Preservationist Everett Ortner Dead At 92

Everett Ortner, preservationist extraordinaire and friend of Green-Wood, died on May 22 at the age of 92 from complications from a fall. In 1963, Everett and his wife Evelyn purchased an 1886 brownstone at 272 Berkeley Place in Park Slope for $32,500. That purchase would change their lives. Park Slope, in the 1960s, was hardly … Read more

Memorial Day Concert A Hit

Yesterday, Green-Wood hosted its 14th Annual Free Memorial Day Concert. A big crowd turned out to enjoy the music of the Interschool Orchestras of New York (ISO) Symphonic Band, founded and conducted by Brian Worsdale. Maggie Worsdale was the special guest vocalist. It has become a tradition at Green-Wood: the concert music features pieces composed … Read more

Angel On Its Way Home

Since soon after Green-Wood Cemetery’s founding in 1838, it has been a great sculpture garden. If you lived in mid-19th-century New York City or Brooklyn, and you wanted to see sculpture, you came to Green-Wood. There was virtually no other public sculpture at that time. The Metropolitan and Brooklyn Museums did not yet exist. No … Read more

“Last Dance”

Donna Summer, “The Queen of Disco,” died at the age of 63 this past Thursday. Here is her obituary in The New York Times. In a career that spanned decades, she had 14 Top Ten Singles, three double albums in a row that sold more than a million copies each, and won 4 Grammys (for … Read more

Delivering Historic Orders

This past Saturday the General Meade Society of Philadelphia (“Preserving the Memory of the Victor of Gettysburg”) ventured up to Green-Wood for a Civil War tour. Here’s their website.  And here’s the group: During the tour, I talked about Green-Wood’s Civil War Project, now in its 10th year. Since its inception, hundreds of volunteers have … Read more

Manhattan’s Underground Railroad Station

I’ve been catching up on some e-mail this week and came across a link Ruth Edebohls (one of our great Historic Fund tour guides and a great fan of New York history) sent me to a Daily News story from January, 2012. It reports that a marker was unveiled in front of the home of Abigail … Read more