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

On July 22, 2003 -- a day that both NY’s Governor and NYC’s Mayor declared “Celia Cruz” day – the Queen of Salsa joined other music greats-- Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan--in eternal slumber in Woodlawn Cemetery. Celia Cruz’s mausoleum in the venerable Bronx cemetery took a year to complete. It is open and airy with two-foot windows on either side, as it was Cruz’s wish that even in death she would be accessible to her multitude of fans. Visible on a shelf inside the structure are photos and mementoes of the joyous life she lived.

Hattie McDaniel not only achieved immortality by playing Mammy in Gone With The Wind but also won an Academy Award for her role, becoming the first African American actor to do so. When she died in 1952, she was denied her wish to be buried in California’s Hollywood Memorial Park because of the cemetery’s “whites only” policy. Instead, she was buried in LA’s Rosedale Cemetery. After Tyler Cassity took over Hollywood Memorial Park in 1998—renaming it Hollywood Forever—he offered to have McDaniel’s remains disinterred from Rosedale and reburied. McDaniel’s family did not want her remains disturbed, so instead, Cassity had a four-foot pink and gray granite cenotaph erected in her honor. The cenotaph was unveiled to the public on October 26, 1999, the 47th anniversary of McDaniel's death, in a dedication ceremony to which the public was invited.

The mausoleum of the Genovese family crime boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano bears his true family name of Lucania. There is a nearby mausoleum with the name of Luciano, which some people, erroneously, is his actual resting place.

Real estate developer Samuel J. LeFrak headed the company that bore his name. For four decades, the company created more than 100,000 homes and apartments throughout Brooklyn and Queens, including Corona’s LeFrak City. Built between 1960 and1969, LeFrak City   -- situated on 40 acres that once belonged to Pres. Martin Van Buren and subsequently to the Astor family--is seen as LeFrak’s signature project. LeFrak died in April of 2003 and is buried in Mt. Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, a stone’s throw away from his crowning achievement.

Harry Houdini (born Ehrich Weiss) died on Halloween in 1926 at the age of 52. His funeral took place several days later at Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, NY. It was Houdini’s wish that he be buried at the right side of his mother and that her letters to him be placed in his casket. On the first anniversary of his death, his widow, Beth Rahner, held a séance as per a pact the couple had made that Houdini would try to make contact from the afterlife. After ten years with no contact, Rahner held her last séance and was said to quip, “Ten years is long enough to wait for any man.”   Despite a footstone that bears her name at the Weiss family plot in Machpelah, Rahner is buried in Gate of Heaven cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.  

  Margaret Mitchell Marsh, the author of Gone With The Wind, is buried in Atlanta's historic Oakland Cemetery. In preparation for a profile I was doing, I visited the cemetery in 2004. Visiting the grave of Margaret Mitchell, the author of my favorite book, was one of the most moving experiences of my life.

I am always asked what it's like to work as a funeral director. To help answer that question, I wrote the following article for AOL Jobs. Confessions of a Mortician (Funeral Director)

Egyptian Revival architecture was a popular style of memorialization during the mid-19th Century. This fashionable trend resurgence occurred in the 1920s,1920's presumably because of the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb. Albert Ross Parsons (1847-1933), a composer, musician, author, and pyramid expert, published The New Light from the Pyramids in 1893. Fittingly, this Egyptologist is entombed along with several family members in this pyramid-shaped mausoleum, which combines Christian religious statuary and Egyptian symbolism, My book Green-Wood Cemetery ( Arcadia Publishing, 2008) includes an archival shot of this Egyptian Revival mausoleum.

The “Angel of Death” marks the graves of Charles Schieren, the next-to-last mayor of Brooklyn , and his wife Mary Louise. The Schierens died from pneumonia within 24 hours of one another in 1915.

On Saturday, January 15, 2011, the Brooklyn Historical Society hosted a New York Cemeteries Panel. Joining me were the authors of Cypress Hills Cemetery. We enjoyed speaking about our respective books and answering questions posed by the knowledgeable and enthusiastic audience. Thanks to all who attended!

  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...