For several years we’ve talked about doing a Birthday Calendar for Green-Wood’s permanent residents. Here’s our first effort: July. Among Green-Wood Cemetery’s permanent residents whose birthdays occurred in the month of July are: July 5, 1810: Henry Cruse Murphy; the “Moses of the Brooklyn Bridge;” played a key role in its construction, only to die … Read more
Stephanie Carey has been a Green-Wood Historic Fund volunteer since as long as we’ve had volunteers–almost 8 years now. She comes to our Research Days with her husband Mark, and even has brought her daughters along to help out. Stephanie works in New Jersey as a public health professional: she is in charge of communicable disease … Read more
Last week, I headed out to the Bayard Cutting Arboratum in Great River on Long Island near its south shore, along the west bank of the Connetquot River . This magnificent private estate, home of William Bayard Cutting (1850-1912) and Olivia Murray Cutting (1855-1949), his wife, (pictured here) and their four children, was donated by the … Read more
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