We’re off the see the Wizard . . .
Written by Ashley Kelmore, Posted in Adventures
Today I took the Halloween tour of Green-Wood Cemetery. It’s a great, one-square-mile cemetery just about a mile from my apartment. It is 170 years old this year, and is the final resting place for about 560,000. Yup, that’s not a typo.
There were probably about 150 of us on the tour, and it was a perfect day for it. It was sunny, and actually a bit warm (I think almost 65). We met at the 5th avenue entrance, and spent about 2 1/2 hours going through the gorgeous cemetery. We saw a few interesting graves, including that of “Bill the Butcher” – the man on whom the Daniel Day Lewis Character in “Gangs of New York” was loosely based. We saw one of a man who was murdered by a jilted lover, and one of a woman who was buried in a dress that was bequeathed to a friend, who then had to sue the estate to get the value paid to her (the executor wanted to make her exhume the body and physically take the dress).
We also saw where the man who played the Wizard of Oz is buried, as well Jean-Paul Basquiat. Finally, we ended the tour with a special trip into the catacombs. They only open them once a year, I believe. They are just downright creepy.
I took a few pictures – I plan to go back. It’s so close, and unlike Prospect or Central Park, it’s not packed with children. And it’s just lovely and quiet.
