By the eighteen sixties, more people visited Green-Wood Cemetery each year than any attraction in America except Niagara Falls. It was not morbid. It was the closest thing New York had to a public park — Central Park would not open for another decade.
Green-Wood was established in eighteen thirty-eight on four hundred and seventy-eight acres of rolling Brooklyn hillside. It holds six hundred thousand graves and seven thousand trees. The entrance alone — a Gothic Revival gatehouse completed in eighteen sixty-one — is one of the finest pieces of architecture in the borough.
The resident list is extraordinary. Boss Tweed is here — the Tammany Hall political boss who stole an estimated two hundred million dollars from New York City. Jean-Michel Basquiat, the Brooklyn-born graffiti artist who went from tagging subway cars as SAMO to selling paintings for millions and dying of a heroin overdose at twenty-seven, has a small, simple headstone. Lola Montez — an Irish-born dancer who became the mistress of King Ludwig of Bavaria, was made a countess, served as his chief political advisor, and caused an armed revolt that forced his abdication — is buried under an equally modest marker.
The cemetery is also a designated National Historic Landmark and one of the best birdwatching spots in Brooklyn. Free to enter.
Verified Facts
By the early 1860s, Green-Wood drew annual crowds second only to Niagara Falls
Established in 1838 on 478 acres; holds 600,000 graves and 7,000 trees
Jean-Michel Basquiat (died 1988, age 27) and Boss Tweed are buried here
Lola Montez, who became mistress and chief political advisor to King Ludwig of Bavaria and caused his abdication, is buried here
Get walking directions
500 25th St, Brooklyn, New York, 11232, United States
