Jeff Richman I am just back from Lexington, Kentucky, where I attended the annual Civil War Preservation Trust conference. This is a great organization–since its inception, it has purchased 29,000 acres of Civil War battlefield ground. I attended my first conference last year in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and was so impressed that I decided to head out to … Read more
Green-Wood Cemetery has a long and proud relationship with artists. The first history of the cemetery, published in the 1840s, was illustrated with prints by James Smillie, who is interred at Green-Wood. It is the final resting place for many of the painters of the Hudson River School, the first American school of painters, including … Read more
Just a few weeks ago I led a tour of Green-Wood Cemetery for the Woodhaven Historical Society. At one of the stops on the tour, a very nice woman asked me if I knew of a monument at Green-Wood that had a flag pole. I mentioned the monument to Samuel Chester Reid, War of 1812 … Read more
About fifteen years ago, I visited Louisiana with my family. I wanted to see a few special things down there: New Orleans streets, restaurants, and cemeteries, of course. I wanted to eat crayfish. And I wanted to visit Morgan City, Louisiana. Why Morgan City? Well, Morgan City is named for Charles Morgan, a shipping and … Read more
I just wanted to share this with you. We have many wonderful workers at Green-Wood, and many good people also. Yesterday, one of our employees got this e-mail from an acquaintance: I hope you are doing well! I wanted to send you a message, I know you work at Greenwood Cemetery so I wanted to … Read more
In Saturday’s New York Times, in a front page article about Attorney General Andrew Coumo’s announcement of his candidacy for New York’s governorship, this was found: “Appearing in front of the former Manhattan courthouse named for Boss Tweed, the corrupt political boss of Tammany Hall, Mr. Cuomo told a crowd of supporters: “Unfortunately, Albany’s antics today … Read more
Well, it’s that time of year again. Time to walk Green-Wood Cemetery at night. I’ll be leading Saturday Night by Moonlight, Flashlight, and Footlights on Saturday, May 22, starting at 8:15 p.m. If all goes as planned, we’ll see a great sunset from up on Green-Wood’s hills, and then I’ll lead you through the cemetery. We’ll have … Read more
About ten years ago, I purchased a copy of Nehemiah Cleaveland’s walking tour of Green-Wood Cemetery, written about 1860. Cleaveland was Green-Wood’s first historian; I am its second. Now, I learned a few things from his walking tour about Green-Wood. I also learned some things about writing a walking tour. Never give instructions like this: … Read more
I was cruising around the cemetery yesterday, leading a tour on our trolley, when we came across this scene. There were Domenick Lanzi, our master ironworker, and his assistant, Vincent Joseph, installing my cast iron gate. Now, it really isn’t mine, at least not anymore. I bought it about five years ago at an antiques … Read more
The Medal of Honor has been awarded only 3,446 times since it was first given in 1863. Just two weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Don Morfe. Don is a very active and dedicated volunteer with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. He spends a lot of time researching and going out to cemeteries, … Read more