One Day Near Calvary Cemetery

A man came off the footbridge near Calvary Cemetery and was standing next to the Long Island Expressway. Someone there who saw him said he was disoriented. Cars were flying by and the noise was deafening. He kept muttering something about “Triangle Fifty Four” and going to see his cousin, who lived near there.






He had been discharged from a mental hospital the day before and was going to talk to his cousin about staying with him temporarily.


His cousin said he never showed up. His wallet was found on a grassy knoll beside the highway.

Horace Greeley’s Grave/Goose in Grass (Green-Wood Cemetery: Part 3)

Horace Greeley (1811 – 1872) was a famous newspaper editor and politician, best known for saying, “Go west young man.” The monument, though ravaged by black streaks and time, is still etched with that look of resolve Victorian gentlemen favored in their personal statuary (apparent throughout Green-Wood Cemetery).

Greeley’s Grave in Green-Wood is located at one of the cemetery’s highest points, overlooking Bush Terminal (Pictures . . . History . . . More on BSB: No. 1 . . . No. 2).

Go North Young Man: A groundskeeper grooms the majestic burial site

Serene Nature (Seamless Adaptation): Goose in the grass, at the foot of a family plot, paying homage to the clan

(Green-Wood Cemetery: Part 1 . . . Part 2)

Cemetery Tour Group

Cemetery Fringe

© Google Maps

© Google Maps



Sometimes he walked along the edge of the cemetery, looking up over the black iron fence. The tombstones entrenched in the hillside looked back like indifferent sentries. Their mute, unchanging presence had a powerful effect on the surrounding streets and the rare passersby.





Another side of Green-Wood bordered a sprawling train yard, contiguous with the Jackie Gleason Bus Depot. That edge was a no-man’s land. One time he walked the road between the two complexes—nearly a mile with no outlet, just tombstones behind one fence and transit gear behind another. He looked askance at the few cars that went by, and felt uneasy just thinking about what it must have been like at night.

More Big Sky Brooklyn: The Novel

Slideshow of the Week: Cemeteries

Full Screen: ► . . . 4-way arrows (lower rt.)

Visit Big Sky Brooklyn on Flickr

Monumental Brooklyn

Houdini’s Grave (Queens)

Machpelah Cemetery, Queens

Trinity Cemetery: Monument to Modesty

“To ensure uniformity and humility so that there would be no difference between rich and poor, a rule was passed that all markers would have to be made of wood or hollow metal.” (From cemetery history, Gowanus Lounge blog.)

Click for Google map of Trinity and surroundings.


Tracks along the edge of the cemetery (see earlier post, “Lutheran Cemetery”)



Vegetation, wrecked cars in the space between Trinity and neighboring Cemetery of the Evergreens. (Click for Google 360-degree view of peripheral street.)


Exit, Trinity Cemetery