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

  Charles Feltman is 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 it was reported that he served 40,000 hot dogs. One of his workers, Nathan Handwerker, would go on to achieve his own fame after opening his own Coney Island hot dog restaurant: Nathan's.

  I've just visiting Green-Wood for the umpteenth time. Given that I've written a book about the cemetery, as well as a number of articles, it might seen like there's nothing new to see. But that's definitely not the case. Its 478 acres always offer a previously unseen historical and/or architectural gem along with a new perspective on oft-photographed favorites. What's more, seeing the grounds through a friend's first visit (as I did yesterday) is illuminating. 

  The Weeping Angel is one of my all-time favorite monuments. So much so, that I requested that the publisher of my last book-- Gardens of Stone--make it the cover.  This monument is Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, but variations can be found in a number of cemeteries around the world.

Calvary Cemetery's Johnston mausoleum is a perennial favorite of mine. Here's another view of it towering above the rest of the gravesites. It is the second largest structure on the grounds, and fans of The Godfather may recall seeing it in Don Corleone's funeral scene. Entombed within are the Johnston brothers, who were proprietors of a successful (very successful judging by their final resting place) dry goods store in the 19th century. 

The weather today was superb for a cemetery walk, With fall colors illuminated by bright sun, I enjoyed visiting some previously photographed sites, to offer a new perspective.  In the mid-19th century, successful tobacco merchant, John Anderson, was one of the suspects in the murder of his employee, Mary Cecilia Rogers. And even though he was never convicted of the murder, his arrest derailed his ambition to become mayor of New York City. Anderson died in France, and was entombed in this grand mausoleum high upon a hill in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery.

I 've written scores of cemetery profiles, and have enjoyed working on each and every one. But I must say, I was entranced by the subject of my latest profile from the moment I drove into the cemetery gates. Westchester Hills Cemetery-Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, located in Hastings-on-Hudson, in New York, has an amazing roster of notables: the Gershwin brothers, Billy Rose, Lee Strasberg, Tony Randall, John Garfield, Roberta Peters, Mac & Jack Barricini, and the Rosenthal family, who began Riverside Memorial Chapel. The cemetery also contains many stories of interest of non-celebrities, as well as amazing architecture, like this cover monument.

These books will help make any cemetery tour extra-special. Click on  My Favorite Cemetery Travel Books  to read my latest article.

This strikingly detailed bronze replica of Michelangelo’s Pietà is very personal to me as both a New Yorker, and a Long Islander. The granite memorial tablet, in the shape of a cruciform, behind the statue, bears the names, and occupations, of more than 400 of the victims who perished on September 11 or who later died from a 9/11-related illness. The years have not dimmed the horrors of that day.

  This summer I finally made it to East Hampton to visit Green River Cemetery. It had been on my list of cemeteries to visit for a long time. And while I'd read a lot about it, and included it in an article I wrote for  Newsday  about tombstone tourism on Long Island, seeing it was something else. Many of the graves are marked by boulders, rather than  tombstones. It may have been a traditional begun by Artist Jackson Pollo ck, and his wife Lee Krasner. Actor Peter Boyle, too, chose a boulder to mark his final resting place. As does Steven J. Ross, the former CEO of Time Warner.  The tragic deaths of brother and sister Courtney and Robert Steel stopped me in my tracks. Courtney was killed by a drunk driver less than two years after her brother died of cancer at the age of 19. 

  Green River Cemetery, in East Hampton, is filled with out-of-the-ordinary styles of memorialization.  These film reels mark the grave of Stan VanDerBeek, an acclaimed independent film maker.  Talk about unique! Two of his major works were included in the exhibit 'The American Independent Cinema: 1958-1964'' at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in 1984, the year VanDerBeek died.

Green River Cemetery, located in East Hampton, is one of the cemeteries I included in a 2019 article I did for Newsday about tombstone tourism on Long Island, for Newsday. While only three acres, there is an eclectic group of people buried here, and for many of them, boulders serve as tombstones. The grave of actor Peter Boyle, of 'Young Frankenstein' and 'Everyone Loves Raymond' fame is one example.

I recently learned that comedian Jackie Mason, who died last year, was buried on Long Island. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to stop at the cemetery. His monument, on a main road, is large, impressive, and well-visited. What I was especially taken by were the words his wife had inscribed on the monument, and the smaller stone in front of it. In the 1980s, Mason had a show on Broadway, which I attended with a mutual friend. After the show, the three of us had dinner together. Mason was just as funny in private, as he was on stage.

 For May's  American Cemetery & Cremation , I interviewed 5 popular Instagram taphophiles. In the article they talk about why they photograph cemetery monuments, what they look for, and what they hope to impart to readers.

 On a cold day in early March of 2021, I visited Hartsdale Pet cemetery for the first time. I was looking for a different kind of cemetery profile, and this more than fit the bill. Despite the chill, I was fascinating by the often elaborate memorials, and sentimental epitaphs which honor beloved pets of  many kinds. Cats, dogs, birds, rabbits....even a tiger, are commemorated here with unconditional love and devotion.   My article about Hartsdale was the cover story for American Cemetery  magazine's Nov. 2021 issue-- and it became one of my most popular profiles. 

  In 2003, it became big news when it was discovered that a fully-grown Bengal tiger was living in a New York City apartment. The 400-pound feline, named Ming, was the pet of an eccentric cab driver who brought him home as a six-week-old cub. Ming was sent to Noah’s Lost Ark, Inc., a sanctuary for exotic animals in rural Ohio, where he roamed free. After he  died in 2019, the sanctuary contacted  Hartsdale Pet Cemetery about the possibility of interring him. However, transporting the tiger became an impossibility, so Ming was cremated. In April of that year a large urn containing his cremated remains was interred in Hartsdale Pet Cemetery following a brief ceremony.    To learn more about Ming's life:   A Farewell to Ming, the Siberian-Bengal Tiger Who Spent Three Years in a Harlem Apartment

  "A Pocket of Peace," a profile of Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, in Westchester, New York, is the cover story for November's American Cemetery & Cremation magazine.  It was a delight to learn more about this very special place, and to see the outpouring of love at every turn.

  The graves of the Prentiss brothers lie side by side in the shadow of the Historic Chapel near tranquil Valley Water. During the Civil War, the brothers from Maryland fought on separate sides. Both were mortally wounded in the same attack. The storied poet Walt Whitman ministered to both brothers and later wrote about them. In 2008, new gravestones, courtesy of the Veterans Administration, were unveiled in front of the Prentiss brother's illegible 19th-century marble gravestones.

  Sandy was the beloved pet dog of a Bronx real estate developer. For her eternal resting place, he decided to have a small replica of his family mausoleum built in Hartsdale Pet Cemetery. Constructed of Barre granite, it sports a bronze door with a handle in the shape of an S. The developer has been quoted as saying that he "wanted to give her a last special gift."

Ten years after I first saw the mausoleum of  hotel I returned for another visit.   The mausoleum, designed in 1927 by the well-known architect Franklin Naylor. Naylor considered it to be the largest and most intricate design of his career and published a pamphlet detailing the construction process. The structure, which blends Beaux-Arts and Renaissance Revival architecture, is one of the largest private mausoleums in the world.

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.