Posted by Jeff Richman on August 20th, 2018

There is always another story to be discovered at Green-Wood. I was recently out in section 52, lots 8022-8027--the Bangs Family Lots--looking for a particular gravestone. These lots form a large circle, just feet from the intersection of Locust and Southwood Avenues. Several prominent people are interred in those lots, including Francis N. Bangs (1828-1885), a prominent lawyer who founded the precursor law firm to the very famous and existing firm of Davis, Polk, and Wardwell. Francis N. Bangs also was a founder of the New York City Bar Association… Read more

Posted by Jeff Richman on July 26th, 2018

After leading tours at Green-Wood for 28 years, I still love to create new ones. One of the virtues of doing new and different tours of Green-Wood:  I get to research and learn. So it is with my recent tour, "Sound the Alarm:  Green-Wood's Firemen." I knew, before I began this research, about several lots and monuments at the cemetery dedicated to firemen. However, as I prepared for this tour, I learned a great deal more. One story that has come together: that of hero Fireman William H. Nash. A… Read more

Posted by Jeff Richman on June 28th, 2018

How is your Green-Wood eye? There have been a few subtle changes out on the grounds in the last couple of weeks. Here's that story. Come visit and see for yourself! Several features of Green-Wood's grounds date back to its initial design by engineer David Bates Douglass (1790-1849). A graduate of Yale, class of 1813, Douglass trained as a military engineer and served as a miner and sapper during the War of 1812. He later taught natural philosophy at West Point. Douglass was a fascinating, multi-talented  man--he also took part… Read more

Posted by Jeff Richman on June 18th, 2018

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 surveyor's office, they were transferred by Tony Cucchiara, Green-Wood's archivist, to our archival storage area a few years ago. About 10 years ago, we were fortunate to have an architect, Gabriella Karl, volunteer to catalogue… Read more

Posted by Jeff Richman on May 7th, 2018

One of the first monuments a visitor is likely to notice upon coming through Green-Wood's landmarked brownstone Main Gates is the Brooklyn Theatre Fire Monument. It commemorates the tragedy of the evening of December 5, 1876, when 278 souls were lost after a crowded theatre in downtown Brooklyn caught fire and collapsed. That disaster marked the greatest on-land loss of life in what is now New York City up until the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. On Tuesday night, December 5, 1876, the Brooklyn Theatre, on the southeast… Read more