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

Infamous 1930s crime lord Dutch Schultz is buried beneath a bench-like monument --which bears his birth name, Arthur Flegenheimer—in Hawthorne, New York’s Gate of Heaven Cemetery. Schultz, who was murdered in 1935 by rival gangsters, was a convert to Catholicism. As Schultz lay dying from gunshot wounds in a New Jersey hospital, he was baptized by Father Cornelius McInerney, a Catholic priest who had befriended the gangster while he was serving prison time. That Schultz’s body was taken to Coughlin’s Undertaking parlor in Manhattan remained a closely guarded secret. The morning of his funeral, a throng of people gathered outside the funeral home, along with reporters, to witness Schultz’s body being carried out in its casket. Unbeknown to them, his wood casket had been whisked away in the early morning hours for a leisurely ride to the cemetery. At the graveside --near that of former cohort Larry Fay, also gunned down-- Father McInerney performed a short Catholic service for the five ...

  Stephen Whitney was the second richest man in the world when he died, second only to Jacob Astor.  Whitney amassed his fortune as a merchant cotton speculator—and real estate investor. Though known for his frugality, he is reported to have left behind more than $12 million, more than enough to have Whitney Chapel, as his octagonal mausoleum is known, built in his memory. The mausoleum is situated atop Ocean Hill and resembles a stone cottage. It is surrounded by tall trees, which keep the area shaded and give it a woodsy feel. It has thick steel doors that give way to Whitney’s name engraved in large letters in the arch over the door. The roof is steep, and at the top is a cross. Of particular interest are the lancet windows -- a specific style of construction, also known as Lancet Gothic; the most distinguishing characteristic of the lancet window is the pointed arch. These particular arches are also found in an arcade area of Westminster Abbey in London. Inside t...

 In 1902, C. Augustus Haviland wrote a book of poems called "A Lawyer's Idle Hours" and published it under the name Frank Myrtle. One of the poems in the book, titled "Colloquy On Death," is inscribed on a bronze plaque that can be found on the front of the Haviland monument in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. Another poem by Haviland, called "Reveries at Four Score," was written ten years later and is inscribed on the back of the memorial.

 The Kampfe brothers --Frederick, Richard, and Otto-- credited with creating the safety razor in their New York City shop, are entombed in a domelike mausoleum with a ball on top in a prominent location, the modern Hillside Mausoleum. They began marketing the product, known as the Star safety razor, in 1875, applying for a patent in 1880. The metal door bears a bronze bas-relief sculpture of a robed woman bearing a lit oil lamp, presumably to light her way to the hereafter. The mausoleum contains eight crypts (niches), one of which holds the remains of three children. At the rear is a stained glass window that depicts an angel and a robed woman. An altar, upon which is an empty vase, is beneath the window.