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

Some of my best cemetery finds have come my way through pure serendipity. Walking through a cemetery can be a solemn and, at times, an eerie experience. The silence, the weathered tombstones, and the weight of history all cast a mysterious cloak over the atmosphere. Yet, amidst the somber surroundings, there are occasions when serendipity sweeps in to unearth unexpected stories that lie quietly beneath the gravestones. Cemeteries are not solely the resting place of the departed: they are also a testament to the lives lived, the triumphs and struggles woven into the fabric of humanity. Each tombstone tells a unique tale, often with fragments of personal narratives that time has erased. But sometimes, amid the rows of weathered memorials, a serendipitous find sheds light on forgotten stories, connecting us to the past in ways we never imagined. One might stumble upon a gravestone adorned with flowers, meticulously maintained despite the passage of time. Curiosity piqued, we learn that a ...

  Born in Lee, Massachusetts, Thomas Clark Durant attended Albany Medical School, earned a degree and, for a time, taught surgery. However, after becoming aware of the need for better transportation, he became involved in the railroad industry. When he became involved in a lawsuit about a bridge, he hired a young lawyer named Abraham Lincoln to defend him. This connection paid off when Lincoln became president and, in 1862, gave Durant’s company, the Union Pacific, a big part of building the Transcontinental Railroad. Although construction faced delays due to the Civil War, Durant took advantage of the situation by secretly bringing in cotton from the Confederate States to make money. After the war, railroad construction resumed, and Durant organized publicity stunts to draw attention and investors. A memorable moment was when he swung the sledgehammer to drive the Golden Spike into the ground in Promontory, Utah, completing the Transcontinental Railway. Durant died in 1885, but th...

  Director Max Reinhardt, entombed in Westchester Hills Cemetery's older community mausoleum near the front of the cemetery, had a deeply personal connection to The Sound of Music. His legacy is not only marked by the founding of the Salzburg Music Festival but also by his inspiration for the character, Max Detweiler. After his passing, his son, Wolfgang, continued this connection by acquiring the film rights from Maria Von Trapp. In Salzburg, his former home, Schloss Leopoldskron, was used for some exterior scenes in the movie and is now a boutique hotel with three Sound of Music-themed suites.

  Cemeteries can be great resources for genealogical research. Here are some tips to get you started,

This month, Kates-Boylston Publications generously offers non-subscribers complimentary digital access American Cemetery & Cremation magazine. It's a great opportunity to see the photos and read the great stories about cemeteries around the country. Long before I began writing for them I was a subscriber, and I truly believe this is a magazine for anyone who cares about the beauty, tranquility, architecture and history to be found in cemeteries. This issue features my article on cemetery bloggers (of which I am one) and the reasons we chronicle the sometimes arcane stories of those who have gone before us. The Eppig mausoleum (pictured above) is one of them. For the article, I interviewed Ed Snyder, who began his popular blog, The Cemetery Traveler, more than a dozen years ago, and Chantal Larochelle, whose blog features Canadian cemetery stories. In a sidebar, I've included a few more of my favorite blogs. Here's the link: Cemetery Bloggers Blending History and Reveren...

  In 1817, brothers James and John Harper founded J. & J. Harper in New York. They were later joined by their younger brothers Wesley and Fletcher, and the company was renamed Harper & Brothers. It became the leading book publisher in the United States during most of the 19th century. Harper & Brothers played a major role in the early industrialization of book publishing. In the 1850s, they shaped American culture by creating and distributing Harper's New Monthly Magazine and Harper's Weekly. The company had its most significant influence during the three decades following the Civil War. Harper textbooks educated students, Harper trade books were found on family shelves, and Harper periodicals illustrated current affairs and guided national thought. However, as the literary marketplace evolved, Harper was increasingly viewed an old-fashioned "family" publisher by the century's end. This compelled its corporate reorganization. In 1962, Harper & Brot...

  The recently installed monument in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery marks the grave of legendary journalist Pete Hamill. A passage from his 2003 book 'Forever' is inscribed on the back. In 2011, Hamill was awarded the DeWitt Clinton Award for Excellence by The Green-Wood Historic Fund at its annual gala. That evening, he spoke of growing up in Brooklyn, and his earliest visits to Green-Wood.    On what would have been Hamill's 86th birthday--June 24, 2021--Pete Hamill in Park Slope Brooklyn was dedicated. You can read a lively account of that day here: The Pete Hamill Way

  After completing a book --  The Truth About Chickamauga -- which chronicles one of the  bloodiest battles of the Civil War, and in which his father, a Brigadier General, fought,  Archibald Gracie IV rewarded himself with a trip to Europe, booking his return passage on the RMS Titanic. Awakened by  “a sudden shock and noise forward on the starboard side"   just before midnight on April 14, 1912, Gracie learned that the Titanic had struck an iceberg. In the time between the collision and its sinking, Gracie helped the crew load lifeboats and made sure that a number of women traveling alone got spaces on them. Pulled beneath the water, Gracie  surfaced and spotted a lifeboat, which he managed to reach, helping several other men onto the safety of the lifeboat.  After the tragedy, Gracie began work on a book about the sinking of the Titanic. However, eight months later he became the first adult survivor to die from health issues brought about by h...

  This monument is a replica of the Trylon and Perisphere structures that served as a centerpiece of the 1939 World's Fair. Images of it were used on a wide variety of promotional materials and, in 1939, it was depicted on a United States postage stamp (swipe to see). Buried here is Reverend Dr. M. Moran Weston II, a civil rights activist and graduate of Columbia University (one of the first African Americans to do so). In addition to his work as a minister, Dr. Moran founded the Carver Federal Savings Bank, and served as a real estate developer so that he could provide opportunities such as equal education and affordable housing to African American communities. Dr. Weston died in 2002, at the age of 91.

Passed this sepulchral photograph on a visit to St, Michael cemetery, in Queens. Such a beautiful face.  Enameling, was a popular memorialization practice in which images of a deceased were transferred and affixed onto ceramic or porcelain and then attached to a gravestone.  A walk through older sections of cemeteries will likely yield a number of enameled portraits, some formally posed and others more candid. Many of the men are depicted wearing suits while the women often sported hats (as above).

  Lionel Burnett was the son of writer Frances Hodgson Burnett. He served as the model for the title character in her most famous children's book Little, Lord Fauntleroy, published in 1885. He is buried in Roslyn Cemetery, on Long Island, close to the grave of his mother. There's more about the cemetery in My Cemetery Travels.

  "A Pocket of Peace," a profile of Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, in Westchester, New York, is the cover story for November's American Cemetery & Cremation magazine.  It was a delight to learn more about this very special place, and to see the outpouring of love at every turn.

  The graves of the Prentiss brothers lie side by side in the shadow of the Historic Chapel near tranquil Valley Water. During the Civil War, the brothers from Maryland fought on separate sides. Both were mortally wounded in the same attack. The storied poet Walt Whitman ministered to both brothers and later wrote about them. In 2008, new gravestones, courtesy of the Veterans Administration, were unveiled in front of the Prentiss brother's illegible 19th-century marble gravestones.

  Sandy was the beloved pet dog of a Bronx real estate developer. For her eternal resting place, he decided to have a small replica of his family mausoleum built in Hartsdale Pet Cemetery. Constructed of Barre granite, it sports a bronze door with a handle in the shape of an S. The developer has been quoted as saying that he "wanted to give her a last special gift."

This exquisite statue in St. John Cemetery is o ne of my perennial favorites. I've photographed this monument in every season, year after year.

  In August, I was given a tour of All Saints Cemetery, on Long Island in preparation for an article I was working on. It was a real thrill for me, as a writer -- and taphophile -- to be shown the grave of William Zinsser, the author of "On Writing Well." Such an unexpected name in an unexpected place. I've included the cemetery & his name, along with my latest article --Windows into Long Island's Past -- for American Cemetery & Cremation magazine.

  Alvah Davison was president of the Davison Publishing Company, a firm which published textile blue books. A Brooklyn resident, he was a regular contributor to various charities. Crafted by Valhalla's renowned Presbrey-Leland monument company, Davison's memorial contains a center sarcophagus with room for two entombments. Surrounded by circular colonnades, in the Greek Doric style, the structure's base is supported by three steps.

 Green-Wood Cemetery continues to be a treasure trove for story ideas. My latest is in this month's American Cemetery & Cremation magazine. Even though all four of the monuments featured in the article appear in my cemetery books, I've since learned even more about them, and their back stories. 

Way back when, the first significant monument I was introduced to at Green-Wood was the "bride." So significant was this that I noted it in my first book Grave Undertakings.  Naturally, I included this monument in my second book, Green-Wood Cemetery. Since that time, I've learned more about the sad backstory behind the striking statuary. The young woman was indeed a bride who died from a cerebral hemorrhage on her honeymoon, just days after her wedding. The statue was commissioned by her father, who wanted the memorial to be a carbon copy of how his daughter looked on her wedding day. The artisans worked from photographs from the famed Marcy studios. For two years, the statue was a work in progress; sketches were done before it was sent to Italy to be carved. Here is one of the early sketches.

The grave of Leonard Bernstein is one of the most visited in Green-Wood Cemetery.