Green-Wood Cemetery in June

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In mid June, I spent an enjoyable afternoon giving friends a long-awaited tour of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. With so much to see, I did my best to hit the high points: DeWitt Clinton, Leonard Bernstein, Elias Howe and his dog Fannie, Henry Steinway, Civil War Soldiers' Monument, VanNess-Parsons....and many more.

We drove to some sites and walked to others (lots of Fitbit steps for me) stopping to get a closer look at random monuments, and to read a number of poignant inscriptions. Over the years, I've traversed Green-Wood's 478 acres countless times, researching my book about the cemetery, giving public and private tours, as well as serving in my capacity as a funeral director. Yet, each and every time, I make a new find or learn of one before my visit that I must see. The Badger monument was one such grave site.  



On Christmas Eve, in 2011, hearts broke across the country as we watched the awful news about a Connecticut house fire which claimed the lives of three young sisters and their maternal grandparents. I only recently learned that the girls --Lily, Sarah and Grace --were buried in Green-Wood. Fresh spring flowers decorated their grave, and small stones atop their monument indicated visitors had recently been there. Looking at the stone, and recalling the tragedy, was wrenching. But one of the prime purposes of cemeteries is to allow us to honor those who have gone before us in the most tangible of ways.

In 2017, the girls' father Matthew died at the age of 51. He, too, is buried in Green-Wood.

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