Steeplechase Park to Be Rebuilt — (In 1907, that is)
On Sunday morning, July 28, 1907, a great fire swept through Coney Island, destroying almost all of George C. Tilyou’s amusement park, Steeplechase Park.
On Sunday morning, July 28, 1907, a great fire swept through Coney Island, destroying almost all of George C. Tilyou’s amusement park, Steeplechase Park.
I recently vacationed in Spring Lake, New Jersey, along the Jersey shore. A very nice little town. On a quiet morning, we walked over to the local historical society. And, there it was: an oar from the S.S. Morro Castle, the great luxury passenger ship that caught fire off Asbury Park on September 8, 1934, then ran aground just feet from the Asbury Park beach. In all, 135 of the 549 people aboard the ship were lost.
Historic grave sites are crumbling at New York’s Green-Wood Cemetery — the resting place of Leonard Bernstein, Louis Tiffany and others — and the money to save them is scarce. It’s tough being an angel, even in as idyllic a setting as the Green-Wood Cemetery, where the leaves of shade trees rustle in the summer … Read more
A couple of months ago, I did a cemetery tour for the Bayport Heritage Association. It was quite an interesting experience with a very enthusiastic group. One of the pleasures of doing tours for such groups is my opportunity to learn from them. Though I’ve been doing tours of Green-Wood since 1990, I can only fit so much into my brain.
To see the segment online, visit NY1’s website. History buffs gathered Sunday morning to celebrate the biggest battle of the Revolutionary War in Brooklyn. The event commemorated the 233rd anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn. The battle took place August 27th, 1776 at what is now Green-Wood Cemetery in Park Slope. It was also the … Read more
EAST MANATEE — a University Park sculptor could be in line to help correct a wrong in a famous Brooklyn cemetery. Myra Weisgold is one of five sculptors chosen to participate in a competition to recreate the “Angel of Music,” a sculpture which once graced the grave of 19th century American composer and pianist Louis … Read more
Historian’s Second Book Documents Scandalous 1920s Real Estate Baron By Phoebe Neidl / July 29, 2009 BROOKLYN — Green-Wood Cemetery has proven to be fertile ground for author Benjamin Feldman. This summer marked the release of his second book, and just as his first, it tells the true and titillating tale of one of the … Read more
Tuesday July 28, 2009 By Chris Waddington, Contributing writer, The Times-Picayune One of New Orleans’ greatest musicians got a boost in New York this month, but he couldn’t join in the celebratory announcement. That’s because Louis Moreau Gottschalk was laid to rest in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery in 1869. On July 6, the historic cemetery announced … Read more
July 23, 2009 Local sculptor a finalist for cemetery piece She used to stand over the grave of legendary 19th-century American composer and pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Directing an invisible symphony with a harp at her feet, the angelic marble figure rose above the surrounding headstones in Brooklyn’s historic Green-Wood Cemetery. That was until it … Read more
July 19, 2009 By MICHAEL WILSON Kestutis Demereckas, a tall, broad son of Lithuania who favors classic white headstones over the shiny black ones, stood grinning over a coffin-size patch of grass in Green-Wood Cemetery that was marked with nothing at all. Below the grass, in a shady part of Section 79, near the center … Read more