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

  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. 

  Lionel Burnett was the son of writer Frances Hodgson Burnett. He served as the model for the title character in her most famous children's book Little, Lord Fauntleroy, published in 1885. He is buried in Roslyn Cemetery, on Long Island, close to the grave of his mother. There's more about the cemetery in My Cemetery Travels.

  The Stewart mausoleum was a collaboration between McKim, Mead & White (as in Stanford), once the largest architectural firm in the world, and renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. In the 1800's, the Stewart family were major patrons of the arts. Their aesthetic tastes are reflected in their final resting place.

 I came across this tombstone on a recent walk through Green-Wood Cemetery's Public Lots., and share it here on Valentine's Day 

  Mayor Edward I. Koch died ten years ago today. His funeral took place three days later. He was one of my favorite mayors and it was an honor to attend his funeral, and write about it for 'American Funeral Director' magazine. The turnout for him was huge. Every seat in cavernous Temple Emanu-El was taken, and many people stood outside in what was a frigid day. Having been present at countless funerals in my capacity as a funeral director, and many high profile funerals, as a writer, people often ask me if I have a favorite. If I had to choose, it would be the funeral of Mayor Koch. It had everything a good funeral should have, as well as one of the most moving moments I ever witnessed at a funeral. At the conclusion of the service, Mayor Koch's casket was shouldered down the aisle to the tune of 'New York New York' to a standing ovation and thunderous applause.

  Soupy Sales (Milton Supman) was an actor, comedian, and popular radio & television personality. The Soupy Sales Show, which ran from 1953–1966, was one of the most popular children's shows of the time. It's comedy sketches often ended with Sales getting hit with a pie in his face. That became his trademark. After the show ended, Sales became a regular panelist on the revival of What's My Line? introducing him to a new where a new generation.

  Joseph S. Carreau was a founding partner of Carreau and Snedeker, a NYSE member firm. Both Carreau and his first wife, Alys Sinclair, with whom he had two daughters, were born in 1900. Interestingly, Alys died in 1925, at the age of 25, and Joseph died at 72, in 1972.

  As a funeral director,  I am well aware that there is never a good time to lose someone we love. But a  loss  seems particularly  difficult  to bear --or recall-- when the holiday season is upon us. All around us, people are absorbed by "the magic of Christmas," and there is an ever-present sense of  gaiety . But not for those who mourn. Yet, many of  those  people find a sense of solace by visiting  cemeteries  and  decorating  family graves and mausoleums for the season. Seeing such poignant displays of love and remembrance, reinforce the continued connection that cemeteries offer. Here's a smattering of some of the beautifully decorated --whether with a small ornamented tree or a simple holiday wreath --mausoleums and graves I've come across at Christmastime. 

Clement Clarke Moore graduated first in his class from Columbia College and was a professor of classics at the General Theological Seminary in New York. In 1822, he wrote 'A Visit From St. Nicholas' ('Twas The Night Before Christmas') for his children. It became one of the most endearing and enduring Christmas poems. Every December, Manhattan's Church of the Intercession, located on the grounds of Trinity Church Cemetery, has a Clement Clarke Moore Candlelight Service to celebrate his poem. The service ends with a walk to Moore's grave.

Each and every December, cemeteries offer a sense of solace to families who are missing loved ones. Whether decorating graves and mausoleums with a second Christmas tree, or a simple holiday  wreath,    such poignant displays of love and remembrance, reinforce the continued connection that cemeteries offer. To see more holiday displays. 

Several gravesites for the Astor family can be found on the grounds of Trinity Church Cemetery & Mausoleum's "uptown" location. This one contains the remains of William Backhouse Astor, son of John Jacob Astor, who died in 1875. The cemetery, which affords views of the Hudson River, was established in 1842 by the parish of Trinity Church after burials were prohibited in Lower Manhattan because of dangerous and overcrowded conditions in city cemeteries doe to severe cholera, yellow fever, and typhoid outbreaks.

While I'm familiar with several monuments featuring canine statuary, on the Green-Wood grounds, this was a new one on me. I've been trying to find more information about the Blakley family, and the significance  behind the statue. I will report back when I do.

  Near the edge of Green -Wood Cemetery, a sculpture of a beautiful woman –Rose Guarino--reclining across stone steps stops visitors in their tracks. Open-eyed, with lips parted and long hair flowing, she is dressed in a flowing gown, and wearing sandals. She clutches a bouquet in her hands. For generations, Brooklyn locals have believed that the monument commemorates a mafia bride gunned down on her wedding day in a revenge killing. The true story behind the statue does involve a murder and is just as tragic.  In the summer of 1909, Dominica Merello and her daughter, Rose Guarino, were dining with family members on the lawn of their NJ summer home when Pietro Silverio, an irate domestic employee, rushed the women, gun in hand, to exact revenge for losing his job. As the women attempted to flee, Silverio gave chase and shot Guarino in the back.   She died three days later. Guarino's body was held for two years in the cemetery's receiving vault while the monument w...

Nearby Green-Wood Cemetery's Sylvan Water is the often-photographed mausoleum of the Michel family. In the early 20th century, the Leonhard Michel Brewing Co., located in Brooklyn, was well-known. Its story can be found in 'The Breweries of Brooklyn,' published in 1976. Tragedy struck the family when, in December of 1914, Leonhard's son, Frank, committed suicide at the age of 41. In an eerie coincidence, plans for the family mausoleum were drawn up earlier that year.

  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.