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

This arbor of trees --located near the Civil War Soldiers' Monument-- --where the delicate and ephemeral cherry blossoms make a brief appearance, is one of my favorite spring sites.

The bronze-reliefs on the tomb of steel magnate David Stewart were created by famed architect Stanford White and preeminent sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Together, the pair also created a number of other noted works: The Farragut Monument in Madison Square Garden (their first collaboration); the Peter Cooper Monument for Cooper Union; The Puritan in Springfield, Mass.and Chicago’s General John Logan Monument .

This monument is to the DeFeo family, who were all murdered in their Amityville, LI home in November of 1974. Ronald DeFeo Sr., his wife Louise, and four of their children were shot to death by their eldest son, Ronald Jr., who blamed the murder on a mafia hitman. He was found guilty at trial and is serving a life sentence. This sensational case spawned a number of books, including the Amityville Horror, a book based on the Lutz family's account of the brief (less than a month) period they lived in the house, a year later. George and Kathy Lutz claimed they had been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while residing in the house. To this day, the house at 112 Ocean Ave. remains an object of curiosity.

The Guggenheim name is widely known in America  for their philanthropic contributions. In the 19 th century, the family patriarch, Meyer, amassed his fortune from mining and smelting.  His business acumen and charitable nature were inherited by his large family, who also made names for themselves during their lifetimes. The Guggenheim family's good deeds and repuation continue to live on.  Many members of the family are are entombed in Salem Fields Cemetery , an historic Jewish cemetery that is located on the border between Brooklyn and Queens. Their octagonal-shaped mausoleum, which is the largest in the cemetery, was built in 1899 by American architect Henry Beaumont Herts, and cost over $100,000. The white marble structure was modeled after the Tower of the Winds in Athens in the Italian neoclassical style. Barbara Myers Guggenheim, the wife of family patriarch Meyer, was the first to be entombed there after her sudden death in 1890. Meyer’s grand-nephew, Harry G...

This G othic Revival mausoleum was built for Edwin W. Marsh in 1890. At the time, Marsh was the most successful retail dry goods merchant in Atlanta. Constructed of sandstone, the building sports a spire, buttresses, cusped arches and polished granite shafts. The prominent bronze urn was made by Gorham Manufacturing, the first US foundry. One of 55 mausoleums in Oakland Cemetery, the Marsh mausoleum is currently undergoing restoration.

Replete with photos, this recent article highlights 10 popular US cemeteries. Cemeteries of the Rich, Famous and Notorious.

Green-Wood Cemetery will once again participate in openhousenewyork. As they did last year, the cemetery will be opening several noted mausoleums to the public. For more details, click on the link below. This Weekend at Green-Wood Cemetery

In 1920, a parcel of land in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, was gifted by Cardinal Hayes to the Catholic Actors Guild. But, it was not until 1937 that a monument was erected at the site. The 10 foot high and 8 feet wide monument bears the names of the performers, as well as a line from Hamlet: Flights of Angels Sing Thee to Thy Rest. Gene Buck -- president of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers-- presided over the November, 1937, dedication, telling the crowd that “They made life richer for a million people.” Over time, the guild purchased additional land and to date more than 200 of its members have been buried here.

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.

Grosvenor Atterbury is one of several prominent architects --along with James Fenwick and Richard Upjohn--buried in Green-Wood Cemetery. While during the course of his long career Atterbury was responsible for the design of many prominent structures, he is most remembered for designing the stately Tudor and Colonial style homes which comprise the exclusive enclave known as Forest Hills Gardens. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (son of the co-designer of Central Park and Prospect Park) was the landscape architect on this 1908 project of one of America’s oldest planned communities. Residents have included Jimmy Breslin, Geraldine Ferraro, Branch Rickey (the baseball executive who signed Jackie Robinson) and CSI actor David Caruso. Atterbury died in 1956 at the age of 87 in Southampton Hospital. He is buried beneath a simple stone --which notes that he was an inventor architect--in a shady and secluded family plot. His father was a lawyer who became the general counsel for the Erie R...

Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist who became famous for his ragtime compositions.Over the course of his career, Joplin composed more than forty ragtime pieces. The Maple Leaf Rag, which was one of his earliest compositions, is considered to be the most prominent work of the ragtime genre. Joplin died at age 49 and was buried in St. Michael's Cemetery in East Elmhurst, NY, on April 5, 1917. However, more than 50 years later, his music experienced a resurgence in popularity after the release of the movie "The Sting" in 1973. The film, which won several Academy Awards, featured a number of Joplin's compositions, including "The Entertainer," which was adapted by Marvin Hamlisch for the movie. The film's success and music helped introduce Joplin's work to a new generation of fans. For the past few years, St. Michael's Cemetery has been hosting an annual Scott Joplin Memorial Concert. This year's concert date is Satur...

Florence Scannell was a New York City Councilman and opponent of Tammany Hall politics. In December of 1869, he was shot in a barroom brawl by Thomas Donahue, a day before being elected Alderman, a position he never assumed. From the time of the shooting until he died on July 10, 1870, Scanell lay “hovering on the edge of life.” At Scannell’s funeral mass, which took place at St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan, Rev. Father Henry told the congregants that they should not mourn for his departure, for there was reason to believe he was now “in a better world.” At the conclusion of the religious service, Scannell’s wood casket was opened and several hundred mourners passed by to say a final goodbye. The casket was then loaded onto a funeral coach, borne by six gray horses, for the ride to Calvary Cemetery in Queens. This exquisite statue, which marks Scannell’s grave was dedicated by his brother, John J. Scannell, as is noted on the stone. Several months after his broth...

Johnny Torrio, who was once considered to be America's top public enemy, died in 1957. However, his death went largely unnoticed by the media and the public. Torrio suffered a heart attack while sitting in a barber's chair on April 15th and later died in Brooklyn's now-defunct Cumberland Hospital.   It wasn't until three weeks after his death that a small news item was published in the New York Times, referring to Torrio as "the man who put Al Capone in business." Later that year, Albert Anastasia, a rival mobster, was also killed while getting a shave in a barber's chair.

When I’m in a cemetery --be it for work or leisure --a monument or mausoleum will catch my eye and I’ll want to learn more about the story behind the family name. Such was the case with the Charles Engert mausoleum in St. John Cemetery. I’ve seen this mausoleum numerous times as it is prominently located across the road from Charles Lucania, and on the way to the Cloister. This week, I stopped to really look. From the look of the structure I felt fairly certain that the family was prominent and one of means. These assumptions were borne out, along with the tragedy which prompted the construction of this mausoleum. Here’s what I learned: Charles Engert was a Brooklyn-born builder and realtor. Prosperous and well-known, he was a founding member of the Hanover Club. In April of 1899, his only child,16 year old daughter M.J. Henrietta (known as Hattie) died at her school-- Mt. St. Vincent Academy on the Hudson --from spinal meningitis. Hattie had recently returned to school after Easter ...

The Wagner name was well-known in New York politics. Three generations of Wagner men –-all named Robert Ferdinand--served the state and city. The family patriarch, Robert F. Wagner, Sr., served as U.S. Senator from 1927 to 1949. He died in 1953. Wagner’s son, Robert F. Wagner, Jr., was New York City’s 102nd mayor and one of the city’s most popular. Elected to three terms –his tenure was from 1954 to 1965---as mayor, the Yale graduate previously served as Manhattan’s Borough President before winning the mayoral race at 43.  Wagner died at the age of 80, on February 12, 1991, from bladder cancer. His funeral took place four days later. At St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 700 mourners, including Governor Mario Cuomo, Mayor David Dinkins, and former Mayors Lindsay and Koch, listened to a sermon by Cardinal O’Connor. Opera singer Robert Merrill serenaded the congregation with his rendition of Ave Maria, and Wagner’s son, Robert F. Wagner III, gave a eulogy. In it, he shared with the audience so...

The Johnston family mausoleum in Calvary Cemetery is not to be missed. In fact, one would be hard pressed to do so as the structure is massive and prominently situated. Fans of The Godfather may recall seeing it in the funeral scene of Don Corleone. In the 19th Century, the Johnston brothers --John, Charles & Robert – were the proprietors of the J & C Johnston Dry Goods Store on Broadway in Manhattan. An 1874 article in the New York Times, entitled ‘The Christmas Holidays: At The Dry-Goods Store’ encapsulated the various offerings from NYC merchants. The entry for the J & C Johnston Co. noted that it had “…one of the most extensive silk departments in the city.”

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,...

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...

I’ve posted about Harry Houdini (aka Ehrich Weiss) before, but with a new development –-and new photographs--here’s another tribute to the famed magician on the 85th anniversary of his death. On October 31, 1926, Harry Houdini died in a Detroit hospital from peritonitis, following two surgeries for a burst appendix. He was 52 years old. Houdini’s body was placed in a bronze casket the magician had had specially constructed  for one of his acts and –-it was said --for his eventual burial. Curiously, after Houdini’s last show in Detroit close, his equipment was all shipped back East except for the casket. On November 3rd, Mrs. Beatrice Houdini and three of the magician’s siblings accompanied his body on the train to NYC. There it was met at Grand Central Station by a large group of friends and relatives before being taken to the West End Funeral Chapel. At 10:30 AM, the next morning, Houdini’s religious service took place at the Elks Club in Manhattan. Two Rabbi’s officiated and ...