A Few Pictures from Greenwood Cemetery

Few places in New York City can be considered as much of a goth destination as Greenwood Cemetery. Built in 1838, the site is the resting place of as many as 600,000 deceased, including over 5,000 Civil War vets, and notable figures such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Louis Comfort Tiffany, the inventor of Tiffany glass. I had the pleasure of visiting the cemetery recently, with pictures to prove it.

Despite being a place for the dead, Greenwood still thrums with life. Walking through its grounds, the air was constantly alive with the sound of birdsong, and every tree had squirrels running up and down its trunk. In the more modern part of the cemetery, mourners pay their respects at brand new gravestones still with a mirror-shine finish, yards away from grave markers so old and faded only their shape serve as a reminder they were ever graves at all. With 478 acres to be looked after, groundskeepers are a constant presence, filling the air with the sound of machinery. Other visitors I saw included tourists like us, and a troop of pre-teens in school uniforms being led by a teacher.

All pictures were taken by me

The first thing you see, even before you're anywhere near Greenwood due to it's size, is the gloriously gothic 25th street gate. This stunning piece of architecture is over 100 feet tall, and feels more at home in a vampire romance than in the middle of New York. Adding to the mystical feel of the gate, which helps you to feel like you really are stepping into the world of the dead when you enter Greenwood, is the colony of monk parakeets, which nest in the spires of the gate, believed to have descended from escaped exotic pets. My only regret is not running up to this gate on a dark, rainy night in a wet, white silk gown.

After passing through the gate, some of the first graves you'll see are in the form of mausoleums. This row of stone monuments truly makes you feel like you're in a city of the dead. The ones built into the hillside are accessible too- the cemetery is very hilly, even containing the highest peak in New York City that served as a vantage point during the Civil War.

Believe it or not, this isn't the only ancient Egyptian-style monument in the park. I chock this up to Egyptomania, the Victorian's obsessive love for all things Egypt.

This family plot is guarded eternally by two faithful stone greyhounds. I presume these either house the remains of or represent the family's beloved pets, as I cannot imagine entrusting a greyhound with my safe passage through the afterlife.

The gardens of Greenwood are numerous, some pristinely maintained, some overgrown, others still withering and dead. The wilting walkway up to this mausoleum makes it feel like you're stepping up to the family crypt in someone's own backyard.

A pumpkin adorns this old stone grave between two trees. Were the Millers known for their love of pumpkins, or has a stranger left an old decoration as an offering rather than letting it rot elsewhere?

The sky turned from cloudy to clear blue in the few hours we spent at Greenwood.

Another beautiful mausoleum. Surprisingly, there was no information about it on the map we picked up at the beginning of your journey (the park is so long and winding you'll get lost without one), so I can only assume it homes a very wealthy yet otherwise unremarkable family.

Another family plot, this time resting under the shade of an American Beech tree.

This picture looks rather unremarkable, but I took it to try and portray the endless feeling of Greenwood Cemetery. Every cluster of graves you see here is from a different era, arranged seemingly randomly, all on hilly fields framed by winding asphalt paths.