Green-wood Cemetery

Unlike most cemeteries that dot the American roadscape, Green-wood Cemetery stands out for the 7000 trees of all hues and sizes that are liberally sprinkled through its 478 acres. Called “Brooklyn's first public park”, someone interestingly wrote of it, “it is the ambition of the New Yorker to live upon the Fifth Avenue, to take his airings in Central Park, and to sleep with his fathers in Green-wood”. And sure enough, it is the resting place for several notables such as Samuel Morse and William Colgate.

The magnificent tree cover makes the cemetery-park a magnet for birds and consequently for birdwatchers. With our Airbnb a short walk away, we spent several hours there birding, ambling through the various tree-lined avenues and walking paths, and interestingly, picking native American persimmons of which there were several stately trees (on Alder Ave), abundant with ripe fruit!

While walking around, one cannot but help read the epitaphs. Most only mention the name and birth and death dates or age, some add that they were devoted fathers / mothers / spouses, but occasionally one of them would stand out. Here are a couple such:

How I wish light and understanding and wisdom were found among today’s leaders!