{"id":15788,"date":"2022-07-29T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-29T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/content-manager\/?p=15788"},"modified":"2022-07-29T15:01:28","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T19:01:28","slug":"things-you-didnt-know-about-greenwood-cemetery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/blog\/things-you-didnt-know-about-greenwood-cemetery\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Things You Didn’t Know about Greenwood Cemetery"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Located right between Brooklyn\u2019s Sunset Park<\/a> and Park Slope<\/a> lies the infamous Greenwood Cemetery. Founded in 1838, Greenwood was one of the first rural cemeteries in the U.S. By the 1860s, Greenwood held a reputation for its magnificent and beautiful structures. The cemetery is 478 acres, filled with glacial ponds, paths, hills, and most importantly, 560,000 \u201cpermanent residents.\u201d What used to be a popular tourist location, is now considered a hidden gem, despite the size. Let\u2019s dive into some secrets that you didn\u2019t know about Greenwood Cemetery.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Greenwood Cemetery Facts<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1. Cemetery celebrities<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Buried on the grounds of the cemetery are some famous names that you might even know. Just below your feet lies Jean-Michel Basquiat, Leonard Bernstein, Horace Greeley, Boss Tweed, Charles Ebbets, Louis Comfort Tiffany, politicians, Civil War generals, inventors, and many other notable people from their times.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

2. War history<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Here lie thousands of Civil War veterans. According to the Greenwood Historic Fund<\/a>, in September 2002, Greenwood\u2019s historian Jeff Richman along with the Greenwood Historic Fund launched the Civil War Project to help identify veterans of the war. It was first thought that with the research, they would find about 500 veterans, but the numbers were far more than that. With the help of volunteers, news sources, pension records, New York State Military Museum records, online databases, Greenwood\u2019s Burial registry, and numerous other sources, more than 5,200 Civil War veterans were buried on-site. This included generals and privates from both the Union and Confederate sides, members of the Sanitary Commission, nurses, and a 12-year-old drummer boy. The Greenwood Historic Fund says that this project is still ongoing, with the goal of identifying all individuals who had a connection to the Civil War.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

There are also veterans from WWI and WWII buried at the cemetery, with the Greenwood Historic Fund seeking help to identify individuals.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

3. Once a top NYC tourist attraction<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

During the mid-19th century of NYC history, Greenwood Cemetery was the<\/em> place to visit. Since the cemetery opened in 1838, it was regarded as one of the first landscaped public sites in NYC. Visitors were attracted to this place as they would be to a park. People came in crowds to enjoy family outings, carriage rides, picnics, view sculptures, and walk along the shaded paths. The cemetery once attracted 500,000 visitors a year, making it the second most popular tourist attraction in New York State compared to Niagara Falls. Believe it or not, Greenwood Cemetery\u2019s popularity helped inspire the creation of public parks like Prospect Park and Central Park.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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