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

On a recent visit to Calvary Cemetery in Queens , I saw the Halloran mausoleum  (top photo)  for the first time. Surprisingly, in all my years as a funeral director, I’ve never seen it before. Probably, because I almost never enter the cemetery on Greenpoint Avenue. In any case, I was immediately struck by the similarity to the Mackay family mausoleum, my favorite in Green-Wood. I'm attempting to find out additional information about this structure. In particular, I'm interested in knowing which mausoleum was built first and did they share an architect. If anyone knows, please post here.

Major Quentin Roosevelt was the youngest son of President Theodore Roosevelt and his wife Edith. In 1917, when the United States entered WWI, Quentin --who had trained as a pilot on a Long Island airfield --dropped out of Harvard and joined the 1st Reserve Aero Squadron, the nation's first air reserve. A year later, on July 14, 1918 (Bastille Day), his plane was shot down outside of Chamery, France by a German pilot. Quentin was twenty years old. He was buried at the site beneath a makeshift wooden cross. Later, a wooden enclosure was added to the gravesite that had become a shrine to American soldiers and aviators. Because of the significance of the site, President and Mrs. Roosevelt decided not to bring their son back to the US for burial.    Already weak from an Amazon expedition and brokenhearted by Quentin's death, Theodore Roosevelt died six months later. In 1955, Quentin's remains were moved to the World War II American Cemetery in Collesville-sur-Mer , France, an...

In honor of tomorrow's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Rowland H. Macy is today's subject.  Born to a Quaker family in New England, Macy found success --and made retail history-- with R.H. Macy & Co., which opened in 1858 in lower Manhattan. First-day sales amounted to $11.06. Macy died in Paris in 1877, just a few weeks after traveling to Europe with his family for some much-needed rest on the advice of his doctors. According to a New York Times article that announced his death, "Laborious work during his best years brought him, at the age of 56, to a sick bed, suffering from Bright's disease of the kidneys, of which he died." However, his funeral was not held until June 29th. After a religious service in New York City's Church of the Holy Trinity, with family and friends and 300 of Macy's employees, Macy's body was taken by special train to the Bronx for burial in Woodlawn Cemetery. In his will, Macy left the bulk of his estate to his wife and daughter,...

Theodore Roosevelt became our nation’s 26th president—and the youngest in US history—in 1901, after the assassination of President William McKinley. He was elected to a second term on November 8, 1904. He had previously held posts in the United States Assembly (the youngest man ever to do so) and was elected as the Governor of NY on November 8, 1898. Roosevelt, a Republican, was a prolific writer, conservationist, and champion of civil rights. On Valentine’s Day in 1880 -–the same year he graduated from Harvard-- Roosevelt became engaged to Alice Hathaway Lee. They married in October of that year. Tragedy struck in 1884 when, two days after giving birth to their daughter, Alice, Mrs. Roosevelt died from complications of Bright’s disease. That same day, Mrs. Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, the future president’s mother, also died from typhoid fever. In his diary that night, Theodore Roosevelt wrote, “The light has gone out of my life.” The Roosevelt wom...

William Niblo was a well-known 19th Century impresario and the proprietor of Niblo’s Garden, a vast entertainment complex. Located in lower Manhattan, Niblo’s Garden boasted a 3,000 seat theatre, restaurant, saloon, hotel, and an outdoor garden. In 1866, a production called The Black Crook debuted and, in time, this long running show came to be viewed by historians as Broadway’s first musical. When not overseeing theatrical productions by some of the era’s most popular performers, Niblo could often be found tending the garden in front of his mausoleum at Green-Wood Cemetery, where he would also sometimes picnic with friends. This Gothic Revival mausoleum was built for Niblo’s wife Martha, who died in 1851, and overlooks Crescent Water. Niblo once stocked the pond with goldfish which migrated to Green-Wood’s other six (at the time) ponds through their interconnections. Niblo died in 1878, at the age of 89, and in his will allotted $5,000 to the Green-Wood trustees for the upkeep of h...

Woolworth founder Frank Winfield Woolworth is entombed within this imposing, Egyptian-themed mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery. Designed by architect John Russell Pope -- whose designs also include The Jefferson Memorial and the National Archives and Records Administration --the Woolworth mausoleum boasts twin guardian sphinxes, Egyptian carvings, papyrus-styled columns, and Bronze doors with figures exchanging an  ankh  (the Egyptian symbol for life).  In 1879, Woolworth opened his first “Five and Ten Cent Store” in Utica, NY. Although that store soon failed, his second store, which opened later that year and was located in Lancaster, PA, was a rousing success. Over the years, more than a thousand F. W. Woolworth Company locations opened worldwide.  Woolworth died suddenly in 1919, at age 66, in Winfield Hall, his Long Island mansion. Initially, his estate was estimated to be $65,000,000. That amount was later reported to be just under $30,000,000. The Woolworth B...