On the Road

Green-Wood At Gettysburg

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Just back from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I attended the Center for Civil War Photography’s annual seminar. It was just a great experience–Garry Adelman and Tim Smith, who led the three days, did an incredible job.

Tiffany Windows in Maine

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While wandering around Bar Harbor, Maine, I came across St. Savior’s Episcopal Church. It is quite a place, with 42 memorial windows, including 10 by Louis Comfort Tiffany, one of Green-Wood’s permanent residents. Here’s a sampling of some of Tiffany’s great work there.

A Walk in the (National) Park

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I just got back last week from my favorite place in the world: Acadia National Park up in Maine. For me, Acadia is an incomparable mix of climbable mountains, rocky coast, quiet carriage trails, scenic ponds, and lobster dinners. Well, there I was, enjoying a ranger-led walk in the woods, when we came across a … Read more

Home, Sweet Home

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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

Just Back From Kentuck!

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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

More Coincidences

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The Medal of Honor has been awarded only 3,446 times since it was first given in 1863. Just two weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Don Morfe. Don is a very active and dedicated volunteer with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. He spends a lot of time researching and going out to cemeteries, … Read more

A Brave Soldier: Captain Samuel Sims

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Samuel Sims was described in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle as “one of the bravest and best beloved of all the brave men who went from Brooklyn to fight the battles for the preservation of the Union” and “as brave a man as ever drew a sword.” That’s Sims above, in his Civil War uniform, early … Read more

What’s With That Toga?

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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

You Can See De Forest for De Trees

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This is another entry in the Green-Wood-connections-are-everywhere file. So, we go out for lunch in Santa Barbara, California, and can’t quite figure out how to get into the selected restaurant. Finally it occurs to us that access is through Sullivan Goss, An American Gallery. And who do you think is the featured artist in the … Read more

Out West!

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I just got back from California. Sue Ramsey, one of our Civil War Project volunteers, lives out in Santa Barbara, and invited me to come out and give presentations to the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society and the local Civil War roundtable. I did a slide show on our Civil War Project, one on Green-Wood, … Read more