Green-Wood Cemetery

Welcome to Green Wood Cemetery, an extraordinary four hundred seventy eight acre expanse of rolling hills, glacial ponds, and winding paths nestled right in the heart of urban Brooklyn. As a scholar of urban history, I have spent…

Our journey begins before we even set foot on the hallowed grounds, standing before the magnificent Main Entrance Gates. These towering Gothic Revival structures, constructed between eighteen sixty one and eighteen sixty five,…

Following the winding path just beyond the gates, we arrive at the Historic Chapel, an architectural jewel tucked into a serene depression in the landscape. The story of this chapel is a fascinating tale of shifting architectural…

We now ascend the steep, winding slopes to reach the summit of Battle Hill. At two hundred sixteen feet above sea level, this is the highest natural point in all of Brooklyn. …

Descending from the heights of Battle Hill, we enter a section characterized by towering obelisks and extravagant family mausoleums. This area tells the story of how Green Wood transformed from a struggling enterprise into the…

We now approach one of the most atmospheric and architecturally unique features within the cemetery walls, the historic Catacombs. Unlike the freestanding monuments we have seen thus far, this structure is built directly into the…

Continuing our walk along the curving paths, the grandeur of the massive stone monuments begins to give way to graves that tell deeply personal stories of creativity, tragedy, and sudden loss. We are entering a space defined by…

As our path curves back toward the northern edge of the cemetery, we immerse ourselves in the gritty, fiercely loyal, and sometimes violent history of Brooklyn itself. This section is home to the titans of America's pastime, as…

For our final stop, we descend into the lush, circular valley known as Cedar Dell. Here, we shift our focus from the history of the dead to the vital, ongoing life of the landscape itself. …

As our journey through the winding paths of Green Wood Cemetery comes to a close, we find ourselves back near the towering Gothic gates where we began. We have traversed four hundred seventy eight acres of Brooklyn's terminal…