Green-Wood Cemetery
Updated January 11, 2026 -- As you wander through New York City, you’ll come upon a number of street names named for the important Gothamites you’ll also encounter at Green-Wood. The “first families” of the city were all interred here, as were such notables as DeWitt Clinton (a Presidential candidate who was the mastermind behind the Erie Canal), Leonard Bernstein (composer of Broadway’s West Side Story) and artists Louis Comfort Tiffany and Jean Michel Basquiat. Heck, even pets were buried here…until the funeral of a devoted horse convinced the cemetery’s staff to stop the practice in 1870 (the cemetery itself was founded in 1837).
It’s not hard to understand why New Yorkers would pick Green-Wood for their eternal rest: Set on the highest point of Brooklyn, it’s a stunning place, considered an arboretum as well as a cemetery for the 7000 trees that grow here. The monuments are equally beautiful, hand-carved in dozens of different styles, ranging from Tiffany-glass-adorned mausoleums to bronze and marble statuary.
A final lure: The staff here, determined to prove that cemeteries can be fun, host a number of events, from sporadic trolley and walking tours ($30) to nighttime concerts in the catacombs, as well as lectures, “death cafes” (free-form guided discussion groups about what happens after we pass), and even history happy hours at sunset, where people learn the stories behind the tombs with cocktails in hand.
Since the volume of tours has declined in recent years, the cemetery has released a free app, which has interactive maps, and self-guided audio walking tours which tell about both the graves and the area’s history (an important Revolutionary War battle took place here).
Updated January 11, 2026 -- As you wander through New York City, you’ll come upon a number of street names named for the important Gothamites you’ll also encounter at Green-Wood. The “first families” of the city were all interred here, as were such notables as DeWitt Clinton (a Presidential candidate who was the mastermind behind the Erie Canal), Leonard Bernstein (composer of Broadway’s West Side Story) and artists Louis Comfort Tiffany and Jean Michel Basquiat. Heck, even pets were buried here…until the funeral of a devoted horse convinced the cemetery’s staff to stop the practice in 1870 (the cemetery itself was founded in 1837).
It’s not hard to understand why New Yorkers would pick Green-Wood for their eternal rest: Set on the highest point of Brooklyn, it’s a stunning place, considered an arboretum as well as a cemetery for the 7000 trees that grow here. The monuments are equally beautiful, hand-carved in dozens of different styles, ranging from Tiffany-glass-adorned mausoleums to bronze and marble statuary.
A final lure: The staff here, determined to prove that cemeteries can be fun, host a number of events, from sporadic trolley and walking tours ($30) to nighttime concerts in the catacombs, as well as lectures, “death cafes” (free-form guided discussion groups about what happens after we pass), and even history happy hours at sunset, where people learn the stories behind the tombs with cocktails in hand.
Since the volume of tours has declined in recent years, the cemetery has released a free app, which has interactive maps, and self-guided audio walking tours which tell about both the graves and the area’s history (an important Revolutionary War battle took place here).
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