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
An exhibition in the Green-Wood chapel May 23 – July 12, 2015 Green-Wood is the final resting place of over 5,000 individuals who contributed to the efforts of the Civil War in America. A great many veterans are buried at Green-Wood, and they’re resting among nurses, journalists, financiers, undertakers, and more. This exhibition commemorates and … 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
“Death Becomes Her–A Century of Mourning Attire,” is now on display at The Metropolitan Museum. Running through February 1, 2015, it displays extraordinary mourning costumes, mostly for women, and related accessories, which were in use for the century between 1815 and 1915. These are mostly high end outfits–courtesy of the Met’s Costume Institute. Many of … Read more
Last week, Chelsea Dowell, Green-Wood’s manager of programs and membership, and I went over to the studios of Brooklyn Independent Media (BRIC) to shoot a live segment about the cemetery. Shot at BRIC’s Arts Media House, corner of Fulton Street and Rockwell Place, “BK LIVE,” is a one hour show about Brooklyn, broken into four … Read more
I spent last weekend down in Fredericksburg, Virginia, taking part in the Center for Civil War Photography’s annual 3-day (and 3-D) Image of War Seminar. People gather from all over America to see photographs, some in 3-D, of the Civil War–at the places where they were taken 150 years ago. Friday was a particularly interesting … Read more
Every once in while something of great interest–though not great monetary value–comes out of someone’s drawer or closet and finds its home. So it is with the little piece of paper discussed below. Since 2002, volunteers with our Civil War Project have identified 5,000 veterans at Green-Wood and written a biography for each of them.. … Read more