In celebrating some of Green-Wood’s most inspiring, influential and infamous permanent residents, the Green-Wood Historic Fund is putting the August Birthday spotlight on some fascinating people who helped changed the American political, cultural and scientific landscape of the 19th and 20th centuries. Key among the Green-Wood residents whose birthdays fall in August are 19th century … Read more
On September 10, 2001, Steven Vincent was an art critic, living in the East Village. But the next day, September 11, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked, and the world changed. And so did Steven’s world. Steven decided that he had a new calling in life: he would go to Iraq to … Read more
Commemorate the first Revolutionary War battle, fought on the future grounds of Green-Wood!
FROM: GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY CONTACT: Kim Esp/Colleen Roche Linden Alschuler & Kaplan Public Relations 212-575-4545; kesp@lakpr.com Young Volunteers Work to Preserve Brooklyn’s Bronzed Beauty – the Statue of Minerva at Historic Green-Wood FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Brooklyn, NY July 27, 2010) – Historic Green-Wood’s resident bronzed beauty — the nine-foot tall Goddess of War, Minerva – got … Read more
Since soon after its founding in 1838, Green-Wood Cemetery has been a popular place. It has been painted and photographed. It has been filmed and videotaped. It has appeared in movies and on television shows. Now, it is about to get its very own theatrical production, courtesy of the Artful Conspirators: “Brooklyn Underground: Theatrical Stories … Read more
One of the most rewarding aspects of our Civil War Project has been the information we have gotten from descendants of Civil War veterans who are interred at Green-Wood. Sometimes they contact us with bare bones information: my great grandfathers name is —- and he served in the Civil War. Can you help me find … Read more
Two permanent residents are tied for the most asked about by visitors to Green-Wood Cemetery: Leonard Bernstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Both were fascinating figures. Now a new movie has been released on the Brooklyn-born Basquiat, graffiti artist and Andy Warhol protege who died in 1988. The movie, “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child,” is reviewed in … Read more
Just last week, I heard from Jane, the second great-granddaughter of Leon Javelli (or Giavelli). Jane had done a great deal of research on him, and she generously shared that with me. It turns out that Leon is interred at Green-Wood Cemetery. And, just as good, he has a very interesting story. Javelli was born … Read more
Green-Wood has 561,000 individuals interred across its grounds. Some are fascinating; some, not so much. Of the many characters I have come across in my research on Green-Wood’s permanent residents, few can compete with Isaac Hull Brown when it comes to fascinating lives. Brown was featured in an article this past Monday in The New … Read more
I have been a collector my whole life. I started with baseball cards, then moved on to stereoview photographs of New York City. In fact, that’s how I wound up at Green-Wood the first time. Like all collectors, I would sometimes go to a show and not find what I was looking for. It then … Read more
Several weeks ago, Klaus-Peter Siegloch, correspondent and New York bureau chief for ZDF German Television, came to Green-Wood for a visit. And was he impressed! I showed him around for several hours, said a few things on camera, his cameraman shot some great video across the grounds, and the results are now in. Here’s their … Read more
One of the best sculptures at Green-Wood Cemetery is the Valentine Angel by Adolfo Apolloni (1855-1933). I’ve taken many photographs of it, and it is still an honor to do so. It never fails to impress, front or back. I recently got an e-mail from Cara, one of our Historic Fund volunteers, who had just … Read more
The Green-Wood Historic Fund was honored on June 23 to receive a Municipal Arts Society award for its collaboration with Dance Theatre Etc. on “Angels and Accordions,” the site-specific music and dance performance that has been staged gloriously across the cemetery grounds for the last six years as a part of openhousenewyork. Presenter Alison Tocci, … Read more
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
By SHELLY BANJO Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, the resting ground for such 19th-century titans as jeweler Charles Lewis Tiffany and pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk, is running out of its main source of revenue: burial plots. To keep it alive, the 200-year-old cemetery’s president, Richard Moylan, turned it into a nonprofit that gives guided tours and … 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