented the telegraphEdward R. Murrow (1908-1965), journalistJames Kirke Paulding - U.S. Secretary of the Navy under Martin Van Buren; thought to be "author" of "Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers", although it had already been published in children's primers in Britain as early as 1813. Samuel Reid (1783 - 1861) - said to have designed the US flag Graves in Green-Wood Bill "The Butcher" Poole - His character was portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis in the motion picture Gangs of New YorkAlice Roosevelt (1861 - 1884) - first wife of US President Theodore RooseveltMartha Bulloch Roosevelt (1834 - 1884) - mother of US President Theodore RooseveltRobert Roosevelt - uncle of US President Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt, Sr - father of US President Theodore RooseveltMargaret Sanger (1879 - 1966) - birth control advocateIra Sankey (1840 - 1908) - hymn composerF.A.O. Schwarz (Frederick Augustus Otto Schwarz) (1836 - 1911) - toy store founderHenry Steinway (1797 - 1871) - founder of Steinway & Sons, piano manufacturersWilliam Steinway (1836 - 1896) - son of Henry Steinway, and founder of Steinway, New YorkLouis Comfort Tiffany (1848 - 1933) - artistWilliam Marcy "Boss" Tweed (1823 - 1878) - notorious New York politicianFrank Morgan Wupperman (1890 - 1949) - played the character of the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz. Green-Wood commisioned a history, Nehemiah Cleveland, Green-Wood Cemetery: A History from 1838 to 1864 that was published in New York by Anderson and Archer, 1866. The Pierrepont papers, deposited at the Brooklyn Historical Society contain material concerning the organizing of Green-Wood Cemetary. See also: List of famous cemeteries, List of mausoleums
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