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

Hungarian-born journalist and newspaper publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, was born Jozsef Politzer in 1847. Several years after the death of his father--and after the family’s reversal of fortune--Pulitzer emigrated to the united States. Trying his hand at a variety of jobs, Pulitzer eventually found his true calling as a journalist. In his lifetime, he owned both the New York World and the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Yet, it was what his considerable wealth made possible after his death that has made the Pulitzer name synonymous with Journalism: In 1912, the fist school of journalism was established at Columbia University and in 1917, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded. In October 1911, Pulitzer died unexpectedly aboard his yacht in South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor, at the age of 64. The boat had been en route to Pulitzer’s winter home in Jekyll Island, Georgia, when a hurricane threatened. “Leise, ganz leise, ganz leise (softly, quite softly), were said to be his last words. On the...

Joseph Profaci was characterized as “one of the most powerful underworld figures in the United States” by Robert F. Kennedy during his tenure as US Attorney General. Born in Palermo, Profaci was the first boss of the crime family, which initially bore his name-ruling from 1931 to 1962- and later became the Colombo family. During Profaci’s reign, he was arrested several times, but unlike many of his cohorts, he never served time in an American prison. Often referred to as the “olive oil king,” Profaci ran the Mama Mia Importing Company, a leading olive oil and tomato paste importer. Profaci died from liver cancer in 1962 at the age of 64 and is buried in St. John Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens, among a plethora of well-known organized crime figures. Said to be the most devout Catholic of Mafia leaders, Profaci had an altar constructed in his home. His private mausoleum references his religious beliefs as well: A figure of Jesus, with arms outstretched, adorns the door, while a scu...

One of the unique mausoleums to be found in Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery is that of successful Atlanta businessman Jasper Newton Smith. Occupying a prominent site close to the cemetery’s main entrance, the structure’s focal point is the life-sized statue of Smith perched in a chair atop the building. The sculpture, commissioned by Smith to construct his mausoleum, originally depicted him wearing a tie---something Smith never wore because of a boyhood episode in which he almost choked to death. This detail became a point of contention between Smith and sculptor Oliver W. Edwards, who refused to remove it for two long years. In turn, Smith refused to pay him, and eventually, Edwards relented and chipped away the offending cravat. Smith is the only one of his family to be entombed in the mausoleum, where, from his vantage point, it has been said he can “watch the comings and goings.” Local lore has it that Smith gets out of his chair and walks the cemetery at night.

Until his death in 1877, Dr. Noel d’Alvigny was one of the most prominent doctors in Atlanta. An original faculty member and former president of Atlanta Medical College (renamed Emory University School of Medicine), he is credited with saving the school from burning down at the hands of General Sherman’s troops. In 1850, d’Alvigny performed an entirely different kind of helpful act. Soon after Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery opened, Dr. James Nissen became the cemetery’s first interment. The physician died while visiting Atlanta during a medical convention. Afraid of being buried alive, Dr. Nissen requested that his colleague, Dr. d’Alvigny, open his casket at Oakland Cemetery and sever his jugular vein. Although Nissen’s headstone is now faded and illegible, a plaque at the site recalls this incident. Dr. d’Alvigny is believed to have inspired the character of Dr. Meade, the dedicated and wise doctor in Gone With The Wind—a plaque at his grave notes this.

Infamous 1930s crime lord Dutch Schultz is buried beneath a bench-like monument --which bears his birth name, Arthur Flegenheimer—in Hawthorne, New York’s Gate of Heaven Cemetery. Schultz, who was murdered in 1935 by rival gangsters, was a convert to Catholicism. As Schultz lay dying from gunshot wounds in a New Jersey hospital, he was baptized by Father Cornelius McInerney, a Catholic priest who had befriended the gangster while he was serving prison time. That Schultz’s body was taken to Coughlin’s Undertaking parlor in Manhattan remained a closely guarded secret. The morning of his funeral, a throng of people gathered outside the funeral home, along with reporters, to witness Schultz’s body being carried out in its casket. Unbeknown to them, his wood casket had been whisked away in the early morning hours for a leisurely ride to the cemetery. At the graveside --near that of former cohort Larry Fay, also gunned down-- Father McInerney performed a short Catholic service for the five ...

Missouri-born James Cash Penney was the 7th of 12 children born, in 1875,  to James Sr. --a farmer and Baptist minister--and his wife Mary. As a child, when he wasn’t attending school, James worked on the family farm. His father stressed the value of money and by the time James was eight years old, he was expected to pay for his own clothing. Penney began his work in retail at J. M. Hale and Brothers dry good store, shortly after he graduated from high school. Before long, he was trained as a salesman. In 1902, James Cash Penney opened his first store named Golden Rule for the credo by which Penney lived and did business. His business and personal philosophy paid off : By 1912, there were 34 Golden Rule stores across the country. In 1913, the name was changed to the J.C. Penney Co. and the company headquarters were relocated to NYC.   Penney died at the age of 95, on February 12, 1971, in New York’s Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. His funeral service took place several ...