Yesterday we took an amble around the 478-acre Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. A little nod to All Souls’ Day. A little opportunity to walk around someplace with colorful leaves and curvilinear paths. A little chance to think about the miraculous, complicated, joyous, and sorrowful moments one might experience in a lifetime.
Cemeteries might seem like an odd place to pass a fall morning, but I find them to be such peaceful and fascinating spots to explore. This particular cemetery—founded in 1838—happens to have once been one of the nation’s most popular tourist destinations. By the 1860s, the cemetery attracted more than 500,000 visitors a year and its popularity laid the groundwork for the creation of public greenspace like Central and Prospect Parks in New York City.
In case you’re in the neighborhood:
Green-Wood Cemetery
Main Entrance: 5th Avenue and 25th Street*
Free to the public, seven days a week
Specific admission/gate info, HERE
Guided tour info and their mobile app, HERE.
*We took the F train to 15th St/Prospect Park and used the Prospect Park West Entrance at 20th Street; open weekends only.
7 Comments
These acres are a beautiful spot for a stroll! I love how at one point you can look over and see the harbor and the Statue of Liberty. I have many relatives buried there and love that I have rich Brooklyn history in my bones!!!
"Hear the sweet music of the skys" — what lovely last words. There is as much beauty in a cemetery as there is sorrow, I think, and much more love.
Agreed! Before I moved to NYC and met Green-wood, I lived in Charleston, SC and would spend hours upon hours walking the cemeteries draped in Spanish moss. The way the sun would slice through the headstones, trees, and moss—I can hardly think of a more peaceful experience.
What a beautiful perspective.
My good friends lived across the street from that cemetery for seven years. When I visited last Spring, walking through it was one of the first things we did. The rolling hills of graves are surprisingly tranquil, and it's really interesting to read some of the old, crumbling tombstones. I understand those who find it morbid, but I too think it's peaceful. Lovely pictures, thanks for sharing!
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I've always loved a good cemetery!
Here I was thinking I'm the only one who loves strolling around cemetaries, especially Green-Wood. I often walk there from Carroll Gardens on the weekends, NYTimes and coffee in hand, to relaxing amongst the beautiful scenery. Some find cemeteries morbid, but I've always felt a calm and peaceful energy to them. A quiet place to reflect and appreciate the natural world. The city feels so far away when you sit below a giant tree in silence. I also love the gravestones, the people's names (which I often google because I recognize them from Brooklyn's street names), and the proximity to the Sunset Park taco scene.
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