So Far From Home

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Sometimes, as we peruse Green-Wood’s massive archives, with millions of documents chronicling the lives of the 574,000 souls who are interred here, something unusual catches one’s eye. So it was for volunteer Jim Lambert, who recently worked for months recording the information from Green-Wood’s chronological books pertaining to each of the 1400 individuals who are … Read more

Here an Archivist, There an Archivist . . .

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Green-Wood is fortunate to have Tony Cucchiara as its archivist. Tony knows what he is doing. He worked at Brooklyn College for years, before retiring from there as professor emeritus. He has taught generations of archivists who work at New York’s leading cultural institutions. He continues to educate budding archivists at Pratt. And for the … Read more

Brothers Divided by the Civil War

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The story of the Prentiss brothers of the Civil War is one of the most fascinating tales of that event. It has it all:  brothers from a border state, with different loyalties, one going north to fight to preserve the Union, one going south to fight for the Confederacy.  Then, after fighting for their cause … Read more

Another Mystery Solved!

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Sue Ramsey has done it again! Sue is one of Green-Wood’s Civil War Project’s wonderful–and tremendously dedicated–volunteer researchers. Retired from the Southern California Gas Company, she has been working her way, since 2005, through the now 5,200 volunteer-researched and written online Civil War biographies (thanks Susan Rudin for your incredible work translating all of this … Read more

Ulitmate Sacrifices

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There is always another story to be discovered at Green-Wood. I was recently out in section 52, lots 8022-8027–the Bangs Family Lots–looking for a particular gravestone. These lots form a large circle, just feet from the intersection of Locust and Southwood Avenues. Several prominent people are interred in those lots, including Francis N. Bangs (1828-1885), … Read more

Gutters Are In Again!

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How is your Green-Wood eye? There have been a few subtle changes out on the grounds in the last couple of weeks. Here’s that story. Come visit and see for yourself! Several features of Green-Wood’s grounds date back to its initial design by engineer David Bates Douglass (1790-1849). A graduate of Yale, class of 1813, … Read more

They Were Lost, But Now They’re Found

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570,000 people are interred across Green-Wood’s 478 acres. Essential to the cemetery’s business is keeping track of each of these burials–and places for future interments. For each interment, there are likely multiple documents from many archival sets recording relevant information. One of the sets in Green-Wood’s archives is its blueprints. Formerly housed in the cemetery’s … Read more

Putting a Face on a Tragedy

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One of the first monuments a visitor is likely to notice upon coming through Green-Wood’s landmarked brownstone Main Gates is the Brooklyn Theatre Fire Monument. It commemorates the tragedy of the evening of December 5, 1876, when 278 souls were lost after a crowded theatre in downtown Brooklyn caught fire and collapsed. That disaster marked … Read more

Concerts in the Catacombs

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The Angel’s Share series features the world premiere of David Hertzberg’s The Rose Elf Beginning in June 2018, Unison Media and The Green-Wood Historic Fund will present an all-new series of classical music concerts entitled, The Angel’s Share, to be performed in Green-Wood’s Catacombs. The highly-anticipated series will present opera and chamber music in one … Read more

More Than A Box of Bones–A Famous Artist

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Theresa LaBianca started working at Green-Wood Cemetery in 1977 as an administrative assistant. She has just retired. In the almost 41 years she was at Green-Wood, Theresa did a lot of day-to-day work with Green-Wood’s records, helping it function as a cemetery. But it is clear that the best part of the work, as far … Read more

Another 19th-Century Sculptor Discovered

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Green-Wood is a 19th-century (and 20th century and 21st century) sculpture garden. If you were alive in 1865, and wanted to see sculpture, Green-Wood was the place for you. Not the Metropolitan Museum. Not the Brooklyn Museum. Green-Wood! Over the years, we have discovered prominent 19th-century sculptors whose works adorn Green-Wood’s grounds: Henry Kirke Brown, … Read more

Honored by NYPD-A Century After Their Deaths

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On November 29, 2017, just a few weeks ago, officials and the public gathered outside Police Headquarters in Manhattan to honor police officers who died in the line of duty—but had not been honored before because their deaths had occurred as the result of an accident or while they were off duty. Such deaths are … Read more

The Mystery of the Lost Postmaster General

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Just last week, I met Melinda Hunt, the director of the Hart Island Project, which assists families and individuals who have loved ones interred at the Potter’s Field there. She had come to Green-Wood for a meeting. A descendant of Samuel Osgood, the first postmaster general of the United States after the Constitution was ratified, … Read more

Explore Green-Wood: See It Then, See It Now!

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Green-Wood Cemetery and Historic Fund staff devotes much of its time and efforts to improving the visitor experience. Programming, maps, exhibitions, apps–we work at making your Green-Wood visit a great one. So, in this spirit, Stacy Locke, our manager of historical collections, and I have been working with Urban Archive, an app of New York … Read more

Ann and Charles

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The year was 1828. They were in love. Charles Alfred Baudouine was 20 years old, Ann Phillips Postley 15. Five years later–in 1833-they would marry. She would die, “after a lingering illness,” in 1890. He would die in 1895. They are interred, together again, at Green-Wood, in section 14, lots 11608-11611, with many other members … Read more