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

  Near the edge of Green -Wood Cemetery, a sculpture of a beautiful woman –Rose Guarino--reclining across stone steps stops visitors in their tracks. Open-eyed, with lips parted and long hair flowing, she is dressed in a flowing gown, and wearing sandals. She clutches a bouquet in her hands. For generations, Brooklyn locals have believed that the monument commemorates a mafia bride gunned down on her wedding day in a revenge killing. The true story behind the statue does involve a murder and is just as tragic.  In the summer of 1909, Dominica Merello and her daughter, Rose Guarino, were dining with family members on the lawn of their NJ summer home when Pietro Silverio, an irate domestic employee, rushed the women, gun in hand, to exact revenge for losing his job. As the women attempted to flee, Silverio gave chase and shot Guarino in the back.   She died three days later. Guarino's body was held for two years in the cemetery's receiving vault while the monument w...

The weather today was superb for a cemetery walk, With fall colors illuminated by bright sun, I enjoyed visiting some previously photographed sites, to offer a new perspective.  In the mid-19th century, successful tobacco merchant, John Anderson, was one of the suspects in the murder of his employee, Mary Cecilia Rogers. And even though he was never convicted of the murder, his arrest derailed his ambition to become mayor of New York City. Anderson died in France, and was entombed in this grand mausoleum high upon a hill in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery.

These books will help make any cemetery tour extra-special. Click on  My Favorite Cemetery Travel Books  to read my latest article.

Last night, I attended  a most unique event at Green-Wood Cemetery with my friend & fellow funeral director, Doris Amen. It was a two mile stroll through the grounds, after dark, on a perfect fall evening . Along the way, we encountered performance artists stationed in and around some of Green-Wood’s many notable mausoleums and monuments. Food stations, too, were available . Our ties to Green-Wood run deep. Doris is the cemetery’s “go to” funeral director, having handled the funerals of the cemetery president’s family, as well as many of the staff’s loved ones. While I, enamored with the grounds from my very first visit as a funeral director, wrote a  book  about the place. During the researching and writing process, I traversed the grounds countless times. Still, seeing it at night is something extra-special. Even in the dark, we discovered new sites and saw others in a different light. Highlights were the Currier (of Currier & Ives) monument lit up in pink, and ...

  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.

Composer and conductor extraordinaire, Marvin Hamlisch, wrote the award-winning  What I Did For Love for the musical  "A Chorus Line."  It is a fitting inscription on Hamlisch's memorial in Mt. Zion Cemetery.  His funeral in Manhattan's Temple Emanu-El was a  glorious celebration of  his myriad contributions to the entertainment world.

Among the 50,000 + people buried in Mt. Ararat in Lindenhurst, New York, are some of Long Island’s most recognizable names. Foremost among them is Fortunoff. In 1922, Max and Clara Fortunoff began the popular retail store in Brooklyn moving   to Westbury in 1964. What became a shopping mecca for Long Islanders closed in 2009. Max Fortunoff died in 1987, at the age of 89. He is buried with his wife, Clara, daughter Marjorie Mayrock, who preceded him in death, and a number of other family members. The Fotunoff/Mayrock plot is located under a towering oak tree, on a shady corner, at the far end of the cemetery. His footstone reads: He Lived the American Dream .

This cast iron bear marks the grave of artist William Holbrook Beard who was known for his depiction of human-like animals. Bears were particular favorites of his. His work can be seen in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the New-York Historical Society, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of his most famous paintings was "Bulls and Bears in the Market in 1879. The work was a satirical rendition of the behavior of investors.  Beard was buried in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery in 1900. But f or more than a hundred years, Beard's burial site remained unmarked. However, the cemetery decided to intervene and contacted Alexander Acevedo, a NYC art gallery owner who had previously exhibited Beard's work., To raise funds for a memorial, Acevedo appealed to donors, and Colorado sculptor Dan Ostermiller responded with a sculpture of a bear sitting on a headstone.

Finally got the chance to tour two of Washington DC's standout cemeteries: Oak Hill and Congressional. So many monuments caught my attention, some for the notable person buried below, some for the architecture, and others for the inscription. This one, with its powerful and poignant message, is a case in point.

Little has been written about Long Island's many historically rich cemeteries. So, I was most pleased to write about ten of them for Newsday . My story is the cover for today's Long Island Life section. The history of us: Tombstone tourism connects visitors to Long Island's past

I've long admired the work of journalist Lisa Colangelo, so I was thrilled  to give her a tour of these two fabulous Queens cemeteries. Explore the secrets and hidden history of Queens' Calvary and Saint John cemeteries  Alexandra Mosca, author and funeral director, takes amNewYork on a tour of the sprawling cemeteries. Explore the secrets and hidden history of Queens' Calvary and Saint John cemeteries Alexandra Mosca, author and funeral director, takes amNewYork on a tour of the sprawling cemeteries.

I am always looking for a new angle from which to photograph Green-Wood's John Matthews (Soda Fountain King) monument. Here's my latest effort.

Born in Warsaw, Poland, to a Jewish family, Anna Held often headlined the Folies-Bergere. Later, Held claimed Paris as her birthplace, shaved a few years off her age, and converted to Catholicism upon marrying a Uruguayan playboy, Maximo Carrera. With Carrera, Held had a daughter named Liane. In 1896, Held met Florenz Ziegfeld when he hired her to be in one of his productions.     By 1897, the two were in love despite being unable to marry legally (her first husband would not grant her a divorce). However, after seven years, they were considered husband and wife by New York’s common law. It was Held who inspired the ‘Ziegfeld Follies.’ Sadly, Held died at the age of 46 in 1918 from multiple myeloma, a rare disease at the time.  Her funeral was held at Campbell’s in NYC and was well attended by stars of the era, except for Ziegfeld, who disliked funerals. Held’s “Empire-Style” burial site boasts a stone arch and two benches. It was purchased for her by actr...

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 majestic monument marks the grave of  Major General Robert Patterson, who fought in both the Mexican-American War and the Civil War.

Based on Michelangelo's Lorenzo de Medici, this sculpture is part of the Sayles family lot in Rhode Island's Swan Point Cemetery.

The palatial mausoleum of hoteliers Harry and Leona Helmsley commands a picturesque view in New York's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and is o ne of the most recognized mausoleums in the cemetery. In the center of the building, on top of the inlaid marble floor, two crypts contain the bodies of the Helmsleys. Harry's tomb is inscribed with the following words: Harry (1997): "I wait for the time we can soar together again, both aware of each other. - Harry." On the other hand, Leona's tomb reads, "I never knew a day I did not love you." Leona reads, "I never knew a day I did not love you.-Three identical stained-glass windows depicting the Manhattan skyline adorn the 1,300-square-foot structure on almost an acre of land.  The Helmsleys were originally to be entombed in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, where Leona commissioned a mausoleum upon Harry's death. But when a community mausoleum was being constructed nearby, threatening to obstruct the views...

This graceful monument in Cypress Hills Cemetery marks the grave of Dr. Henry Small --a 19th Century physician and his wife, Araminta.