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

To kick off the baseball season, today's post is in homage to Gil Hodges, one of the game's greats. The grave of Gil Hodges can be found in Brooklyn's Holy Cross Cemetery. His grave is adorned with an American flag and baseball memorabilia left by visiting fans. The former first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers died in 1972, two days before his 48th birthday. Several days later, more than 1,000 people stood in line to pay their respects as Hodges body reposed in a Brooklyn funeral home. After two days of visitation, a Mass of Christian Burial took place at Hodges church, Our Lady Help of Christians, led by Bishop Francis Mugavero. Seated in the church, which was filled to capacity, were Bowie Kuhn, Jackie Robinson, PeeWee Reese, Tom Seaver and Mayor John Lindsay. Thousands more lined the streets. At the conclusion of the service,  two flower cars overflowing with floral tributes led the cortege to Holy Cross.    

A finely chiseled bust tops the monument of well-to-do Kings County politician, Andrew McClennen, in Brooklyn's Holy Cross Cemetery. McClennen stipulated in his will that if his children left no heirs, "I give his or her share to the incorporated Roman Catholic hospitals and orphan asylums of the city of Brooklyn." 

This sandstone castle-like mausoleum contains the remains of Rev. Dr. Charles W. Roeder, the longtime pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Roeder, a member of an old Dutch family, was also chaplain of both a local army and navy post.

Cypress Hills Military Cemetery was formed during the Civil War and is located within Brooklyn’s Cypress Hills Cemetery. At the time, approximately three acres were allotted for the burial of the Civil War dead in what was called Union Grounds. After the war, in 1870, Cypress Hills Cemetery deeded the property to the United States for $9,600. By that time, 3,170 Union soldiers and 461 Confederate POWs had been buried there. Before 1873, only U.S. soldiers who died as a result of injury or disease during the Civil War were eligible for burial in a national cemetery. But that year, eligibility was extended to honorably discharged veterans who served during the war, making more space necessary. In 1884, 15 additional acres were purchased. Today, the cemetery’s 18 acres contain not only veterans of the Civil War but those of the Vietnam and Korean Wars, as well as the American Revolution and Spanish-American War. Cypress Hills National Cemetery has long been closed to new interments but a...

At the 1972 funeral of Jackie Robinson, 2,500 people packed Riverside Church in New York City. New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, NY City Mayor John Lindsay, Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins were just a few of the dignitaries to join family and friends in saying good-bye to the baseball legend. Rev. Jesse Jackson told the 2,500 strong throng that “The body corrodes and fades away, but the deeds live on.” Indeed, the legacy of Robinson, the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball, has never left us. The Georgia-born Robinson was a member of the Negro League when he was recruited by Dodgers VP, Branch Rickey, to help integrate the game of baseball. After playing a few seasons for the Dodgers farm team, Robinson made history on April 15, 1947, when he played his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers in Ebbets Field. That same year he was named the National League Rookie of the Year and, in 1949, he was its MVP. With Robinson ...

 This life-like statue of seven year old Helen Kennedy can be found in Brooklyn's Evergreen Cemetery. I searched, but could find no information about the child or her family. This monument is reminiscent of the many poignant memorials to children that can be found in cemeteries all over the world.

Henry Steinway, born Steinweg, emigrated from Germany to New York with his wife and four sons. He initially worked for various piano makers in the city before starting his own piano manufacturing company, Steinway & Sons, in 1853. Steinway's concert pianos quickly earned a reputation for their exceptional quality and craftsmanship. In 1870, a year before he died, Steinway moved his business to Queens, purchasing land in Astoria. The company still operates from Queens, and the area's main thoroughfare --Steinway Street--  is named in his honor.  Shortly after Steinway's death, his family constructed a grand mausoleum in Green-Wood Cemetery. It is the largest private mausoleum in the cemetery, and can accommodate up to 128 entombments. The granite structure reportedly cost $80,000 to build. .

Often referred to as "The Father of Green-Wood," it was Henry Evelyn Pierrepont's vision and planning that made Green-Wood happen. Pierrepont's Gothic-Revival, open-air mausoleum was designed by famed architect Richard Upjohn.

One of the most special places in Brooklyn is Green-Wood Cemetery. Twenty years ago, I saw it for the first time and thought it was the most magnificent cemetery I'd ever seen. And I had seen a lot of cemeteries in my career as a funeral director. Of course, back then, there was no way of knowing that twenty years later, in 2008, I would do a book about the place. But that's just what I did. After years of profiling noted cemeteries and famous funerals, as a freelance writer, I got the opportunity to delve into the history of the most famous cemetery in America. I knew many of Green-Wood's famous residents when I began the project. Still, as I continued to research by traversing the grounds and reading all I could about the place and its history, it became a question of winnowing down subjects to include in the book. If I were to do a  Green-Wood Cemetery  Part II, III, IV & V, I could not possibly include all the stories Green-Wood has to tell. I want to share some of ...