Inventors Club: Charles Lewis and Louis Comfort Tiffany
Green-Wood Cemetery 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY, United StatesThe Tiffany family was artistic, innovative, and had an immense influence on 19th-century jewelry and design. The Inventors Club will examine the patents the family held, and explore how they forever influenced jewelry in America. Then, you’ll explore how the jewelry world is changing today through the use of 3D printing technology. See how the technology works, and then mimic the Tiffany’s by printing your own jewelry designs!
City Spirit, City Stories: Open Mic in the Chapel
Join NY Writers Coalition in Green-Wood's Historic Chapel, for City Spirit, City Stories, a community reading and open mic in celebration of the talented storytellers hiding in plain sight of this big city!
In workshops facilitated by Rachel Plutzer and Julia Hillman Craig, playwrights, poets, essayists, and artists of other forms gather together within the cemetery's beautiful grounds and historic interiors. For the past eight weeks, they've found inspiration and enlightenment from stories of the past to fuel their own art, and we're excited to have them share these new discoveries -- and new writing! - with us this summer.
(Sold Out) Twilight Tour and Catacomb Soiree
Green-Wood Cemetery 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY, United StatesThere are few places more atmospheric than a cemetery at dusk – and Green-Wood is top notch when it comes to beauty and atmosphere. So take a walk on the wild side during this special event that will lead you on a twilight tour of the expansive grounds. As the sun sets on 478 spectacular acres, you’ll weave through stunning landscapes and visit the graves of fascinating figures in New York and American culture.
After the walking tour, enjoy a drink amidst the art and greenery. The catacombs will be open for the reception, so you can wander by torchlight, sip your drink, and visit the opulent indoor resting places of Green-Wood.
Common Shade: Catherine Gallant on Isadora Duncan’s Dances of Mourning
Green-Wood Cemetery 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY, United StatesIn the early 20th century, Isadora Duncan's innovative dances changed the art world forever. But it was the sudden death of her children that most influenced her life and work. After losing her two young children to drowning, Duncan poured her grief into dance. She created her Grande Marche and other dances expressing grief, mortality, and mourning, as well as remembrance and rebirth. Catherine Gallant is a student of Duncan, and regularly performs these dances. She'll perform these emotional dances to live music, before discussing Duncan's process, her relationship to her children's death, and how Gallant connects to Duncan and her artistic outpouring of grief.
Common Shade: Dr. Seth A. Gopin on the Rural Cemetery in Paris and Beyond
Green-Wood Cemetery 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY, United StatesBeginning in the Middle Ages, the dead lay among the living in Paris city centers. Over time, Parisian graveyards, like all inner city burial places, ran out of room. The creation of Père Lachaise Cemetery was the culmination of a struggle to reform burial practices, and this radical idea of a “cemetery” became the basis for all the burial traditions in the west, including Brooklyn’s own Green-Wood. Dr. Gopin’s lecture will trace the tradition of mass burial in Parisian church graveyards to the modern idea of the world’s first cemetery, Père Lachaise, in 1804. Dr. Gopin will discuss how this shift influenced our attitudes toward death, and how his background affects his own feelings and relationship with the topic.
(Sold Out) Brooklyn By Name Trolley Tour
Green-Wood Cemetery 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY, United StatesBergen, Schermerhorn, Martense, Havemeyer, Berry, Tompkins…to New Yorkers, these are household names. They grace our roads, our subway stations, and our parks. So how did these names come to be NYC fixtures? In most cases, these ubiquitous names are all attached to influential and powerful city dwellers of the 19th-century. They also all happen to be buried at Green-Wood. Join expert tour guide Ruth Edebohls on this tour to the final resting places of the people who bear the names we know so well. You’ll learn about their lives, their businesses, and how they become powerful enough to have a street named after them.
Inventors Club: Elias Howe
Green-Wood Cemetery 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY, United StatesLearn about Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing machine! You’ll learn about Howe and his rival, Isaac Singer, by exploring historic newspaper clippings and ads. Then a hands-on workshop will teach you how to bring sewing into the 21st century, with soft circuitry technology that creates light-up clothing. You’ll even get a chance to reprogram the circuitry to light up in different ways!
Commemoration of the Battle of Brooklyn
Green-Wood Cemetery 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY, United StatesThe Battle of Brooklyn, fought in 1776 on land that is now a part of Green-Wood, was the first battle of the American Revolution to be waged after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. On the 238th anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn, Green-Wood hosts a day of free commemoration ceremonies, trolley tours, and 18th-century living. See parades, cannon fire, horse rides, re-enactments and historic cooking. Living history events and activities will offer kids a real feel for life during the American Revolution. This is a great event for kids and families!
City Stories, City Spirit: Write with NY Writers Coalition!
Are you working on a memoir, a poem, or a story and looking for some friendly feedback? Or maybe you just want to put pen to paper and see what happens. This summer let the exquisite monuments, stunning grounds, and timeless history of Green-Wood inspire you to do just that. Join NY Writers Coalition for six weeks of writing within the tranquil gates of Green-Wood. Utilizing the historic landscape of the cemetery, these workshops are designed to help you generate new writing and connect with your craft on a deeper level, with every nook offering inspiration and enlightenment. Writers of all genres, backgrounds, and levels of experience are welcome.
Inventors Club: Frederick August Otto Schwarz
Green-Wood Cemetery 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY, United StatesLearn about how FAO Schwarz went from being a new immigrant in America to owning one of the most famous toy stores in the country! Not only did FAO Schwartz own the most beloved toy store in New York, but his great-grandson is a pioneering civil rights advocate for city dwellers. Learn about the many ways this ambitious family shaped the city, through historic ads and newspapers. Once you’ve become acquainted with FAO Schwartz and his history, design your own electronic toys using motors, sensors, and your imagination!
Pencil Passion
Green-Wood Cemetery 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY, United StatesRing in the new school year with a look at the hidden history inside your pencil case. Those age-old writing tools may seem humdrum, but in the early years of pencil production in America, the tiny tools were the focus of fierce competition. American companies, including several in New York, vied for customers through new ideas, designs, and advertisements. In Green-Wood’s Historic Chapel, we’ll explore the history, development, and simple appeal of the pencil with Caroline Weaver, lifelong pencil enthusiast and owner of the new Lower East Side shop CW Pencils. Caroline will discuss the crowded pencil market of the 19th and early 20th century, including the innovations of successful pencil man Eberhard Faber, buried at Green-Wood in 1879. Beautiful and varied examples of pencils from Caroline’s personal collection will be on display, along with historic advertisements and other objects. After the talk, the Green-Wood trolley will bring you to Faber’s monument to pay your respect to the pencil king – and do a grave rubbing using some of his storied graphite, too.
Green-Wood’s public programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, as well as the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.