PARK AND CC/nCTCRY 
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The Greenwood Cemetery. 
BY WILLIAM HOWE DOWNES. 
The most astonishing fact about the Greenwood 
Cemetery, in Brooklyn N. Y. , is that between 1840 
and 1892 the total number of interments was 268,- 
786. If the ordinary or average number has not 
varied in the three years since 1892, the number of 
interments there up to the present time can not be 
far from 300,000. These statistics are surpris- 
ing. The cemetery contains 474 acres of land. It 
has 22 miles of carriage roads and 18 miles of foot- 
paths. There are in the grounds no less than eight 
lakes, all of which have fountains; 2 reservoirs, 10 
miles of water pipes, 62 hydrants and 19 miles of 
sewers. The estimated average of about 5,200 in- 
terments per annum would give us 100 funerals each 
week, or a little more than fourteen for each day in 
the week. These figures may serve to convey some 
idea of the enormous size and densely compacted 
population of this immense city of the dead. 
The situation of Greenwood is most beautiful, 
and its contiguity to the two great cities of Brook- 
lyn and New York affords the obvious geograph- 
ical explanation of its exceptional growth. It is 
also to be remarked that it has been for half a cen- 
tury the most fashionable burial place for wealthy 
families, and the mysterious potency of fashion has 
as much to do with cemeteries as with anything else. 
Like all the best cemeteries in this country. Green- 
wood is well kept, carefully managed in the inter- 
ests of the lot owners and abounds in costly monu- 
ments. 
It is especially notable for the number of emi- 
nent individuals whose mortal remains are buried 
there. Although but few of these have a national 
reputation, the list of names of the dead would com- 
prise a considerable number of widely known New 
York business men, inventors, professional lumina- 
ries, literary people, philanthropists, statesmen and 
merchant princess of the metropolis. Some of the 
monuments erected comparatively early in the his- 
tory of the grounds and costing vast sums would 
hardly be deemed works of art even in the estima- 
tion of the uncritical; for here, as elsewhere, mere 
size, weight and bulk, with expensiveness of ma- 
terial and occasionally fineness of workmanship and 
finish, have been blindly accepted as fulfilling the 
requirements of a memorial, without the most rudi- 
mentary effort to secure harmony of proportions, 
balance and symmetry of outlines and the first es- 
sentials of good design. On the other hand, the vis- 
itor who searches patiently will find certain tombs 
which produce an effect of reposeful dignity, of 
architectural impressiveness and even of sculptur- 
esque grace and originality. 
The principal gate, a monumental structure of 
dark brown sandstone in Gothic style at the Fifth 
Avenue and Twenty-fifth street entrance to the 
grounds, is exceedingly handsome. It is decorated 
in the recessed panels above the arched gateways 
with high-relief stone carvings representing the En- 
tombment, the Resurrection, the Raising of the 
Widow’s Son and the Raising of Lazarus. Near 
the gate is the receiving tomb, with a capacity of 
1,500 in its extensive vaults excavated from a steep 
hillside; and just in front of it is the pretty sheet ol 
water with the picturesque name of Arbor Water. 
In the same vicinity is the rather ordinary mon- 
ument erected by the city of New York in memory 
of the soldiers who died in the defense of the Union, 
1871-65, a tall granite pillar of no particular style, 
with four bronze figures around the base typifying 
the various branches of the land and sea service, 
these statues being cast from the material of cap- 
tured cannons. The summit of the hill on the slope 
of which this monument stands commands the finest 
view of New York harbor, Staten Island, and the 
Lower Bay, to be obtained anywhere The vast 
city of Brooklyn stretches to the north 
until its roofs and spires are lost to view 
in the dim distance. The high build- 
ings in the lower part of New York 
seem to rise almost beneath the spec- 
tator’s feet. The stirring panorama 
of the swarming harbor and the crowd- 
ed shipping of the East River, with the 
filmy outlines of the huge Brooklyn 
Bridge, form a superb spectacle of life 
and animation, and the western horizon 
is beautifully closed by the vague blue 
silhoutte of the Orange mountains in 
New Jersey. All in all, this is the 
grandest prospect to be had in the 
neighborhood of New York, and it 
makes an impression of vitality and in- 
ENTRANCE TO GREENWOOD CEMETERY, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
