's memorial to
Hezekiah Pierrepont and his family, built , sits on one of the cemetery's few man-made hillocks. Green-Wood's site is characterized by varied topography created by
glacial moraines, particularly the
Harbor Hill Moraine.
Battle Hill, also known as Gowan's Heights, the highest point in
Brooklyn, is on cemetery grounds, rising approximately above sea level. It was the site of an important action during the
Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776. A Revolutionary War monument by
Frederick Ruckstull,
Altar to Liberty: Minerva, was erected there in 1920. From this height, the bronze
Minerva statue gazes towards the
Statue of Liberty across New York Harbor. Green-Wood was less inspired by
Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, which at the time retained the primarily axial formality of
Alexandre Théodore Brongniart's original design, than by
Mount Auburn Cemetery in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, where a cemetery in a naturalistic park-like landscape in the
English manner was first established. It has been called "Brooklyn's first public park by default long before Prospect Park was created." Green-Wood Cemetery contains 600,000 graves and 7,000 trees spread out over . Though at one point there were numerous gravediggers at Green-Wood, there were just a few gravediggers due to a decrease in the number of burials, as well as the limited amount of space for new burials. Because of this shortage of space, several family members may be buried atop each other in some plots. Several wooden shelters were also built, including one in a Gothic Revival style, one resembling an Italian villa, and another resembling a
Swiss chalet. These shelters, designed by
Richard Upjohn, had largely deteriorated by the late 20th century except for a ladies' shelter.
Landscaping and circulation Green-Wood Cemetery contains numerous landscape features, which in turn are named after terms that evoke a naturalistic scene. These names include Camellia Path, Halcyon Lake, Oaken Bluff, Sylvan Cliff, and Vista Hill.
David Bates Douglass, Green-Wood's landscape architect, mostly kept the cemetery's natural landscaping intact. Much of Douglass's plan is still in place with its original plantings and curving-road systems. The original street names and original cast-iron perimeter fence have been retained, but many of the roads have been paved. The cemetery has been expanded several times. Some of monuments and mausoleums were designed by popular architects of the time, including
Minard Lafever, Richard Upjohn, and
Warren and Wetmore. During the
American Civil War, Green-Wood Cemetery created the "Soldiers' Lot" for free veterans' burials; this lot included less than of land. In 1868–1876, after the war ended, the Civil War Soldiers' Monument was erected at the highest point in Green-Wood. Other monuments of note include the
Pilots' Monument and the Sea Captain's Monument, each dedicated to a notable person in these respective professions. the statue was formerly in
Bryant Park and
Central Park but was removed from the latter in 2017. Some elaborate monuments honor notable figures, such as
William Niblo's Grand Gothic mausoleum, the
Steinway & Sons family's Classical mausoleum,
Abiel Abbot Low's tomb, and the Lispenard family's Norman-style mausoleum. Numerous other monuments to notable figures exist but are extremely simple in design, such as the tombs of
Samuel Morse,
William M. Tweed,
Lola Montez,
Henry Ward Beecher, and
Currier and Ives. On the other hand, several monuments commemorate less well-known figures, including a Gothic memorial for 17-year-old Charlotte Canda, and a
High Victorian pier designed by William or Edward Potter for their relatives.
Gates The gates were designed by Richard Upjohn in
Gothic Revival style. There are four gates in total. Two are city landmarks: the main gate at 25th Street to the northwest, which is closest to
South Slope/
Greenwood Heights, and Fort Hamilton Parkway to the south, which is in
Kensington. In between the two gateways is a clock tower in the
Flamboyant style.
The New York Community Trust placed a Designated Landmarks of New York plaque on the gate in 1958, and the gate was designated an official
New York City landmark in 1966. The gate was built in 1876 and completed the next year; it was designated as an official New York City landmark in 2016. To the east of the entrance is the visitor's lounge, a brownstone building. It is a -story structure with an entrance located inside a center
bay on the west side of the building. The visitor's lounge contains two side bays, each with a
porch, as well as restrooms for men and women. The
hip roof is made of
gray slate with metal ornamentation along the ridge at the top. The roof slopes down toward the perimeter walls of the building, though each of the four sides of the roof is punctuated by
dormers with small windows. The corner porches feature stone banisters, and contain four yellow sandstone bas-reliefs sculpted by Moffitt. The west side of the entrance, also a brownstone structure, contains the gatekeeper's residence, a -story structure that is similar in design to the visitor's lounge. Only the center section is stories, while the two pavilions to the west and east are stories. The residence's main entrance is through the eastern pavilion, while there is another pavilion on the western facade. Both pavilions have hip roofs of gray slate, and the second floor contains dormers with windows that project from the hip roof. The central "tower" section contains entrances to both the north and south, as well as windows on the second, third, and attic floors that face north and south. The roof of the central tower contains a stone chimney.
Chapel The Green-Wood Cemetery chapel is located near the 25th Street gate. Built in 1911–1913 by
Warren and Wetmore, the chapel is located on the site of one of Green-Wood's original ponds. Though it is generally designed in the late Gothic style, its
massing is in the
Beaux-Arts style. It is made of
limestone, and consists of multiple towers, including a central octagonal tower and four octagonal
turrets, one at each corner. The three-story chapel contains a ground level,
clerestory level, and the second story in the central tower. It was patterned after the
Tom Tower at
Christ Church, Oxford. Plans for the Green-Wood chapel date to shortly after the chapel's establishment, when a "Chapel Hill" was set aside within the cemetery. Though Richard Upjohn submitted plans for such a chapel in 1855, Green-Wood initially voted against such a chapel. A new location was selected near Arbor Water in the first decade of the 20th century, and plans were solicited from three firms in 1909. After Warren and Wetmore were selected, work started in 1911, and the chapel was officially opened in June 1913. The chapel was made a city landmark in 2016. == History ==