Jeff Richman Few of the gravestones of Green-Wood’s most famous permanent residents describe their accomplishments. But that has changed, at least for three of our pioneers. James Bogardus (1800-1874) is “The Father of Cast-Iron Architecture. Daniel Badger (1806-1884), with his Architectural Iron Works firm, pioneered the construction of cast-iron buildings. And Francois Gouraud (1808-1847) was sent by … Read more
Well, with 7,000 trees, many of which hang over monuments and tombs, it could have been a lot worse. Here are a few photographs, taken by Assistant Superintendent Danny Rodgriguez yesterday and today, of fallen trees. Danny reports that there also was some damage to monuments. UPDATE: Here’s one more, taken by Vice President … Read more
This Sunday was to have been our big Battle of Brooklyn commemoration. A great Battle of Brooklyn trolley tour with Barnet Schecter, author of The Battle for New York (now out of print–but I bought about 30 copies that I had hoped to sell) and yours truly has been sold out for weeks. Then re-enactors … Read more
I was poking around the Internet earlier this week, looking for something to buy for our Green-Wood Historic Fund Collections, when I hit pay dirt with this photograph and bought it: This is a wire photo; here’s the caption attached to it that explains what you see above: The monuments in the background of the … Read more
The Green-Wood Historic Fund’s Civil War Project began in May, 2003. Since then, volunteers have obtained more than 2,000 gravestones for veterans who lie in unmarked graves. More than 1,300 of those gravestones have so far been installed by cemetery workers across Green-Wood’s grounds. The veterans administration offers a variety of monuments: flat bronze, marble, … Read more
George Catlin (1796-1872) devoted much of his life to painting the American Indian. Starting in the 1820s, he went west to paint men and women whom he believed to be on the edge of extinction. He went west for years at a time, driven by his dream and his mission. He painted many tribes, including … Read more
Green-Wood is many things to many people. For some, it is a place of history. To others, it is a bird-watcher’s paradise. To still others, it is an arboretum; others think of it as a garden. And others think of it as a great big classroom. Last week, a guest artist and two instructors from … Read more
We have a new Historic Fund volunteer–Patty. She was interested in doing something, and, it turned out, she is quite the genealogical researcher. Once I learned that, I suggested that she might do follow-up research on the biographies of some of our Civil War veterans, looking for census entries, obituaries, and more, to improve their … Read more
Fifteen years ago, at the end of a Green-Wood tour that I was leading, a gentleman approached me, pulled out a photograph of a drawing, and asked me if there was a monument at Green-Wood that looked like that. I immediately recognized it as the Pierrepont Family Memorial. It turned out that the man with … Read more
Walter Dorwin Teague (1883-1960) was one of the giants of 20th century industrial design. Over a long career, he designed several popular art deco cameras for Eastman Kodak, art deco radios, lamps, and even World’s Fair pavilions. In 1927, Teague opened one of the first industrial design firms in the nation. During the 1930s, his … Read more