Jeff Richman Richard Upjohn was a pioneering American architect. In the 1840’s, he designed Trinity Church, which stands at Broadway and Wall Street, . He was the first president of the American Institute of Architects. He also was Green-Wood Cemetery’s chosen architect of the mid-nineteenth century, designing the Arches at the grand entrance to the cemetery (the … Read more
Friday morning I entered the cemetery at the Fort Hamilton Parkway entrance, and walked across Green-Wood to our offices. It was drizzling, good cemetery weather, and it was a treat to wander the quiet grounds. As I got near the Catacombs, I reached the grave of Edward Anthony. Now, I know he is a rather … Read more
I’ve been wandering Green-Wood Cemetery for almost 25 years. Yet, I have never seen this monument before. It really is unusual–I’ve never seen anything like it in any cemetery. Thanks to Frank Morelli, supervisor of our Restoration and Preservation Program, who found this gravestone depicting a baby carriage. Quite a find!
Well, I guess Nature giveth and Nature taketh away. We do have a great collection of trees at Green-Wood Cemetery–an expert from the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens recently described our trees as the best collection of mature trees in New York City. We have about 7,000 trees–some just getting started, some more than a century old. … Read more
This is another entry in the Green-Wood-connections-are-everywhere file. So, we go out for lunch in Santa Barbara, California, and can’t quite figure out how to get into the selected restaurant. Finally it occurs to us that access is through Sullivan Goss, An American Gallery. And who do you think is the featured artist in the … Read more
I just got back from California. Sue Ramsey, one of our Civil War Project volunteers, lives out in Santa Barbara, and invited me to come out and give presentations to the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society and the local Civil War roundtable. I did a slide show on our Civil War Project, one on Green-Wood, … Read more
My son just e-mailed this link to me. If you scroll slightly down the page, you will see some great photographs of New York City a century or so ago. It appears many, if not all, are from The New York Times. Some incredible images of men balancing on girders high above Manhattan–even one of … Read more
Well, that was quite a snow storm last week. The snow was deep across the cemetery. And it was spectacular! This was no ordinary storm. It blew snow across, piling up in its wake. Days later, you could tell which way the wind had blown–an icy snow covered one side of many monuments and tombs, … Read more
With Lincoln’s Birthday rapidly approaching, and with a new purchase I’ve made, I thought it would be appropriate to return to the story of the funeral procession for the martyred President Abraham Lincoln through New York City. Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. on the evening of Good … Read more
In September, 2002, we launched The Green-Wood Historic Fund’s Civil War Project. Our goal was to identify those who had served, to tell their story, and to honor them. When we began, we naively thought, based on numbers from those who had searched Green-Wood Cemetery over the years, that there were 500 or so Civil … Read more