Gardens of Stone --- A Cemetery Blog by Alexandra Kathryn Mosca

I am always asked what it's like to work as a funeral director. To help answer that question, I wrote the following article for AOL Jobs. Confessions of a Mortician (Funeral Director)

Egyptian Revival architecture was a popular style of memorialization during the mid-19th Century. This fashionable trend resurgence occurred in the 1920s,1920's presumably because of the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb. Albert Ross Parsons (1847-1933), a composer, musician, author, and pyramid expert, published The New Light from the Pyramids in 1893. Fittingly, this Egyptologist is entombed along with several family members in this pyramid-shaped mausoleum, which combines Christian religious statuary and Egyptian symbolism, My book Green-Wood Cemetery ( Arcadia Publishing, 2008) includes an archival shot of this Egyptian Revival mausoleum.

The “Angel of Death” marks the graves of Charles Schieren, the next-to-last mayor of Brooklyn , and his wife Mary Louise. The Schierens died from pneumonia within 24 hours of one another in 1915.

On Saturday, January 15, 2011, the Brooklyn Historical Society hosted a New York Cemeteries Panel. Joining me were the authors of Cypress Hills Cemetery. We enjoyed speaking about our respective books and answering questions posed by the knowledgeable and enthusiastic audience. Thanks to all who attended!