I went up to Columbia University a few weeks ago to do some research on William F. Mangels. We are working on an exhibition in Green-Wood’s Historic Chapel, “William F. Mangels: Amusement Park King.” It was Mangels who invented many rides, including The Whip and The Tickler, and also pioneered the wave pool. He made … Read more
We had our first snow of 2012 on Saturday–the first snow at Green-Wood since that historic snow at the end of October–when we got to see snow on the ground while trees were still in fall foliage. You can find photographs from that day here. It was a very nice dusting–not a lot of snow, … Read more
De Witt Clinton (1769-1828) was truly a giant amongst men. After all, his nickname was “Magnus Apollo!” Clinton served New York City as its mayor, then New York State as United States Senator and Governor. He ran for President of the United States in 1812; had he carried Pennsylvania, a swing state that year, he … Read more
March 2, 1769: One of the most revered public figures of the early 19th-century, De Witt Clinton, served as a United States Senator, mayor of New York City, and governor of New York State. He was also the prime visionary behind the Erie Canal. Upon his death in 1828, Clinton was interred in the Little … Read more
On a recent trip to Washington, D.C., I visited two sculptures that relate very much to the De Witt Clinton bronze, by Henry Kirke Brown, that is at Green-Wood Cemetery. My first stop was in the Smithsonian’s History Museum, where I visited Horatio Greenough’s sculpture of George Washington. It is really quite fascinating–a bare-chested “Father … Read more