Due to rising COVID-19 positivity rates in the city, all guided in-person education/school programs are temporarily suspended through February, 2021. If you are interested in booking a program for March 2021 or beyond, please email education@green-wood.com. In the meantime, please check out our resource kits, Virtual Program offerings or Digital Resources for independent learning.
Self-Guided programs
Want to bring your group to Green-Wood for a self-guided program? Let us plan your visit and curate materials for you!
Resource kits include a lesson plan, lesson materials of your choice, and fun, new Green-Wood stickers for all participants.
Price: Prices vary. Kits start at $25 for public schools and $50 for private school or pod groups. Each kit comes with materials for up to 15 students and their instructors/teachers. Materials provide content for roughly 60 minutes of activities, with options for extension.
All kits are custom! To curate your kit and plan your visit, call 718-210-3060.
Kit topics include:
- Nature Scavenger Hunt at Green-Wood (ages 4 and up)
- Bird-Watching at Green-Wood (ages 4 and up)
- Stories in Stone: Decoding Cemetery Symbols (ages 7 and up)
- Architecture at Green-Wood (ages 9 and up)
- Geology at Green-Wood: Brownstone, Marble, and Granite (ages 9 and up)
- Tree Trackers: Phenology at Green-Wood (ages 9 and up)
- Green-Wood’s Greatest: Discover our Most Fascinating Monuments (ages 7 and up)
- Suffragists of Green-Wood (ages 9 and up)
Have another topic in mind? There are so many learning opportunities at Green-Wood, and we’re excited to create a kit tailored to your needs.
Guided programs
As of October 2020, the following safety measures are in place for all on-site education programs:
- Maximum of 13 participants including at least one adult participant, per group. One Green-Wood educator will be assigned to guide each group.
- Programs take place completely outdoors.
- Participants must wear face masks at all times while on our grounds. Green-Wood educators and other staff will also be masked at all times.
- Group leaders must provide to their Green-Wood educator a health check form, provided by Green-Wood, that has been completed the morning of the program prior to start of the program.
- Participants must wash or sanitize hands at the beginning of their program. Sanitizer will be provided.
- Participants must maintain social distancing (6 feet) amongst themselves and between themselves and Green-Wood staff at all times during the program.
- All programs are walking programs. No vehicles are used. Please also note that no outdoor area of the Cemetery is ADA compliant, however we will do our best to create wheelchair-friendly program routes whenever possible.
- Participants will receive learning materials in a tote bag, contactless, at the start of the program to self-distribute.
- Until further notice, all in-person pre- and post-visit classroom lessons are suspended.
Guided programs are 60 minutes and are led by experienced Green-Wood educators. All guided programs take place within a short distance of Green-Wood entrances and restrooms. Programs take place Monday through Friday from 9-10am, 10:15-11:15am, 11:30am-12:30pm, 12:45-1:45pm, 2:00-3:00pm, and 3:15-4:15pm. Participants are welcome to explore our grounds, self-guided, before and/or after their program.
We also offer custom small-group experiences. Please email education@green-wood.com to book a program tailored to your needs and timing.
Programs (click to expand)
American History
- Green-Wood’s Greatest
- Explore the history of Green-Wood’s most fascinating permanent residents and their monuments, as well as the highlights of Green-Wood’s landscape. Participants will each receive their own packets of learning materials and pencil to keep.
- Starting Location: This program can take place starting from any of Green-Wood’s entrances. Please indicate your preference for starting location at the time of booking.
- Black Pioneers of Green-Wood
- Discover the lives and work of Black changemakers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries who are buried at Green-Wood. Study monuments and explore other multi-sensory source materials. Participants will each receive their own packets of learning materials and pencil to keep.
- Starting Location: this program begins at our Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance.
- Green-Wood’s Battle Hill and The Battle of Brooklyn
- How should the Battle of Brooklyn, a loss for the Continental Army, be remembered? March from Green-Wood’s Main Entrance to the top of Battle Hill: the highest natural point in Brooklyn and the site of part of the 1776 battle. When you reach the top, study the monument Minerva and the Altar to Liberty. Participants will each receive their own packets of learning materials and pencil to keep.
- Starting Location: This program can start at either our Main Entrance or Prospect Park West Entrance. Please indicate your preference for starting location at the time of booking.
- Remembering the Civil War at Green-Wood: The Soldier’s Monument
- Deeply investigate one of the city’s earliest monuments to the Civil War. Through close looking and studying supplemental materials, students will discover what this monument does and does not memorialize, and what that can tell us about New York and the Civil War. Participants will each receive their own packets of learning materials and pencil to keep
- Starting Location: This program can start at either our Main Entrance or Prospect Park West Entrance. Please indicate your preference for starting location at the time of booking.
- Immigrant Pioneers of Green-Wood
- Visit the monuments of immigrants who made a mark on the world beyond Brooklyn. Study primary source materials to learn about their struggles and triumphs and how their stories connect to broader themes in immigration history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Participants will each receive their own packets of learning materials and pencil to keep
- Starting Location: This program starts at our Prospect Park West Entrance.
Art/Art History
- Amazing Architecture at Green-Wood
- Cemeteries are like miniature cities with creative and ornate architectural jewels. Study and sketch masterpieces of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century architecture at Green-Wood. Through our wide array of structures, student will learn to identify popular styles from these eras. Participants will each receive their own packets of learning materials and sketch paper to keep. Sanitized drawing pencils will be available for students to borrow, or you may bring your own.
- Starting Location: This program can take place starting from any of Green-Wood’s entrances. Please indicate your preference for starting location at the time of booking.
- Stories in Stone
- Become a cemetery sleuth: learn to decode the images and symbols carved into cemetery monuments. Learn how anchors aren’t just for sailors, how to identify those who belonged to special societies, and other secrets carved in stone. Participants will each receive their own packets of learning materials and pencil to keep.
- Starting Location: This program can take place starting from any of Green-Wood’s entrances. Please indicate your preference for starting location at the time of booking.
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
- Tree Trackers: Seasons at Green-Wood
- Learn to identify seasonal changes in trees. Young learners will use four senses to observe trees and note their observations in special journals. Each student will also collect natural materials found at Green-Wood and use sanitized markers to draw.
- Starting Location: This program starts from Green-Wood’s Main Entrance.
Program Rates
- Each program is $300 per group. Groups cannot be combined.
- Custom program pricing varies. Please contact education@green-wood.com.
Registration
To plan and book your in-person program, please call 718-210-3060. Programs MUST be booked and paid for by phone by credit card two weeks or more in advance. For the moment we are not accepting cash or check payments. If you need to pay by school purchase order please call us in advance.
OTHER PROGRAM INFORMATION
Special Needs
Please tell us any relevant information that will help us make your program a success. Please note that none of Green-Wood’s walking programs are completely ADA compliant.
Lunch
Please note that Green-Wood does not provide storage for belongings or food. If you wish to have your group eat lunch at Green-Wood, please state this in the notes when you book your program, and our staff will contact you to confirm. School groups eating lunch at Green-Wood must respect our space and keep it clean. Green-Wood educators are not able to remain with groups while they eat. All food and drinks except water must be sealed and put away during programs.
Cemetery Etiquette
As an active cemetery and public green space, Green-Wood has some easy-to-follow yet specific guidelines for appropriate behavior that all visitors must follow. Please review our rules and best practices page with your students and chaperones before your program. All participants will be expected to observe appropriate etiquette during their time at Green-Wood, before, during, and after their programs. We thank you in advance for helping us make this a space all visitors can respectfully share.
EDUCATION STAFF AND CONTACTS
Rachel Walman
Director of Education
718-210-3060
rwalman@green-wood.com
For the fastest reply, please email education@green-wood.com
RESCHEDULE AND CANCELLATION POLICY
Green-Wood School Programs take place completely outdoors and will proceed as scheduled during moderate rain, cold temperatures above 32 degrees, or heat below 90 degrees. If weather is severe, Green-Wood will reschedule your program at no extra fee, or refund you in full if no reschedule date can be agreed upon.
If any member of your group tests positive for or is exposed to someone who tests positive for COVID-19 within 14 days of your program, or if anyone experiences symptoms of COVID-19 on the morning of your program, please contact us to reschedule at no additional fee. If you choose to cancel, you will be refunded 50% of your program fee.
If you wish to reschedule your program for any other reason besides COVID-19, for no additional fee, please email us two weeks before your program date. Green-Wood will make every effort to reschedule your program if requested, though reschedule dates are subject to availability.
If you wish to cancel your program and receive a full refund, please email us at least three weeks before your program. Cancellations for reasons other than COVID-19 exposure or symptoms will be 50% refunded if made between 20 days and 48 hours prior to the program date/start time.
Program fees will NOT be refunded if:
- A cancellation is requested for reasons other than COVID-19 exposure or symptoms fewer than 48 hours prior to the program date/start time. OR
- You fail to arrive on the date of your program. OR
- You receive a shortened program due to late arrival or arrival at the wrong place in the Cemetery. OR
- You arrive for your program during a different time slot than you reserved and we are unable to accommodate you. We will make every effort to accommodate you, but cannot guarantee it.
Getting Here
Please note that Green-Wood’s School Programs now have several different starting locations. Click to expand each section below and read or print directions to each of Green-Wood’s entrances.
MAIN ENTRANCE
These directions take you to The Green-Wood Cemetery’s MAIN ENTRANCE at Fifth Avenue and 25th Street in Brooklyn.
BY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
The closest subway station to Green-Wood’s Main Entrance is the R train at 25th Street. After exiting the train, walk east one block to Green-Wood at Fifth Avenue and 25th Street.
BY BUS
If you are using GPS: Please enter “25th Street and Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.” Do NOT use “500 25th Street.”
From Lower Manhattan
Take the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (Hugh L. Carey Tunnel) and exit at Hamilton Avenue (immediately after the toll plaza). Continue on Hamilton Avenue until it becomes Third Avenue and go about eight blocks to 25th Street. Turn left on 25th Street and go two blocks. The Cemetery Main Entrance is straight ahead at Fifth Avenue and 25th Street.
From Long Island
Take the Long Island Expressway west to the 48th Street exit to Brooklyn-Queens Expressway southbound to the Hamilton Avenue exit. Continue on Hamilton Avenue until it becomes Third Avenue and go about eight blocks to 25th Street. Turn left on 25th Street and go two blocks. The Cemetery Main Entrance is straight ahead at Fifth Avenue and 25th Street.
From Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
Take Route 278, Gowanus Expressway, to the 38th Street exit. At the bottom of the ramp, proceed straight one block to Fifth Avenue. Turn left at 5th Avenue and continue 13 blocks to 25th Street. The Cemetery Main Entrance is on the right.
Arrival Instructions
- Please enter through the Cemetery’s MAIN ENTRANCE at Fifth Avenue and 25th Street in Brooklyn. Ask busses to drive up through the Gothic Arch and drop you inside the Cemetery.
- If you need to reach Cemetery staff on your way here, please call 917-848-6226
- If school busses wish to remain in the Cemetery during your program, Green-Wood staff will direct them to an appropriate waiting spot.
- Please note that you will have access to a limited number of restrooms while at the Cemetery. Please encourage students to use the restroom before coming here, if possible.
Fort hamilton parkway entrance
These directions take you to the Cemetery’s FORT HAMILTON PARKWAY Entrance at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place in Brooklyn.
BY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
The closest subway station to Green-Wood’s Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance is the Church Avenue F/G station, which is approximately a ten minute walk from the Cemetery. Please be sure to cross Fort Hamilton Parkway at McDonald Avenue on your way here.
BY BUS
If you are using GPS: The entrance intersection is Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place. Do NOT use “500 25th Street.”
These directions take you to the Cemetery’s FORT HAMILTON PARKWAY Entrance at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place in Brooklyn.
From Lower Manhattan
Take either the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (Hugh L. Carey Tunnel), Manhattan Bridge, or Brooklyn Bridge. Continue on either I-478 or I-278 W until they merge. Use the left two lanes to take Exit 24 for Prospect Expy/NY-27 E. Then take Exit 5 toward Fort Hamilton Parkway/NY-27 E. Merge onto East 5th Street, then make a right on Fort Hamilton Parkway. The entrance to the Cemetery will be about 5 blocks away on the right.
From Long Island
Take I-495 West to Brooklyn, NY. Use the second from the right lane to take Exit 31 N-S toward Kennedy Airport. Merge onto Cross Island Pkwy. Take Exit 29 E for Grand Central Pkwy toward Triborough Bridge (Robert F. Kennedy Bridge). Keep left, follow signs for Grand Central Pkwy W and merge onto Grand Central Parkway. Keep left at the fork to continue on Jackie Robinson Pkwy/New York State Rte 908B W. Keep right to stay on Jackie Robinson Pkwy/New York State Rte 908B W, follow signs for E New York Ave. Continue onto Jamaica Ave. Continue onto E New York Ave. E New York Ave turns right and becomes Pacific St. Slight left onto Eastern Pkwy. Turn left onto Bedford Ave. Turn right onto Empire Blvd. Continue onto Ocean Ave. Turn right onto Parkside Ave. At the traffic circle, take the third exit onto Ocean Pkwy. Keep right to continue on Fort Hamilton Parkway. The entrance to the Cemetery will be about 10 blocks away on the right.
From Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
Take I-278 East into Brooklyn. Take Exit 20 for Seventh Avenue toward 65 Street. Merge onto Seventh Avenue. Turn right onto 65th Street. Turn left onto Fort Hamilton Pkwy. The entrance to the Cemetery will be about 1.8 miles away on the left.
Arrival Instructions
- Please enter through the Cemetery’s FORT HAMILTON PARKWAY ENTRANCE at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place.
- For Black New Yorkers program ONLY: Buses may drop you outside the Cemetery at this entrance or inside.
- For Civil War and Innovators & Inventors programs: Busses MUST drive you into the Cemetery, make an immediate left on Border Avenue and follow signs for the Freedom Lots. They must drop you off and pick you up at the Freedom Lots.
- If you need to reach Cemetery staff on your way to here, please call 917-848-6226.
- If school busses wish to remain in the Cemetery during your program, Green-Wood staff will direct them to an appropriate waiting spot.
- Please note that you will have access to a limited number of restrooms while at the Cemetery. Please encourage students to use the restroom before coming here, if possible.
prospect park west entrance
These directions take you to the Cemetery’s PROSPECT PARK WEST ENTRANCE at 20th Street and Ninth Avenue/Prospect Park West in Brooklyn.
BY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
The closest subway station to Green-Wood’s Prospect Park West Entrance is the F or G train at 15 St/Prospect Park. It is an approximately seven minute walk from the station.
BY BUS
If you are using GPS: The entrance intersection is Prospect Park West and 20th Street.
From Lower Manhattan
Take either Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (Hugh L. Carey Tunnel), Manhattan Bridge, or Brooklyn Bridge. Continue on either I-478 or I-278 W until they merge. Use the left two lanes to take Exit 24 for Prospect Expy/NY-27 E. Then turn right onto Tenth Avenue and turn right onto 20th Street. The entrance to the Cemetery will be on the left.
From Long Island
Take I-495 West to Brooklyn, NY. Use the second from the right lane to take Exit 31 N-S toward Kennedy Airport. Merge onto Cross Island Pkwy. Take Exit 29 E for Grand Central Pkwy toward Triborough Bridge (Robert F. Kennedy Bridge). Keep left, follow signs for Grand Central Pkwy W and merge onto Grand Central Parkway. Keep left at the fork to continue on Jackie Robinson Pkwy/New York State Rte 908B W. Keep right to stay on Jackie Robinson Pkwy/New York State Rte 908B W, follow signs for E New York Ave. Continue onto Jamaica Avenue. Continue onto E New York Avenue. E New York Avenue turns right and becomes Pacific Street. Slight left onto Eastern Parkway. Use the right two lanes to turn slightly right to stay on Eastern Parkway. Keep left to stay on Eastern Parkway. Use the left lane to turn right onto Grand Army Plaza. Sharp left to stay on Grand Army Plaza. Use the right two lanes to turn slightly right to stay on Grand Army Plaza. Continue onto Prospect Park West. At the traffic circle, take the second exit and stay on Prospect Park West. Turn right onto 20th Street. The entrance to the Cemetery will be on the left.
From Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
Head northeast on I-278 East. Take Exit 24 for Prospect Expy. Continue onto NY-27/Prospect Expy. Take Exit 4 for 10th Ave toward 11th Ave/NY-27. Turn right onto 10th Avenue. Turn right onto 20th Street. The entrance to the Cemetery will be on the left.
Arrival Instructions
- Please enter through the Cemetery’s PROSPECT PARK WEST ENTRANCE at Prospect Park West and 20th Street in Brooklyn.
- If you need to reach Cemetery staff on your way here, please call 917-848-6226
- If school busses wish to remain in the Cemetery during your program, Green-Wood staff will direct them to an appropriate waiting spot.
- Please note that you will have access to a limited number of restrooms while at the Cemetery. Please encourage students to use the restroom before coming here, if possible.
Sunset Park entrance
These directions take you to The Green-Wood Cemetery’s SUNSET PARK ENTRANCE at Fourth Avenue between 34th and 36th Streets in Brooklyn.
BY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
The closest subway station to Green-Wood’s Main Entrance is the D/N/R trains at 36th Street. After exiting the train, walk north one block to Green-Wood entrance at Fourth Avenue between 34th and 36th Streets.
BY BUS
If you are using GPS: The entrance intersection is Fourth Avenue and Maple Avenue.
FROM MANHATTAN
Take I-478/Hugh L. Carey Tunnel to Hamilton Ave. Take exit 26 from I-478/Hugh L. Carey Tunnel. Continue on Hamilton Ave and then onto 3rd Ave. Make a left onto 31st Street. Make a right on 4th Avenue. Entrance is at 4th Avenue. Entrance is at 4th Avenue between 34th and 36th Streets.
FROM QUEENS
From I-495 W. Take I-278 W to Hamilton Ave in Brooklyn. Take exit 26 from I-278 W. Continue on Hamilton Ave and then onto 3rd Ave. Make a left onto 31st Street. Make a right on 4th Avenue. Entrance is at 4th Avenue. Entrance is at 4th Avenue between 34th and 36th Streets.
FROM STATEN ISLAND
Follow I-278 E to 38th St in Brooklyn. Take exit 23 from I-278 E. Turn left onto 4th Avenue. Entrance is at 4th Avenue between 34th and 36th Streets.
ARRIVAL INSTRUCTIONS
- Please enter through the Cemetery’s SUNSET PARK ENTRANCE at Fourth Avenue between 34 th and 36th Streets in Brooklyn.
- If you need to reach Cemetery staff on your way here, please call 917-848-6226
- If school busses wish to remain in the Cemetery during your program, Green-Wood staff will direct them to an appropriate waiting spot.
- Please note that you will have access to a limited number of restrooms while at the Cemetery. Please encourage students to use the restroom before coming here, if possible.