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

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.

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.

This tableau, blanketed by freshly fallen snow, is in honor of Good Friday and the promise of spring.

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 ...

Leaving St. John Cemetery yesterday, after a funeral, I took a quick shot of this imposing mausoleum. The photo shows no indication of the rainy and gloomy day it was. I’d seen this mausoleum before and decided to research the Eppig family. Turns out, Leonhard Eppig was a Brooklyn brewer who founded Leonhard Eppig's Germania Brewery in Bushwick, Brooklyn in 1866. He was also a major benefactor to the Catholic Church. In fact, because of this, two Brooklyn Churches --both of which served the German Catholic immigrants-- St. Barbara and St. Leonard, were said to be named for Eppig’s children. St. Leonard was founded in 1871 and, in 1884, Franz Leonard, its namesake, was married there. The church closed in 1978 and in 2001 the building was demolished. St. Barbara, built in 1910, was designed by the architectural firm of Helme and Huberty, the firm also responsible for the Central Park boathouse and the Greenpoint Savings Bank, and still serves the community today. According to the B...

Joseph Profaci was characterized as “one of the most powerful underworld figures in the United States” by Robert F. Kennedy during his tenure as US Attorney General. Born in Palermo, Profaci was the first boss of the crime family, which initially bore his name-ruling from 1931 to 1962- and later became the Colombo family. During Profaci’s reign, he was arrested several times, but unlike many of his cohorts, he never served time in an American prison. Often referred to as the “olive oil king,” Profaci ran the Mama Mia Importing Company, a leading olive oil and tomato paste importer. Profaci died from liver cancer in 1962 at the age of 64 and is buried in St. John Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens, among a plethora of well-known organized crime figures. Said to be the most devout Catholic of Mafia leaders, Profaci had an altar constructed in his home. His private mausoleum references his religious beliefs as well: A figure of Jesus, with arms outstretched, adorns the door, while a scu...