Green-Wood Cemetery in Sunset Park is a beautifully landscaped 478-acre area that offers peace and quiet amid a bustling cityscape. With its four ponds, gigantic trees, rolling green hills and elaborate flower gardens Green-Wood Cemetery draws visitors from all over the city. It was founded in 1838 and was one of the nation’s first cemeteries to be placed outside of a churchyard. Today it is one of Brooklyn's most historic landmarks.
Green-Wood is the permanent resting place for 560,000 residents, including many well-known individuals such as Leonard Bernstein, Boss Tweed, Charles Ebbets, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Horace Greeley, Civil War generals, baseball legends, politicians, artists, entertainers and inventors.
Green-Wood is full of hills, valleys, glacial ponds and paths, and is home to one of the largest outdoor collections of 19th- and 20th-century statuary and mausoleums. History buffs and bird watchers both love Green-Wood. It’s a Revolutionary War historic site (the Battle of Long Island was fought nearby in 1776), a designated site on the Civil War Discovery Trail and a registered member of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System.
The cemetery was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior in 2006, which recognized its national significance in art, architecture, landscaping and history. It is believed that the cemetery’s popularity among residents when it was opened helped inspire the creation of public parks, including New York City’s Central and Prospect Parks.
Green-Wood Cemetery is located at 500 25th Street, and guided tours and trolley tours of the facility are available. Numerous events are held at Green-Wood each year, including individual concerts, the free Memorial Day concert, educational activities, war reenactments such as the Battle of Brooklyn Day, and more.
