Jeff Richman By the 1850s, Green-Wood was second only to Niagara Falls as an American tourist attraction. Many guides were written over the years describing Green-Wood’s grounds. Those guides offer great and varied information. Always on the lookout to increase my Green-Wood knowledge, I recently came across a guide to Green-Wood from 1901, written by Louisa Richardson: … Read more
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), one of the world’s greatest painters, was born in Florence, Italy, to American parents. As a teenager, with little formal education but already with a broad knowledge of music, architecture, and the fine arts, and fluent in four languages (English, French, German, and Italian), it was clear to him what his … Read more
Green-Wood has come a long way in its 177 years. It started out in 1838 as a revolutionary idea: no more graveyard burials, but rather a rural cemetery, Christian non-demoninational, with acres of trees and ponds, miles of winding roads and paths, serving New York City and Brooklyn. It then struggled to get people to … Read more
Driving around Green-Wood a few years ago, I noticed a small obelisk along Central Avenue that seemed to have some sort of ship carved into it. It took me a while to get back to that monument to take a closer look, and here’s what I saw: This is the detail that caught my eye: … Read more
Hundreds of 19th-century painters are interred at Green-Wood: landscape painters, portraitists, and more. But Green-Wood has only a few modernists. Alfred Henry Maurer was one. Painter Alfred Maurer (1868-1932), who is interred at Green-Wood, worked late in the 19th and early in the 20th century, when American and European art were changing fundamentally. His art, … Read more
I am always on the lookout for items pertaining to Green-Wood and/or its permanent residents. I look for such items online, at auction, in catalogues, and at shows. I came across this carte de visite photograph, taken during the Civil War, listed in a recent Cowan’s auction: And here’s the catalogue description: CDV of an … Read more
It was a lot of work–but it certainly was worth it. And nothing compared to the sacrifice made by the men and women who played a role in the Civil War and are interred at Green-Wood. This spring marks the 150th anniversary of the end of America’s Civil War. Green-Wood pulled out all the stops … Read more
There is always more to know. On the night of December 5, 1876, the Brooklyn Theatre in downtown Brooklyn was packed with one thousand patrons. Then the fire began–and soon the building collapsed. But, still, it was thought that few lives had been lost. But, the next morning, when firemen began to sift through the … Read more
Green-Wood is rich in baseball history. Not just one, but several men, who thought of themselves as “The Father of Baseball” are interred at Green-Wood. We often host Opening Day tours of Green-Wood. Peter Nash wrote a book several years ago: “Baseball Legends of Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery.” And baseball historian Tom Gilbert is now working … Read more
In the fall of 2002, our first Historic Fund volunteers began working on our Civil War Project, searching Green-Wood’s grounds for any sign of Civil War veterans. Since that time, hundreds of volunteers have stepped forward, researching Green-Wood’s permanent residents, writing biographies, processing archival materials, working at the Historic Fund cart to greet visitors, appearing … Read more