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

On July 17, 1996, Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800 took off from JFK International Airport for Rome. Within minutes, there was an explosion on board and the Boeing crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, Long Island. All 230 passengers were killed, making it the third-deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history. initial speculation was that the crash may have been the result of a terrorist attack. Investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the FBI, and the Police Department's Joint Terrorism Task Force ensued. After 16 months, the investigation was concluded with no evidence of criminality.

  In the 19th century, Aaron Arnold partnered with James Constable, his son-in-law, to open Arnold Constable & Co. The department store soon became a mecca for America’s elite, counting Mary Todd Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt among its clientele. Their promise to offer shoppers “everything from cradle to grave,” was especially true during the Civil War when the store did a brisker than usual business in mourning clothes. Aaron Arnold and James Constable, are buried among other family members in underground vaults beneath a unique gazebo-like monument at the intersection of Atlantic and Elm avenues. One of the earliest lots sold after the cemetery opened, the property is mentioned in cemetery historian, Nehemiah Cleaveland's 1849's booklet Green-Wood: A Directory for Visitors. . Arnold, Constable & Co. closed in 1975. James M. Constable Dead

  My article 'Westchester in Repose' is the cover story for July's American Cemetery & Cremation' magazine. Stories and photos from Gate of Heaven, Ferncliff, Kensico, Sleepy Hollow, and more, are featured.  The memorial that graces the cover commemorates the life of 27-year-old Marc Antony Zambetti, who tragically lost his life while on a business trip for Stella D'Oro, his family's company.

  Rising star Aaliyah, affectionately known as "Baby Girl" tragically died in a small plane crash, in 2001, at the age of 22. The popular singer had just finished filming of a music video in the Bahamas. She is entombed beneath her father, Michael, in a private alcove in Ferncliff Cemetery's Rosewood Mausoleum . Hers is one of the stories in my article --Westchester in Repose-- in July's 'American Cemetery & Cremation' magazine.

  The Van Ness Parsons pyramid-shaped monument, in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, is a most fitting final resting place for amateur Egyptologist Albert Ross Parsons. It is also a perennial  favorite of mine to photograph. Here is how it looked on a recent spring day.  From the late 19th century, into the early 20th century, Egyptian Revival was a popular style in memorialization. The Van Ness Parsons mausoleum is one of the finest examples, with its mix of Egyptian, Christian, and mystical symbolism.

  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).

  Sometimes some of the most interesting finds are right in your own backyard. Such was the case when I recently went exploring in Roslyn Cemetery, one of my local cemeteries. It's been a while since I visited, and I saw some new monuments and revisited some older ones.  While the cemetery is small in size, it is filled with history. So much so, that it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the final resting place of William Cullen Bryant, Christopher Morley,  Bessie Abott and Thomas Watson Story, and Frances Hodgson Burnett, and her son Lionel.  The grounds are diverse with --often unique -- memorials to those of many cultures, including Russian, Iranian, and Asian Indians.  Thomas Waldo Story followed in the footsteps of his father William Wetmore Story, finding success as a sculptor. He was married to opera singer,  Bessie Abbott. Poet William Cullen Bryant is buried beneath an obelisk with his wife, Fanny.