One of the best places for a lettering tour is in a cemetery – each stone, mausoleum and monument presents its own language and design. Join Paul Shaw, lettering expert, for a look at the varied lettering and designs to be found among Green-Wood’s myriad tombs, mausoleums, monuments and more. Shaw will show how lettering styles and layouts have evolved, from the beginnings of the cemetery into the 20th century; and discuss the influences of printing, posters, pneumatic tools and materials. At the end of your visit, you’ll take home a unique stone rubbing made during the tour.

Paul Shaw is a calligrapher, author, designer and design historian. He teaches calligraphy and typography courses at Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts, and has led lettering tours across the country and globe.

Fire and firefighting are among the great shapers of cities, and firehouses are some of New York City's most intriguing works of architecture. Architectural historian Francis Morrone will lead you through a tour of fire history - from the greatest firehouse in New York (plus other firehouses), to the scene of the infamous Brooklyn theater fire (commemorated at Green-Wood Cemetery), to the modern headquarters of the FDNY. Morrone was named one of the 13 best tour guides in the world by Travel + Leisure magazine.

Please note this is a walking tour of firehouse exteriors and no firehouse interior will be toured.

Coney Island is an iconic symbol of turn-of-the-century amusement in New York City, but many other parks vied for the chance to thrill the residents of the five boroughs. The wooden coasters of Fort George in Manhattan, the beer gardens and circus atmosphere at North Beach in Queens, and the blasting fireworks displays at Starlight Amusement Park in the Bronx were just a few of the venues that entertained millions each year. The second half of the century saw the disappearance of every one of these parks, culminating with the demise of Rockaways’ Playland in Queens and Freedomland in the Bronx, the largest amusement park in the world. Wes and Barbara Gottlock, authors of a book on the subject, will celebrate these entrepreneurial wonders and discuss the reasons for their declines, complete with wonderful and haunting images of heydays and destruction.

Our spectacular new exhibition, "William F. Mangels: Amusing the Masses on Coney Island and Beyond," is now showing in Green-Wood's Historic Chapel. It celebrates William F. Mangels, who from 1900 to 1925 was the largest manufacturer of amusement park rides, carousels, and shooting galleries in America.

Join Jeff Richman, Green-Wood historian and exhibition curator, for a behind-the-scenes look at how this exhibition evolved - the collectors, museums, artists, and archives that joined forces make this unique exhibition -- featuring an antique carousel horse, a one-ton shooting gallery, Whip cars, a Kiddie fire engine, Speed Boat, and Pony Cart, as well as video and slide shows- a reality.

Preceding the curator's tour, Jeff will lead a Coney Island- themed trolley tour of Green-Wood, including a visit to the Mangels's family lot, Steeplechase's George Tilyou, Coney Island restauranteur and inventor of the hot dog Charles Feltman, and the "Czar of Coney Island," Boss John McKane.