Celebrate the most romantic of holidays a bit differently this year, with a cozy winter trolley ride at Green-Wood. Expert guide Ruth Edebohls will lead this tour highlighting historic power couples, romantic monuments, and tales of love everlasting - some triumphant, others grim. Before your tour begins, peruse Civil War love letters on display in the Historic Chapel, courtesy of the Brooklyn Historical Society's historic archives. Then grab a coffee, tea, or hot chocolate to ensure a toasty ride on the Green-Wood trolley!

In honor of Black History Month, Green-Wood presents a special trolley tour with Historian Jeff Richman.

Though segregation has certainly been an issue in the city, Brooklyn and New York City also have long histories of diversity and civil rights activism. This trolley tour will examine the life and accomplishments of many prominent black New Yorkers, as well as several abolitionists also working for freedom in America.

19th-century Irish immigration contributed immeasurably to the rich tapestry of American culture. Green-Wood has its share of the illustrious sons and daughters of Eire, as well as many of the unsung everyday men and women. Expert guide Ruth Edebohls will visit notable Irish at Green-Wood, including copper magnate Marcus Daly; India Ink manufacturer and American patriot Charles Higgins; one-armed Civil War General Thomas Sweeney (who retired from the U.S. military but went on to lead the Fenian invasion of Canada); Irish patriot Wolfe Tone’s widow and son; actress and mistress of the mighty, Lola Montez, and much more.

Music may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Green-Wood, but among its 560,000 permanent residents are many prolific and successful composers, singers, and musicians. On this tour, we’ll celebrate those individuals in the most fitting way possible – by learning about and listening to some of their greatest hits. Join musical guide Marge Raymond on a tour of Green-Wood residents including Leonard Bernstein, Louis Morreau Gottschalk, Paul Jabara, Fred Ebb, and more. You’ll learn about their contributions to music history, and enjoy their famous songs, too. Whether you identify as mezzo-soprano, or just love to sing in the shower, this tour will be full of musical fun.

Batter up! To ring in the 2015 season, we’ll welcome Tom Gilbert, member of the Society for Baseball Research (SABR – the folks who brought you “Moneyball”) and author of a new book on baseball’s formative years, for a tour of the fascinating ball-playing pioneers interred at Green-Wood.

With Tom and Green-Wood Historian Jeff Richman, you’ll visit the monuments and markers of Henry Chadwick, the Father of Baseball, who invented the game’s scoring system; James Creighton, baseball’s first national star; Charles Ebbets, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers; the great hitter Charlie Smith; and many others who played a role in making baseball America’s National Pastime.

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Landmarks Law with a tour celebrating Green-Wood’s connections to beloved NYC landmarks. With expert tour guide Matt Postal, study designated landmarks within Green-Wood’s own 478 acres, like Richard Upjohn and Son’s magnificent gothic archway (celebrating its 150th birthday this year), as well as several sites with landmark connections – like a 1911 chapel by Warren and Wetmore; the monuments of architects including Gamaliel King (Brooklyn Borough Hall), James Renwick (St. Patrick’s Cathedral), and James McComb (Gracie Mansion, City Hall); a mausoleum designed by the renowned Stanford White, and more.

Green-Wood’s 478 acres of rolling hills, tree coverage, glacial ponds and natural grasses are the perfect place to celebrate nature, study ecology, and learn about the rich renewal resources right at our feet. “Wildman” Steve Brill has been using urban green space to teach New Yorkers about edible wild plants for 33 years, and his walk through Green-Wood will use our historic landscape to teach adults and kids alike about safe foraging practices, and which delicious foods are ripe for the picking.

For the first time, we’re opening Green-Wood’s gates afterhours for an exclusive workshop in night photography. Gabriel Biderman, author of Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots, and visual artist and educator Matt Hill will lead you in this hands-on workshop dedicated to capturing the essence of Green-Wood art and architecture at night. Long exposures and light painting will be the focus (so a tripod, cable release, and SLR camera are mandatory). A comfort shooting in manual and bulb mode is also recommended.

Green-Wood is home to nearly 8,000 trees, and boasts one of the largest collections of mature trees in the city. On this walk, Green-Wood’s 478 acres will be your classroom as you stroll the grounds with an expert Green-Wood guide, and learn to identify trees based on their leaves, bark, roots, and form. Enjoy a spring day in nature and learn something, too!

Do not attempt to adjust your dials – our spring colors really are that vibrant! Green-Wood’s Superintendent of Grounds and resident expert in all things green (and pink, yellow, white and purple), Art Presson will dazzle you with the extraordinary beauty of the spring blooms at Green-Wood. Whether you’re the kind of person who sees white petals and says “that’s a Cornus florida flowering dogwood!” or you’re more the “that’s pretty—I wonder what it’s called” kind of person, this tour will be a visual extravaganza. With over 8,000 trees across 478 acres, Green-Wood is one of the most beautiful sites in all of New York City.

This spring marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. And Green-Wood is proud to be the final resting place of over 5,000 Civil War veterans and other contributors to the war effort. For one night, Green-Wood will be transformed into a Civil War-era commemoration and festival, with the Grand Procession as the main event - a spectacular walk across Green-Wood’s grounds, aglow with 5,000 honorary candles, and featuring a brass band, artillery fire, a chorus, cavalry horses, and re-enactors in uniform.

Join re-enactors and musicians in a parade to Green-Wood’s Civil War Soldiers’ Lot for a ceremony. Bring a blanket and enjoy a free early summer concert – a NYC favorite. And take a special trolley tour with Green-Wood Historian Jeff Richman right after the concert, featuring Green-Wood highlights and veteran connections.

Kick off Brooklyn Pride Week (June 8 – 13) in a most unique way, with an LGBT-themed trolley tour of Green-Wood! Tour guide Phil Desiere – who leads tours of Greenwich Village, Central Park, and other NYC sights – will illuminate stories of Green-Wood ‘permanent residents’ who were openly gay, including “It’s Raining Men” co-author Paul Jabara, and others who were probably gay or bisexual, like Violet Oakley, a member of a “Boston marriage.”

Plus you’ll visit the final resting places of those who contributed to LGBT culture in fun, surprising ways, including Louis Comfort Tiffany, the artist and businessman whose fancy New York City atelier is the namesake of gay novelist Truman Capote’s smash hit, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Join Green-Wood historian and exhibition curator Jeff Richman for a behind-the-scenes tour of To Bid You All Good Bye: Civil War Stories. Visitors will explore the inspiration behind the exhibition, learn about the process of selecting these compelling stories, and get insights on the exhibition from the curator himself.

Following the exhibition tour, Richman will lead a trolley tour through Green-Wood to visit the gravesites of several individuals highlighted in the exhibition.

Most New Yorkers and Americans never saw combat in the Civil War, but many civilians still contributed to the War effort in meaningful ways. Celebrate those individuals at this program with historian and curator Jeff Richman. For one night only, Green-Wood’s exhibition To Bid You All Good Bye: Civil War Stories will be enhanced - featuring additional stories and objects that particularly pertain to civilian efforts at wartime. Learn of patriotic deeds by New Yorkers including Reverend Gordon Winslow and Rebecca Winslow, who founded the Sanitary Commission to support sick and wounded soldiers; Simeon Chittenden, who paid bounties to 14th Brooklyn recruits from his own funds; Ann Vanderpoel—founder of the Ladies Home Hospital; and many others. New items, including original promotional posters from the Sanitary Fair, will be on display in the exhibition for this day only! Following the exhibition tour, Richman will lead a trolley tour through Green-Wood to visit the resting places of these important Civil War contributors.

Bergen, Schermerhorn, Martense, Havemeyer, Berry, Tompkins…to New Yorkers, these are household names. They grace our roads, our subway stations, and our parks. So how did these names come to be NYC fixtures? In most cases, these ubiquitous names are all attached to influential and powerful city dwellers of the 19th-century. They also all happen to be buried at Green-Wood. Join expert tour guide Ruth Edebohls on this tour to the final resting places of the people who bear the names we know so well. You’ll learn about their lives, their businesses, and how they become powerful enough to have a street named after them.

The Battle of Brooklyn, fought in 1776 on land that is now a part of Green-Wood, was the first battle of the American Revolution to be waged after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. On the 238th anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn, Green-Wood hosts a day of free commemoration ceremonies, trolley tours, and 18th-century living. See parades, cannon fire, horse rides, re-enactments and historic cooking. Living history events and activities will offer kids a real feel for life during the American Revolution. This is a great event for kids and families!

Ring in the new school year with a look at the hidden history inside your pencil case. Those age-old writing tools may seem humdrum, but in the early years of pencil production in America, the tiny tools were the focus of fierce competition. American companies, including several in New York, vied for customers through new ideas, designs, and advertisements. In Green-Wood’s Historic Chapel, we’ll explore the history, development, and simple appeal of the pencil with Caroline Weaver, lifelong pencil enthusiast and owner of the new Lower East Side shop CW Pencils. Caroline will discuss the crowded pencil market of the 19th and early 20th century, including the innovations of successful pencil man Eberhard Faber, buried at Green-Wood in 1879. Beautiful and varied examples of pencils from Caroline’s personal collection will be on display, along with historic advertisements and other objects. After the talk, the Green-Wood trolley will bring you to Faber’s monument to pay your respect to the pencil king – and do a grave rubbing using some of his storied graphite, too.

Calling all amateur arborists and horticultural hopefuls! Join Board Certified Master Arborist Kevin Wyatt and Green-Wood’s Curator of Plant Collections Joe Charap for this hands-on demonstration on how to effectively prune your trees and shrubs. A thoughtful and well executed pruning will keep your plants looking great and growing strong. You’ll practice using hand pruners, lopers, and pole pruners and learn the proper techniques behind sanitary, reduction, and developmental pruning. Participants will be working in Green-Wood on small trees and shrubs. Tools and protective equipment will be provided.

Join Thomas W. Gilbert, baseball historian and author, to celebrate his newly published book Playing First: Early Baseball Lives at Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. Gilbert is an expert in baseball's 19th-century New York City and Brooklyn origins, and Green-Wood's history there is unmatched - an astounding number of early baseball innovators and players are interred at the cemetery. Playing First is the culmination of Gilbert's extensive research into the little known professional, political, and military lives of these baseball pioneers. In Green-Wood's Historic Chapel, Gilbert will reveal many fascinating stories included in his newly published book, including the truth about what actually killed famed baseball martyr James Creighton, and how a feud between baseball and cricket in early America changed Creighton's legacy forever. After the talk, Gilbert will sign books before leading a trolley tour of baseball pioneers with Green-Wood Historian Jeff Richman.

Explore the frenzied world of New York City news and media. This panel, featuring Untapped Cities founder Michelle Young, journalist and urban planner Julia Vitullo-Martin, and Brokelyn News Editor David Colon, will trace the early boom days of New York City newspapers to the current upheaval in media. In the 19th century, the pioneers of news and publishing loomed large in New York society, and they made their impact on the landscape, too, by building massive and imposing headquarters downtown. Many of these early players are now buried together at Green-Wood, including Horace Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune; James Harper, founder of Harper & Brothers; and Henry Raymond, founder of the New York Times. But the media world doesn’t stand still for long, and our panelists will detail the seismic shifts the industry has endured in the 20th and 21st centuries. Media has moved from downtown flagships, to uptown rented space, to bloggers working from their living rooms. Where will it go next? Young, Vitullo-Martin, and Colon will take a stab at answering that question. Following the talk, a trolley tour will visit the monuments of the great newspaper men of the 19th century.

Don’t miss one of Green-Wood’s most popular events! For one day only, we’re opening many of our most impressive and elaborate mausoleums for public perusal. Peek inside massive stone slabs and elaborate iron-wrought doors as you step inside stunning examples of Green-Wood’s distinct architecture. This self-guided tour will include the Egyptian Revival tomb of John Taylor Johnston, an early president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the ornamental Nichols mausoleum which served as a kind of hostel for Nichols friends and family; the imposing mausoleum of the Dewey’s, a family of early American settlers; and several more . At each stop, “house” docents will offer a glimpse into the lives of the personalities who now rest in these opulent structures. Bring your sneakers and walk the route, or use the Green-Wood trolley for “Hop on, hop off” service between each site. A handy map, provided at the main entrance, will show the locations of each open house.

Historian, author, and professor Edward T. O'Donnell speaks about his new book on the influential reformer Henry George and the tumultuous period in America known as the Gilded Age (1870-1900). As financial fortunes were soaring ever-higher for a small portion of society, Henry George emerged in the 1880s as a prominent reformer warning against the threats of increasing wealth disparity, inequality, and corporate influence in politics. He played a key role in popularizing some of the foundational ideas of progressivism that shaped U.S. social and economic policy in the 20th century. Today, George’s philosophy is more relevant than ever as America confronts similar questions about poverty, inequality, and corporate power in what some have called a Second Gilded Age. After O’Donnell’s enlightening discussion, take a trolley ride through Green-Wood to visit the monuments of Henry George and other influential reformers.