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

A relatively new addition (2006) to Green-Wood is the Tranquility Garden area which contains over 8,000 niches for cremated remains. Cozy rooms offer seating arrangements where one can reflect. A friend of mine told me he could "sit there for hours". Outside, a large koi pond filled with beautiful fish, calms the senses. This entire area makes one think of cremation in an entirely different way.

This majestic mausoleum houses the remains of Charles Feltman, credited with "inventing" the hot dog. In 1871, Feltman opened the Feltman Restaurant and Beer Garden in Coney Island. His establishment proved hugely popular, and on one day alone, Feltman's was said to have served 40,000 hot dogs. Not only did Feltman know how to feed a hungry crowd, he also had an eye for picking staff, employing Jimmy Durante and Eddie Cantor as a pianist and singing waiter pair; two men who would go on to achieve their own celebrity. But the most famous alumni of Feltman's, hands down, was Nathan Handwerker, who worked as a roll-cutter and delivery boy. Handwerker went on to open a little hot dog place of his own in Coney Island: Nathan's.

One of my favorite places to visit at Green-Wood is the spectacular Mackay family mausoleum. This architectural marvel  boasts heat, electricity, and an altar inside.  The  story of the Mackay family is as dramatic as a popular 80s TV soap like Dallas or Dynasty.  John Forsyth could easily play Patriarch John W. Mackay, who made his fortune in mining.  It was after the sudden death of his son, John Jr., in 1895 that Mackay had this mausoleum built.  Three years later, when Mackay's younger son, Clarence, married, his parents gifted him a Stanford White estate, Harbor Hill, on Long Island's "Gold Coast."  Mackay's daughter, Ellin, went against her father's wishes and married world-renowned composer Irving Berlin.

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 ...