As age-old muses for artists, writers, and philosophers, love and death have inspired great works of art and literature—but do you know where their influence and presence truly intertwine? At a cemetery!
Forget the box of chocolates and sappy card—treat the special someone in your life to an exploration of Green-Wood for a walking tour on February 15, 2020, from 12pm to 2pm.
Along the way you will hear tales of the lovesick and the heartbroken, as well as tawdry details of dramatic—and doomed—affairs. You’ll learn about star-crossed Victorian lovers, Charlotte Canda and Charles Jarrett; Henry Ward Beecher’s scandalous affair with Elizabeth Tilton; the tragic death of Theodore Roosevelt’s wife on Valentine’s Day; and more.
$20 for members of Green-Wood / $25 for non-members
For this program you will check in at the Gothic Arches, right at the main entrance.
Founded in 1838 and now a National Historic Landmark, Green-Wood was one of the first rural cemeteries in America. By the early 1860s, it had earned an international reputation for its magnificent beauty and became the prestigious place to be buried, attracting 500,000 visitors a year, second only to Niagara Falls as the nation’s greatest tourist attraction. Crowds flocked there to enjoy family outings, carriage rides, and sculpture viewing in the finest of first generation American landscapes. Green-Wood’s popularity helped inspire the creation of public parks, including New York City’s Central and Prospect Parks.
Green-Wood is 478 spectacular acres of hills, valleys, glacial ponds and paths, throughout which exists one of the largest outdoor collections of 19th- and 20th-century statuary and mausoleums. Four seasons of beauty from century-and-a-half-old trees offer a peaceful oasis to visitors, as well as its 560,000 permanent residents, including Leonard Bernstein, Boss Tweed, Charles Ebbets, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Horace Greeley, Civil War generals, baseball legends, politicians, artists, entertainers and inventors.
On September 27, 2006, Green-Wood was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior, which recognized its national significance in art, architecture, landscaping and history.
