Photo by Rhododendrites on Wikimedia
Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery announced on Thursday the opening of a new art installation created by the 184-year-old institution’s first-ever artist in residence. Located within the property’s catacombs, a portion of the cemetery that is usually off-limits to the public, Heidi Lau’s Gardens as Cosmic Terrains consists of sculptures that hang from skylights. The installation opens to the public on Saturday, May 7, and will be on view through July 3.
Cherry Blossoms at Green-Wood. Photo by David Berkowitz via Flickr
Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery is welcoming in the natural beauty of spring with its own “Hanami,” or flower-viewing festival. After hours on April 20, Green-Wood Cemetery will be treating guests to a night of live music, food, entertainment, and educational programs about the cemetery’s diverse variety of trees and wildlife. Visitors will travel down winding paths lined with 172 blooming cherry trees, among which are the Yoshino Cherry and Kanzan Japanese Flowering cherry trees, two species of cherry trees commonly celebrated in Hanami Festivals, a tradition of enjoying the blooming of cherry blossoms that began in Japan.
Battle of Brooklyn reenactment in Green-Wood Cemetery; Photo by Allison Meier on Flickr
The first major battle to take place during the Revolutionary War after the United States declared independence took place in Brooklyn on August 27, 1776. During the Battle of Brooklyn, fighting took place across the borough, including throughout present-day Prospect Park, Fulton Ferry Landing, and Green-Wood Cemetery. To commemorate the 245th anniversary of the historic struggle, Green-Wood Cemetery is hosting a family-friendly event this month with Revolutionary War reenactors, music, demonstrations, and other activities.
All photos: NYC Parks / Daniel Avila
The New York City Parks Department on Tuesday reinterred the human remains of early New Yorkers found during construction in and around Washington Square Park. The skeletal remains were placed in a wooden box and buried five feet below grade within a planting bed, with an engraved paver marking the site at the southern entrance of the park near Sullivan Street. The remains were uncovered between 2008 and 2017, including the unearthing of two 19th-century burial vaults in 2015 that held the remains of at least a dozen people.
Photo by Michela Simoncini on Flickr
Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery threatened to close its gates last week after some visitors ignored the 478-acre-site’s rules and regulations. In an email to supporters, the cemetery’s president Richard Moylan said people have biked, climbed trees, and even taken flowers that were placed on graves, all actions prohibited by the organization. “The conduct of a small percentage of our visitors has created an unacceptable situation,” Moylan wrote. “If things don’t change we may be left with no choice but to close our gates as many other cemeteries have done.”
“Cherry blossoms falling in front of a mausoleum in Green-Wood Cemetery,” April 2017, by Rhododendrites via wikimedia commons
What do Jean-Michel Basquiat, F.A.O Schwarz, Horace Greeley, Samuel Morse, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Boss Tweed, Peter Cooper, Leonard Bernstein, and Susan Smith McKinney-Steward have in common? All these notable New Yorkers are spending eternity in Brooklyn, specifically Greenwood Cemetery, the stunning 478-acre “rural cemetery” that’s home to 560,000 “permanent residents” (and about as many truly spectacular mausoleums.) Since the best secrets are the ones you take to the grave, come dig up the dirt on Green-Wood, and read on for 10 things you didn’t know about Brooklyn’s most sensational cemetery.
Image: United States Marine Corps Official Page via photopin cc
The weather has finally gotten the memo, the city’s beaches, parks, and urban islands are open for the season and you’ve got a day off. There’s no need to get complicated; just head for the nearest beach with a picnic for two, attend an outdoor concert, find a BBQ bash or a rooftop rave–or celebrate the day with a parade. What you do with the long weekend is up to you, of course, but you’ll find some ideas below to get you started.
Photo via Wiki Commons
It’s usually the tours and events at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery that get people talking, but the national landmark has its own chatty group that’s attracting a lot of attention. The group happens to be a flock of lime green parrots from Argentina, appropriately named “Monk Parrots” since they are hanging out in the cemetery despite Green-Wood’s nonsectarian nature. But how did these loud and exotic birds get all the way from South America to Greenwood Heights?
Statue of Dr. J. Marion Sims in Central Park. Image: Wikimedia Commons.
New York City’s Public Design Commission voted unanimously Monday in favor of removing a statue of 19th century surgeon J. Marion Sims from its Central Park pedestal, the New York Times reports. It was recommended that the statue of the controversial doctor, who conducted experimental surgeries on female slaves without their consent (and without anesthesia), be removed from its spot at 103rd Street in East Harlem after Mayor Bill de Blasio asked for a review of “symbols of hate” on city property eight months ago. 6sqft previously reported on the request by Manhattan Community Board 11 to remove the East Harlem statue of Sims, who is regarded as the father of modern gynecology. The statue, which will be moved to Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery where the doctor is buried, represents the city’s first decision to make changes to a prominent monument since the review.
You may have noticed when driving from Queens to Brooklyn that at some point you find yourself surrounded by a sea of headstones in every direction. The city’s “cemetery belt”–reportedly visible from space–stretches for two and a half miles along the Queens/Brooklyn border and is so populous that there are more than twice as many dead people in Queens than living ones. What’s up with this cemetery city?
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