Green Wood Cemetery

May 24, 2023

Green-Wood Cemetery’s $34M welcome center that wraps around historic greenhouse breaks ground

Construction has begun on a new welcome center that will teach visitors about Green-Wood Cemetery's rich history. Located across from the cemetery's main entrance on 25th Street and Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn, the new $34 million Education and Welcome Center will feature two exhibition galleries for Green-Wood's art and archival collections, host educational events and programs, and serve as a hub for scholarly research, staff offices, and meeting and event spaces. The new building, which will be built around the historic Weir Greenhouse, will be completed by June 2025.
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May 4, 2023

Community-created memorial honoring New Yorkers lost to Covid on view at Green-Wood Cemetery

A massive new public art memorial at Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery honors lives lost during the Covid-19 pandemic. Curated by Naming The Lost Memorials and City Lore, the "The Many Losses from Covid-19" memorial is made up of personalized tributes to the 79,000 New Yorkers lost to the virus, as well as those suffering from long Covid. Created by 20 local community groups, the month-long display will be located alongside the cemetery's historic wrought-iron fence near the main entrance at Fifth Avenue and 25th Street.
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October 6, 2022

10 things you didn’t know about Green-Wood Cemetery

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 Green-Wood 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.
Take it to the grave!
April 28, 2022

Green-Wood Cemetery’s first-ever artist in residence to open sculpture installation in the catacombs

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.
Details this way
April 18, 2022

A cherry blossom festival with Japanese treats and sake is coming to Green-Wood Cemetery

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.
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August 13, 2021

Green-Wood Cemetery honors Battle of Brooklyn’s 245th anniversary with revolutionary event

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.
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March 3, 2021

NYC reburies remains of early New Yorkers in Washington Square Park

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.
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May 4, 2020

Rule-breaking crowds could force Green-Wood Cemetery to close to public

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."
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May 21, 2019

The best things to do this Memorial Day weekend in NYC

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.
a bounty of events, this way
May 2, 2018

How did a flock of Argentinian parrots land in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery?

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?
It's not as crazy as you might think
April 17, 2018

City orders Central Park statue of ‘hero’ M.D. who performed experiments on slaves be removed

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.
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April 28, 2017

Five million dead in Queens: The history of New York City’s ‘cemetery belt’

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?
Find out why the dead outnumber the living in Queens
February 27, 2015

Heartbeat Urban Drum to Become a ‘Heartseat;’ 53 New Citi Bike Stations for Brooklyn

Stereotank’s heart-shaped urban drum in Times Square known as Heartbeat will turn into a “heartseat.” [Inhabitat] A Kickstarter campaign is raising funds for a documentary film about Horn & Hardart’s iconic Automat. [Gothamist] Mapping the 53 new Citi Bike stations coming to Williamsburg and Greenpoint. [BK Paper] A small shop in Ridgewood, Queens is the reason NYC […]

February 13, 2015

Love Set in Stone: Bring Your Date on a Valentine’s Day Trolley Ride in Green-Wood Cemetery

What could be more romantic than a cozy mid-winter afternoon trolley ride through one of NYC’s most interesting national historic landmarks, Green-Wood Cemetery? Celebrate this most romantic of holidays with a bit of a gothic twist: Expert guide Ruth Edebohls will lead a tour highlighting historic power couples, romantic monuments and tales of love everlasting, both triumphant and grim. You can also view Civil War love letters […]