Notable Residents

Everybody loves a great story, and Green-Wood has countless stories to tell. From the famous to the nearly forgotten; business moguls to artists; statesmen to family men—Green-Wood’s over 570,000 permanent residents range all walks of life.

Residents include Leonard Bernstein, Boss Tweed, Charles Ebbets, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Horace Greeley, baseball legends, politicians, artists, entertainers, inventors, and Civil War generals.

Here are just a few profiles of Green-Wood’s innumerable notable residents. To learn more, register for one of our tours or wander the grounds yourself to see what familiar names you might come across!

basquiat gravestone
Credit: Jeff Richman

Jean-Michel
Basquiat

A native of Brooklyn, Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) revolutionized the art world with his bold and expressive works. Born to a Haitian father and mother of Puerto Rican descent …

Full Bio (1960–1988)

William
“Boss” Tweed

It has been estimated that during his reign of corruption, the “Tiger of Tammany” and his cronies stole $200 million (the equivalent of about $3.5 billion in today’s money) from New York City…

Full Bio (1823–1878)

Henry
Chadwick

No man did more to popularize baseball. A British newspaperman, Chadwick immigrated to America as a youth and made Brooklyn his home. In 1847, at Elysian Fields in New Jersey…

Full Bio (1824–1908)

Leonard
Bernstein

Born in Massachusetts to Jewish immigrants from Russia, Leonard Bernstein resisted his father’s efforts to steer him into the family’s beauty-supply business, instead choosing a music career…

Full Bio (1918–1990)

Horace
Greeley

The founder and editor of the New York Tribune was born in New Hampshire and apprenticed to a printer. When his master closed his business in 1831, Greeley set off, with $25 and his possessions in a…

Full Bio (1811–1872)

Louis Moreau
Gottschalk

Born in New Orleans to a German-Jewish father and a Creole mother who was an accomplished singer, he showed musical ability early and went off to Europe to study the piano. But when he applied…

Full Bio (1829–1869)

Susan Smith
McKinney-Steward

She was born in Weeksville, Brooklyn, and grew up on her father’s pig farm at the corner of Fulton Street and Buffalo Avenue. As a child, she studied with the leading organists…

Full Bio (1846–1918)

Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher

In 1847, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher became the pastor of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights. Within a few years, his sermons, spreading the “Gospel of Love,” captivated…

Full Bio (1813–1887)

Lola
Montez

Born as Marie Delores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert in Limerick, Ireland, she was raised in Scotland and educated in Bath and Paris. At the age of fifteen, to avoid an arranged marriage…

Full Bio (1821–1861)