Greenwood Cemetery was commissioned in 1838 as the first nonsectarian cemetery in the City of Brooklyn. Its striking Victorian gatehouses and shelters, contemplative winding paths, reflecting lakes, and a majestic view of New York harbor from its heights, drew thousands onto the grounds of the cemetery for walks or picnics. Greenwood’s immediate popularity, not only for burials, but as one of Brooklyn’s first large public spaces, demonstrated to city planners the importance of open, green spaces within the burgeoning metropolis. The cemetery remained the largest green space in Brooklyn until the opening of Prospect Park in 1866.

Today, Greenwood Cemetery, mostly unchanged, remains a dominant feature in the Windsor Terrace and Kensington neighborhoods. It covers 478 acres and contains 550,000 interments and monuments. It is the final resting place of jeweler Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), telegraph inventor Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872), and composer Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), as well as the home of memorials to horses, volunteer firefighters, and merchant seamen.

Pictures of Greenwood Cemetery

Monuments of the Greenwood Cemetery, Red Hook, and the Statue of Liberty.

The Soldiers’ Monument was erected in 1869 and honors the 148,000 New York men who fought for the Union during the Civil War.

Altar to Liberty monument on the Battle Hill of the Greenwood cemetery.

Monuments of the Greenwood Cemetery.

Monuments of the Greenwood Cemetery.

Monuments of the Greenwood Cemetery.

Monuments of the Greenwood Cemetery.

Monuments of the Greenwood Cemetery.

Goldman Sachs Tower, 160 Imlay Street, and the future site of the Red Hook Cruise Terminal.

Panorama of Manhattan from the Greenwood Cemetery.