Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)
Coordinates: 40°53′21″N 73°52′24″W / 40.889033°N 73.873433°W
- This article refers to the Woodlawn Cemetery in the New York City borough of the Bronx. For other uses, see Woodlawn Cemetery (disambiguation).
Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City. A rural cemetery located in the Bronx, it opened in 1863,[1] in what was then southern Westchester County, in an area that was annexed to New York City in 1874. The cemetery covers more than 400 acres (160 ha)[1] and is the resting place for more than 300,000 people.
Built on rolling hills, its tree-lined roads lead to some unique memorials, some designed by McKim Mead & White, John Russell Pope, James Gamble Rogers, Cass Gilbert, Carrère and Hastings, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Beatrix Jones Farrand, and John LaFarge.
In 1967, what is generally believed to be the first community mausoleum on the East Coast of the United States was built at Woodlawn. The concept has proved extremely popular, and as a result many other cemeteries throughout the United States have since added such structures.[citation needed]
As of 2007, plot prices at Woodlawn were reported as $200 per square foot, $4,800 for a gravesite for two, and up to $1.5 million for land to build a family mausoleum.[2]
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[edit] Burials moved to Woodlawn
Woodlawn was the destination for many human remains disinterred from cemeteries in more densely populated parts of New York City:[3]
- The Dyckman-Nagle Burying Ground, West 212th Street/9th Avenue Manhattan, was established in 1677 and originally contained 417 plots. In 1905 the remains with the exception of Staats Morris and his family were removed. By 1927 the Morris graves were moved to Woodlawn Cemetery. The former cemetery is now a Train Yard for the NYC Transit Authority.
- West Farms Dutch Reformed Church at Boone Avenue and 172nd Street in the Bronx had most of its graves moved to Woodlawn Cemetery.
- Bensonia Cemetery, aka Morrisania Cemetery, was originally a Native American Burial Ground. The graves were moved to Woodlawn Cemetery. PS138, in the Bronx is now on the site.
- Rutgers Street church graves were moved to Woodlawn Cemetery.
[edit] Notable burials
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Woodlawn Cemetery website, accessed April 27, 2009
- ^ Tom Van Riper, America's Most Expensive Cemeteries, Forbes.com, October 26, 2007
- ^ Carolee Inskeep (1998), The Graveyard Shift: A Family Historian's Guide to New York City Cemeteries, Ancestry Publishing, ISBN 0916489892, ISBN 9780916489892, page xii
[edit] External links
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