A grave-top statue at Green-Wood Cemetery. Founded in 1938, Green-Wood, covering 478 acres, is the resting place of approximately 700,000, including Leonard Bernstein, Boss Tweed, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Horace Greeley, Lola Montez, Albert Anastasia, Margaret Sanger, and Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Green-Wood’s verdant, landscaped grounds were a popular destination for strolling tourists and picnickers in the mid-1800’s. Prospect Park, more than half a mile away, was constructed several decades later; city planners were starting to understand the importance of park space to urban dwellers.
In 2006, Green-Wood Cemetery was declared a national Historic Landmark by the Department of the Interior.
Building by the Fort Hamilton Pkwy. entrance.
Pix and other images 
I still find it kind of weird for a cemetery to be a recreational park, but it’s beginning to happen in Manila too. Love the building! Is it old or just made to look that way?
Don’t forget another famous resident of Green-Wood:
Frank Morgan, A/K/A The Wizard of Oz!
I’m not sure Green-Wood would let people sit down with a picnic basket now. As the cemetery filled, people looking for park space went elsewhere. It’s still a nice place for a walk, lots to look at.
[…] coming to appreciate Green-Wood Cemetery as an urban oasis; it’s quiet and serene. You can take a walk there, as I did the other day, […]