Green-Wood Cemetery Damaged Severely By Sandy

Continuing with the Sandy aftermath stories, there were some photos on the TIMES City Blog over the weekend showing how the superstormstorm did some serious damage at Green-Wood Cemetary in Brooklyn. I've written here about Green-Wood a couple times before and my visits to this beautiful resting place for thousands of New Yorkers, including famous folks like Leonard Bernstein, George Tilyreou and Jean-Michael Basquiat. Located  on the highest landpoint in Kings County and overlooking the harbor, the cemetery took a severe hit from Sandy with nearly 300 trees felled. In addition to that, many headstones and statuary (like the headless angel above) were damages by the falling trees and high winds.

The cleanup is expected to cost nearly half a million dollars and the cemetery, which is a national landmark, is having it's finances strained. Insurance will not cover the headstones and statuary, which are not owned by the cemetery but whose families they commemorate are long gone. So they are seeking donations via their website if you want to check it out. This is one of the most beautiful spots in the city so hopefully they can reach their goal, plant new trees and restore some of the monuments.

My Memorial Day In A Cemetery

I spent Memorial Day this year in a cemetery.  Actually, I used to do this a lot in my youth, when I worked as a tourguide at Arlington National Cemetery and on the holiday weekend showed tourists around sites like the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Robert E. Lee's house and the Kennedy gravesites.  So it was peaceful and familiar and almost nostalgic to be hanging out in beautiful Green-Wood Cemetery way out in Brooklyn.

Green-Wood is a beautiful, expansive graveyard that I've posted about here before.  It has a lot of famous folks buried there, including Basquiat and Bernstein, and also has a lot of history too, as it was the site of the Battle of Brooklyn, the first major fight of the Revolutionary War which took place on the highest point of land in Kings County.  Today, the views from the top of Battle Hill are extraordinary as you can see the entire harbor as well as the entirety of Manhattan.  The picture here shows the view from a statue of "Freedom" waving out to Lady Liberty in the harbor.

The cemetery currently has an exhibit in the beautifully restored chapel honoring the more than 150,000 men from the NYC region who served in the Civil War.  Some of these brave Union soliders are buried in Green-Wood and their headstones have been found and restored in recent years. Anyway, it was a great way to spend Memorial Day...actually remembering the men who fought to keep this country together 150 years ago.

A Stroll Through Green-Wood Cemetery

Last weekend, I hit the BK for a field trip to Green-Wood Cemetary.  Set amongst some gorgeous hills near Brooklyn's Bay Ridge neighborhood, it's one of the oldest cemetaries in the city and easily the most beautiful.  It's home to many celebrity graves for folks like Leonard Bernstein, Fred Ebb, Peter Cooper and Jean-Michel Basquiat, just to name a few.
  
Founded in 1838, Green-Wood was recently designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006 not just for it's role as a cemetary but also for the Battle of Brooklyn.  This was a famous fight during the Revolutionary War between the British and colonial troops on the highest natural point in Kings County....a hilltop with stunning views of the city and the Harbor, thus a site that was strategically essential. 


Anyway, here's some photos I took in my wanderings.  As you can see, it's definitely one of the creepier cemetaries around.  Lots of mausoleums and statuary, as was the custom in the 1800's.