Green-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 as a rural cemetery in Kings County, New York. It was granted National Historic Landmark status in 2006 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Located in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, it lies several blocks southwest o fProspect Park, between Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park. Paul Goldberger in The New York Times, wrote that it was said "it is the ambition of the New Yorker to live upon the Fifth Avenue, to take his airings in the Park, and to sleep with his fathers in Green-Wood".

The Pierrepont papers deposited at the Brooklyn Historical Society contain material about the organizing of Green-Wood Cemetery.

History

Inspired by Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where a cemetery in a naturalistic park-like landscape in the English manner was first established, Green-Wood was able to take advantage of the varied topography provided by glacial moraines. Battle Hill, the highest point in Brooklyn and built in 1838, is on cemetery grounds, rising approximately 200 feet above sea level. As such, there on that spot in 1920, was erected a Revolutionary War monument byFrederick Ruckstull, Altar to Liberty: Minerva. From this height, the bronze Minerva statue gazes towards The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

The cemetery was the idea of Henry Evelyn Pierrepont, a Brooklyn social leader. It was a popular tourist attraction in the 1850s and was the place most famous New Yorkers who died during the second half of the nineteenth century were buried. It is still an operating cemetery with approximately 600,000 graves spread out over 478 acres (1.9 km²). The rolling hills and dales, several ponds and an on-site chapel provide an environment that still draws visitors.

There are several famous monuments located there, including a statue of DeWitt Clinton, and a memorial erected by James Brown, president of Brown Brothers bank and the Collins Line, to the six members of his family lost in the SS Arctic disaster of 1854. This incorporates a sculpture of the ship, half-submerged by the waves. As well as a Civil War Memorial, during the Civil War, Green-Wood Cemetery created the "Soldiers' Lot" for free veterans' burials.

The gates were designed by Richard Upjohn in Gothic Revival style. The main entrance to the cemetery was built in 1861 of Belleville brownstone. The sculptured groups depicting biblical scenes from the New Testament including Lazarus, The Widow's Son, and Jesus' Resurrection over the gateways are the work of John M. Moffitt. A Designated Landmarks of New York plaque was erected on it in 1958 by the New York Community Trust.

Several wooden shelters were also built, including one in a Gothic Revival style, one resembling an Italian villa, and another resembling a Swiss chalet. A descendent colony of monk parakeets that are believed to have escaped their containers while in transit now nests in the spires of the gate, as well as other areas in Brooklyn.

On December 5, 1876, the Brooklyn Theater Fire claimed the lives of at least 278 individuals, with some accounts reporting over 300 dead. Out of that total, 103 unidentified victims were interred in a common grave at Green-Wood Cemetery. An obelisk near the main entrance at Fifth Avenue and 25th Street marks the burial site. More than two dozen identified victims were interred individually in separate sections at the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn. Also buried at the cemetery are 6 British Commonwealth service personnel whose graves are registered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 3 from World War I and 3 from World War II, among the latter being Leading Aircraftsman Remsen Taylor Williams (died 1941 aged 26), Royal Canadian Air Force, who is buried in the Steinway Vault.

Green-Wood has remained non-sectarian, but was generally considered a Christian burial place for white Anglo-Saxon Protestants of good repute. One early regulation was that no one executed for a crime, or even dying in jail, could be buried there. Although he died in the Ludlow Street Jail, the family of the infamous "Boss" Tweed managed to circumvent this rule. The cemetery's chapel was completed in 1911. It was designed by the architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore, who also designed Grand Central Terminal, the Commodore Hotel, the Yale Club and many other buildings. The architecture of the chapel is a reduced version of Christopher Wren's Thomas Tower at Christ Church College in Oxford, and was restored in 2001.

In 1999, The Green-Wood Historic Fund, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit institution, was created to continue preservation,beautification, educational programs and community outreach as the current "working cemetery" evolves into a Brooklyncultural institution.

The cemetery was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2006.

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy toppled or damaged at least 292 of the mature trees in the cemetery. The damage was estimated at $500,000.

Notable burials

• Samuel Akerly (1785–1845), founder of theNew York Institute for the Blind
• Augustus Chapman Allen (1806–1864), co-founder of the City of Houston
• Harvey A. Allen (1818?–1882), United States Army officer, was Commander of the Department of Alaska 1871–1873.
• Albert Anastasia (1903–1957), mobster and contract killer for Murder Inc.
• Othniel Boaz Askew (1972–2003; cremated), politician and assassin of New York City Council member James E. Davis, whose remains were relocated to another cemetery
• James Bard (1815–1897), marine artist, buried in unmarked grave
• Peter Townsend Barlow (1857–1921), New York City Magistrate
• Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988), artist
• William Holbrook Beard (1824–1900), painter of Bulls and Bears representing the market cycle; a bear statue sits on top of his headstone
• Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887), abolitionist
• George Wesley Bellows (1882–1925), painter
• James Gordon Bennett, Sr. (1795–1872), founder/publisher of the New York Herald
• Henry Bergh (1818–1888), founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
• Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990), composer, conductor
• Jane Augusta Blankman (1823–1860), courtesan
• Samuel Blatchford (1820–1893), U.S. Supreme Court Justice
• Andrew Bryson (1822–1892), United States Navy rear admiral
• Charlotte Canda, a debutante killed in a carriage accident on her 17th birthday
• Elliott Carter (1908–2012), composer
• Alice Cary (1820–1871), poet, author
• Phoebe Cary (1824–1871), poet, author
• George Catlin (1796–1872), painter of Native Americans in the Old West
• Henry Chadwick (1824–1908), Baseball Hall of Fame member (memorial)
• William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), painter, teacher
• Kate Claxton (1850–1924), American theatre actress noted for her role of Louise in the play The Two Orphans.
• DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828), unsuccessfulU.S. presidential candidate 1812; U.S. Senator from New York; seventh and ninthGovernor of New York
• William J. Coombs (1833–1922), U.S. Congressman from Brooklyn
• George H. Cooper (1821–1891), United States Navy rear admiral
• Peter Cooper (1791–1883), inventor, manufacturer, abolitionist, founder ofCooper Union
• James Creighton, Jr. (1841–1862), firstpitcher to throw a fastball
• Edwin Pearce Christy (1815–1862), minstrel, known for performing the Stephen Foster song "Old Folks at Home" (aka "Swanee River").
• Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888), artist ("Currier and Ives")
• Duncan Curry (1812–1894), baseball pioneer and insurance executive
• Bronson M. Cutting (1888–1935), United States Senator from New Mexico (1927–1928; 1929–1935)
• Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749–1838), Italian poet and memoir writer; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Italian librettist, author of librettos of The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni; first Professor of Italian at Columbia University
• James E. Davis (1962–2003), assassinated City Councilman, was buried here for a few days. Upon learning his killer's ashes were also in Green-Wood, his family had his body exhumed and reinterred in the Cemetery of the Evergreens.
• Charles Schuyler De Bost (1826–1895), baseball pioneer
• Richard Delafield (1798–1873), Chief of Engineers and Superintendent of West Point
• Francis E. Dorn (1911–1987), US Naval Commander, attorney and 12th District New York congressman for Brooklyn, Kings County.
• Mabel Smith Douglass (1874–1933), founder and first dean of the New Jersey College for Women
• Thomas Clark Durant (1820–1885), key figure in building the First Transcontinental Railroad
• James Durno (1795–1873), husband of labor activist Sarah Bagley (1806–1883)
• Fred Ebb (1928–2004), lyricist
• Charles Ebbets (1859–1925), baseball team (Brooklyn Dodgers) owner; builtEbbets Field
• Elizabeth F. Ellet (1818–1877), American writer and poet
• Charles Feltman (1841–1910), claimed to be the first person to put a hot dog on a bun
• Edward Ferrero (1831–1899), American Civil War General at the Battle of the Crater and in the Appomattox Campaign
• Edwin Forbes (1839–1895), American Civil War and postbellum artist, illustrator, and etcher.
• Isaac Kaufmann Funk (1839–1912), American editor, lexicographer, publisher, and spelling reformer
• Joey Gallo (1929–1972), mobster
• Asa Bird Gardiner (1839–1919), controversial soldier, attorney, and prosecutor
• Robert Selden Garnett (1819–1861),brigadier general of the Confederate States Army and the first general killed in the American Civil War
• Henry George (1839-1897), writer, politician and economist
• Henry George, Jr. (1862–1916), United States Representative from New York
• Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–1869), composer
• John Franklin Gray (1804–1882), the first practitioner of Homeopathy in the United States.
• Horace Greeley (1811–1872), unsuccessful U.S. presidential candidate 1872; founder of the New York Tribune
• Robert Stockton Green (1831–1895),Governor of New Jersey
• Rufus Wilmot Griswold (1815–1857), literary critic
• Edward Wheeler Hall (1881–1922), one of the victims of the Hall–Mills murder case
• Frances Noel Stevens Hall (1874–1942), wife of Edward and suspect in the Hall–Mills murder
• Paul Hall (1914–1980), labor leader
• Henry Wager Halleck (1815–1872), Chief of Staff during the latter part of theAmerican Civil War
• William Stewart Halsted (1852–1922), pioneer in American medicine and surgery, often credited as the "Father of Modern American Surgery"
• Jeremiah Hamilton (1806/1807–1875), "the only black millionaire in New York" around the time of the American Civil War
• John Hardy (1835–1913), member of theU.S. House of Representatives from New York
• Townsend Harris (1804–1878), first U.S. Consul General to Japan
• William S. Hart (1864–1946), star of silent "Western" movies
• Thomas Hastings (1784–1872), wrote the music to the hymn "Rock of Ages"
• Joseph Henderson (1826–1890), notable harbor pilot
• Philip A. Herfort (1851–1921), violinist and orchestra leader
• Abram S. Hewitt (1822–1903), Teacher, lawyer, iron manufacturer, U.S. Congressman, and a mayor of New York. Son-in-law of Peter Cooper.
• Henry B. Hidden (c. 1839–1862), American Civil War cavalry officer
• DeWolf Hopper (1858–1935), actor.
• Elias Howe (1819–1867), invented thesewing machine (see Walter Hunt).
• Walter Hunt (1785–1869), invented the safety pin.
• Richard Isay (1934–2012), psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, author, gay activist.
• James Merritt Ives (1824–1895), artist ("Currier and Ives").
• Paul Jabara (1948–1992), actor, singer and songwriter.
• Leonard Jerome (1817–1891), entrepreneur, grandfather of Winston Churchill.
• Eastman Johnson (1824–1906), American painter, and co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
• Tom L. Johnson (1854-1911), former mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.
• Laura Keene (1826–1873), actress who was on stage when Lincoln was shot.
• Florence La Badie (1888–1917), actress
• John La Farge (1835–1910), artist.
• Laura Jean Libbey (1862–1924), popular "dime-store" novelist.
• Brockholst Livingston (1757–1823), U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
• William Livingston (1723–1790), signer of the U.S. Constitution; first Governor of New Jersey.
• William Lewis Lockwood (1836–1867), one of the founders of the Sigma Chi Fraternity
• Pierre Lorillard IV (1833–1901), tobacco tycoon, introduced the tuxedo to the U.S.
• James Maury (consul) (1746–1840), first U.S. consul to Liverpool, England
• Susan McKinney Steward (1847–1918), one of the first black women to earn a medical degree, and the first in the state of New York.
• Ormsby M. Mitchel (1805–1862), American astronomer and major general in the American Civil War
• Henry James Montague (1840–1878), stage actor.
• Lola Montez (1821–1861), actress and mistress of many notable men among them King Ludwig I of Bavaria
• Samuel F.B. Morse (1791–1872), inventedMorse code, language of the telegraph
• Violet Oakley (1874–1961), artist.
• James Kirke Paulding (1779–1860), U.S. Secretary of the Navy under Martin Van Buren; thought to be "author" of "Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers".
• Anson Greene Phelps (1781–1853), founder of Phelps, Dodge mining and copper company
• Duncan Phyfe (1768–1854), cabinetmaker
• William "Bill The Butcher" Poole (1821–1855), a member of the Bowery Boys gang and the Know Nothing political party; also abare-knuckle boxer
• Henry Jarvis Raymond (1820–1869), American journalist and politician and founder of The New York Times
• Samuel C. Reid (1783–1861), suggested the design upon which all U.S. flags since 1818 have been based
• Alice Roosevelt (1861–1884), first wife of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
• Martha Bulloch Roosevelt (1834–1884), mother of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
• Robert Roosevelt (1829–1906), uncle of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
• Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. (1831–1878), father of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
• Henry Rutgers (1745–1830), Revolutionary War hero, philanthropist, namesake of Rutgers University
• Ira Sankey (1840–1908), hymn composer
• Frederick August Otto Schwarz (1836–1911), founder of specialty toy retailer FAO Schwarz
• Eli Siegel (1902–1978), poet, educator, founder of the philosophy Aesthetic Realism.
• John D. Sloat (1781–1867), United States Navy commodore, claimed California for the U.S.
• Henry Warner Slocum (1827–1894), Union general in the American Civil War, U.S. Representative from N.Y.
• Ole Singstad (1882–1969), Norwegian-American civil engineer, designed Lincoln Tunnel and others.
• Francis Barretto Spinola (1821–1891), first Italian-American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
• Emma Stebbins (1815–1882), artist, sculptor of Bethesda Fountain
• Henry Steinway (1797–1871), founder ofSteinway & Sons, piano manufacturers
• William Steinway (1836–1896), son of Henry Steinway, and founder of Steinway, New York
• John Austin Stevens Jr. (1827–1910), founder of Sons of the Revolution
• James S. T. Stranahan (1808–1898), "Father of Prospect Park", instrumental promoter of the park, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the consolidation of Brooklyn into Greater New York
• Francis Scott Street (1831–1883), co-owner of Street & Smith publishers
• Silas Stringham (1798–1876), long serving United States Navy officer during the American Civil War and War of 1812.
• George Crockett Strong (1832–1863),Union brigadier general in the American Civil War.
• Thomas William "Fightin' Tom" Sweeny(1820–1892), Irish immigrant and American Civil War general
• Richard Termini Sr. (1929–1982), Father of musician Richard Termini
• John Thomas (1805–1871), founding father of The Christadelphians
• Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933), artist
• Alfred Toftenes (1881–1918), NorwegianChief Officer blamed for the collision that sank the Empress of Ireland.
• Matilda Tone (or Mathilda) (1769–1849), widow of Irish rebel Wolfe Tone
• George Francis Train (1829–1904), railroad promoter
• Juan Trippe (1899–1981), airline pioneer, headed Pan Am from 1927 to 1968
• Robert Troup (1756–1832), Revolutionary War hero, New York State assemblyman and Judge. Body moved to Green-Wood in 1872.
• William Magear "Boss" Tweed (1823–1878), notorious New York political boss, member of the U.S. House of Representatives and New York State Senate.
• Camilla Urso (Camille Urso) (1842–1902), French violinist.
• Steven C. Vincent (1955–2005), American journalist and author kidnapped and murdered in Iraq August 2005.
• Leopold von Gilsa (d. 1870), American Civil War colonel and brigade commander.
• Charles S. Wainwright (1826–1907), American Civil War colonel and artillery officer.
• Henry John Whitehouse (1803–1874), Episcopal Bishop.
• Thomas R. Whitney (1807–1858), member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew York.
• Barney Williams (1824–1876), Irish-American actor-comedian
• Beekman Winthrop (1874–1940), Governor of Puerto Rico from 1904 to 1907, and later an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.
• Frank Morgan Wupperman (1890–1949), played the character of the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz (as Frank Morgan).
• Jonathan Young (1826–1885), United States Navy commodore.