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

  In the 1890s, American sculptor William Wetmore Story created the  Angel of Grief  monument for the future grave site of him and his wife in Rome's Protestant Cemetery. Several replicas of the  Angel of   Grief --  also referred to as the  Weeping Angel  -- c an be seen around the country in various cemeteries. The above photo.is of one such replica. This early 20th-century version commemorates the Cassard family and can be seen in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. A black & white photo appears on page 73 of my Green-Wood book.

When Eva (nee Duarte) Peron, affectionately known as “Evita” to her adoring public, died at the age of 33 on July 26, 1952, her funeral was as grand as the life (albeit short) she had lived. Her body was medically embalmed --a rare and costly practice--and placed in a specially constructed Bronze casket with a glass cover for public viewing. And what a viewing it was! Eva’s body remained on display for 13 days during which time 3 million Argentines, after waiting in line for hours, filed past her casket to pay their final respects. In the meantime, construction was to begin on the mausoleum which would house her remains. However, it would take more than 20 years before that would happen. Ousted by a coup, President Juan Peron went into hiding as did Eva’s body, because of the strong anti-Peron sentiment in the country. On October 22, 1976, Eva Peron’s body was at last entombed in the family mausoleum in La Recoleta Cemetery. A plaque at the site is inscribed in Spanish with the words: ...

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Henry Steinway, born Steinweg, emigrated from Germany to New York with his wife and four sons. He initially worked for various piano makers in the city before starting his own piano manufacturing company, Steinway & Sons, in 1853. Steinway's concert pianos quickly earned a reputation for their exceptional quality and craftsmanship. In 1870, a year before he died, Steinway moved his business to Queens, purchasing land in Astoria. The company still operates from Queens, and the area's main thoroughfare --Steinway Street--  is named in his honor.  Shortly after Steinway's death, his family constructed a grand mausoleum in Green-Wood Cemetery. It is the largest private mausoleum in the cemetery, and can accommodate up to 128 entombments. The granite structure reportedly cost $80,000 to build. .

The 'Angel of Death' monument, which marks the graves of Charles A. Schieren (Brooklyn’s next to last mayor) and his wife, Mary Louise, is perhaps the eeriest site in Green-Wood’s. It was crafted by Solon Borglum, who also sculpted Mount Rushmore. An archival shot of this monument appears on Page 37 of my Green-Wood Cemetery book. The Schieren's died of pneumonia within 24 hours of one another. Inscribed on the plaque in front of the monument are the words: In their lives they were lovely and in their death they were not divided.

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...

 In 1902, C. Augustus Haviland wrote a book of poems called "A Lawyer's Idle Hours" and published it under the name Frank Myrtle. One of the poems in the book, titled "Colloquy On Death," is inscribed on a bronze plaque that can be found on the front of the Haviland monument in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. Another poem by Haviland, called "Reveries at Four Score," was written ten years later and is inscribed on the back of the memorial.

Join me I return to Green-Wood for my fourth trolley tour honoring Green-Wood's "who's who" of 19th- and early 20th-century New York. Visit the monuments and learn about the fascinating lives of Henry Bergh (founder of the A.S.P.C.A.), Henry Chadwick ("The Father of Baseball"), DeWitt Clinton (New York governor and main proponent of construction of the Erie Canal), Charles Feltman (inventor of the hot dog) and more. A question and answer session and author book signing follow the tour at The Historic Chapel at Green-Wood. Refreshments will be served. The trolley tour is $20 / $10 for Historic Fund members. Space is limited. Make your online reservation today through the link below or call 718.768.7300. http://www.green-wood.com/store.php/store/category/2/tour/119

 The Kampfe brothers --Frederick, Richard, and Otto-- credited with creating the safety razor in their New York City shop, are entombed in a domelike mausoleum with a ball on top in a prominent location, the modern Hillside Mausoleum. They began marketing the product, known as the Star safety razor, in 1875, applying for a patent in 1880. The metal door bears a bronze bas-relief sculpture of a robed woman bearing a lit oil lamp, presumably to light her way to the hereafter. The mausoleum contains eight crypts (niches), one of which holds the remains of three children. At the rear is a stained glass window that depicts an angel and a robed woman. An altar, upon which is an empty vase, is beneath the window.

I was among the many New Yorkers who were stunned and saddened to hear of the sudden death, on March 19th, of venerable and popular NY Daily News reporter Joyce Shelby. Her death is a great loss to the media. A seasoned reporter, with a most impressive body of work, Ms. Shelby was also a real lady and easy to talk to. I know this first hand, because she interviewed me back in November about my new Green-Wood Cemetery book, regarding it as a natural for the Brooklyn section. Joyce, a fan of Green-Wood, had written about the cemetery before and regaled me with a funny story about photographing the parrots which have taken up residency there. Naturally, I was looking forward to seeing the article about my book run, but that was not to be. After a couple of postponements, the piece was killed by the Brooklyn bureau chief. Joyce called me with the news - we were both disappointed - and said she would repitch it in the spring. We spoke again in early March, for the last time. Over the years...