Exploring Early Green-Wood

early green-wood scene

Visitors to Green-Wood today are welcome to explore the cemetery on their own, with the help of maps, apps, and/or self-guided walking tours, or on a tour led by a Historic Fund tour guide. But what, you may wonder, was it like to explore Green-Wood in its early years, soon after its founding in 1838? … Read more

They Were Lost, But Now They’re Found

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

Time Capsule Discovered

Last Thursday, a construction worker, using a jackhammer, was working on the expansion of Green-Wood’s Crematory and Columbarium when he hit something strange in a wall: a metal box. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that this was no ordinary box–it was a time capsule! It turns out that Ken Taylor, Green-Wood’s vice president for … Read more

Green-Wood Collects: Smillies

The Green-Wood Historic Fund continues to collect items that help us tell the stories of the cemetery’s history and its permanent residents. Just weeks ago, we were able to purchase four carte de visite photographs of members of the Smillie family. As you will read below, these were important purchases for our collections. Green-Wood was … Read more