The New York Landmarks Conservancy Presents: Tourist In Your Own Town # 2: Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood is a rural cemetery located in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, established in 1838 by one of the borough’s most prominent social leaders, Henry Evelyn Pierrepont.
There are approximately 600,000 graves dispersed among the cemetery’s 478 acres. Many of these belong to some of the most important New Yorkers who lived in the late 1800’s, including members of the Clinton and Roosevelt families.
Green-Wood’s most predominant architectural feature is the striking clock-tower and gateway, created in Gothic Revival style, and designed by Richard Upjohn in 1861.
Before the New York Landmarks Commission was established in 1965, a Designated Landmarks of New York plaque was given to the cemetery by the New York Community Trust in 1958. In 1966, Green-Wood was declared a New York City Landmark and it became a National Historic Landmark in 2006.
Video: Rick Bruner
