We heard Brooklyn's Green-Wood is a "must do" and it's for good reason. Although the rain finally caught up with us on Tuesday (it rained BUCKETS) and we didn't get to see everything as much as we would have liked, it was quite the impressive destination.
The gated entrance is unbelievable (similar to the Biltmore House in intricate decoration and impressive arches), and the grounds and monuments are more expansive than I can describe.
Straight from the brochure, this description begins to convey that this isn't your ordinary grave yard.
"Founded in 1838 as one of America's first rural cemeteries, the GW soon developed an international reputation for its magnificent beauty and became the fashionable place to be buried. By 1860, GW was attracting 500,000 visitors a year, rivaling Niagra Falls as the country's greatest tourist attraction. Crowds flocked to GW to enjoy family outings, carriage rides, and sclupture viewing in the finest of American landscapes. GW's popularity helped inspire the creation of public parks, including NYC's Central Park."
The building pictured is a beautiful chapel located on the grounds where we hung out trying to wait for the rain to pass. (Serious, serious rain!!) We didn't want to leave before exploring things more fully, but after an hour, we saw no breaks in the clouds. We flagged down a security guard, who kindly took us back to the subway station in his patrol car. (see, those NY's can be very nice) He told us this is the 4th largest cemetery in the world, and the largest one enclosed by a single fence. (as opposed to being split by being on 2 sides of a road) Among its 560,000 (no, not a typo) permanent residents are Charles Ebbets, Louis Tiffany and Samuel Morse.
