Jeff Richman Two of Green-Wood’s permanent residents, Louis Comfort Tiffany and John La Farge, were pioneers of American stained glass in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tiffany and his studio were prolific–they so dominated stained glass lamp manufacturing that virtually any stained glass lamp, whether by Tiffany or someone else, is now referred to as … Read more
One hundred years ago, in July of 1911, reform Mayor William J. Gaynor ended tolls on New York City’s East River bridges. As the mayor said back then, “the tolls are oppressive to many people, and inconvenient and irksome to everyone.” As Sam Roberts notes in his recent New York Times report, Gaynor thought tolls were … Read more
Back in March, I reported on Green-Wood’s efforts to save “Civic Virtue,” the Frederick MacMonnies sculpture that was deteriorating in Queens. We offered to restore “Civic Virtue” and give it a good home at Green-Wood; NYC authorities declined the invitation. If you would like to read that post, click here. We were anxious to bring … Read more
The New-York Historical Society and The Green-Wood Cemetery are two of New York’s oldest institutions. The former was founded in 1804; Green-Wood dates from 1838. In fact, you can tell, just from their spelling, that both go back quite a ways: there was a great passion in the 19th century for hyphens (guidebooks of that … Read more
There is nothing new under the sun. In 1992 (can it really be that long ago?), a big scandal broke. Woody Allen, comedian, writer, Knicks fan and moviemaker, who had been in a relationship with Mia Farrow for twelve years, broke up with her over his relationship with her daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. Allen was 56, … Read more
On June 10, 1861, more than a month before what many would say was the first battle of the Civil War (First Bull Run, on July 21, 1861), 3,500 Union troops moved against 1,200 Confederates near Hampton, Virginia. In what would come to be known as the Battle of Great Bethel (also referred to as … Read more
As you may know, we’ve been collecting items pertaining to Green-Wood and its permanent residents for years now. What to do with all those great things? And where to create a visitors’ center for Historic Green-Wood? Well, as Christopher Gray reports in The New York Times today (and, rumor has it, scheduled to appear in … Read more
There are Green-Wood connections everywhere. My favorite place to visit: Mount Desert Island, along the Maine coast, on which are located Acadia National Park and the village of Bar Harbor. I’ve been up there many times–probably 25 times over a period of 40 years. And it has always been great. On my latest trip, I … Read more
Well, this is interesting. As you may know, New York City just banned smoking in public parks. But, Green-Wood did that more than a century ago. I just took a look at one of the passes issued by the cemetery to lot owners in its early years. We have many of these passes in our … Read more
Green-Wood has over 560,000 people interred in its ground. It also has tens of thousands of monuments and gravestones. Not surprisingly, some of those monuments topple over every once in a while. And, when they do so, the grass will grow and they may disappear into the earth. In fact, since we started our Civil … Read more