On Friday evening, November 1, 1918, a Brooklyn Rapid Transit subway train left the Park Row station in Manhattan, ran east across the East River, then south through Brooklyn. At 6:42 p.m., it crashed near the intersection of Malbone Street, Flatbush and Ocean Avenues; 93 people died and hundreds were injured. It was the deadliest … Read more
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), … Read more
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 … Read more
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, … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
The Angel’s Share series features the world premiere of David Hertzberg’s The Rose Elf Beginning in June 2018, Unison Media and The Green-Wood Historic Fund will present an all-new series of classical music concerts entitled, The Angel’s Share, to be performed in Green-Wood’s Catacombs. The highly-anticipated series will present opera and chamber music in one … Read more
I recently met at Green-Wood with Professor C. Cuvaj. I know him from several Green-Wood tours he has attended. He is a retired physics professor who is fascinated by cemetery art. A man of great curiosity, he always has questions and is ever eager to learn more. So, for instance, he is compiling a database … Read more
Theresa LaBianca started working at Green-Wood Cemetery in 1977 as an administrative assistant. She has just retired. In the almost 41 years she was at Green-Wood, Theresa did a lot of day-to-day work with Green-Wood’s records, helping it function as a cemetery. But it is clear that the best part of the work, as far … Read more
Green-Wood is a 19th-century (and 20th century and 21st century) sculpture garden. If you were alive in 1865, and wanted to see sculpture, Green-Wood was the place for you. Not the Metropolitan Museum. Not the Brooklyn Museum. Green-Wood! Over the years, we have discovered prominent 19th-century sculptors whose works adorn Green-Wood’s grounds: Henry Kirke Brown, … Read more