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Near 33rd Street, BMT Fifth Avenue Line
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(46)
"The Poet's Mound" (McDonald Clarke Monument)
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Monument of McDonald Clarke (1798-1842), "The Mad Poet of Broadway," ca. 1870. Often referred to simply as "The Poet's Mound," the monument to McDonald Clarke is one of the oldest at Green-Wood, dating to 1842. Created by sculptor Robert E. Launitz, it bears a relief portrait of Clarke, is inscribed with one of the poet's verses, and bears the epitaph, "Poor McDonald Clarke - Let silence gaze, but curse not his grave." (Lot 7011, Sec. 34)
Sarah Van Brunt Cashman Monument
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Monuments to Sarah Van Brunt Cashman, William Augustus Conklin, and Martha and Mary Titus, ca. 1890. (Lots 799 and 800, Sec. 64)
Fifth Avenue Viaduct
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Viaduct along 5th avenue near Green-Wood’s Western Entrance of at 34th Street and 4th Avenue, ca. 1860. The viaduct was designed by Richard Upjohn.
Sylvan Water
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View of Sylvan Water, the largest glacial pond in The Green-Wood Cemetery, ca. 1860.
Arctic Monument
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The Arctic Monument, in the Brown Family lot, circa 1875. The Arctic Monument, standing at the center of the Brown family lot, was commissioned by James Brown (1791-1877), head of the powerful Brown Brothers banking firm, to honor those lost in the sinking of the steamship Arctic. When the Arctic went down in 1854, James Brown lost a number of family members: his son William Benedict Brown, William’s wife Clara Moulton Brown, their infant daughter Grace, his daughter Maria, his daughter Grace, and her son Herbert. Their names are carved into the front of the monument. Sculpted by artist John Moffitt, the marble monument features at its center a likeness of the sinking Arctic. Though the ship’s mast and sails have been lost over time, the monument’s stone canopy has protected much of the ship’s detailing from the elements. Look up above the ship at the detailed carving by Moffitt. (Lot 2134, Sec. 22)
James Gordon Bennett, Sr. Monument
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Monument of James Gordon Bennett (1795-1872), founder of the New York Herald, ca. 1880. The monument was sculpted for the Bennett family in Italy and transported to its current location, overlooking New York Harbor. According to a description in a nineteenth century New York guide, the monument is “a life-sized female figure, kneeling on a cushion in an attitude of prayer, commending her child, which is held in suspense by an angelic figure, to the Almighty Giver.” It has lost much of its detailing due to acid rain. (Lot 14234, Sec. 37/42)
Tietjen Monument
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Monument of the Tietjen family, ca. 1875. (Lot 9620, Sec. 15)
Maple Ridge
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View of Maple Ridge in Green-Wood, ca. 1860.
Frost Monument
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Monument of the Frost family, ca. 1870-1875. (Lot 8872, Sec.21)
Do-Hum-Me Monument
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Monument to Do-hum-me, "The Indian Princess," ca. 1875. In 1843, at the age of eighteen, Do-Hum-Me, came east with her father, a chief of the Sac tribe, who was representing his people at treaty negotiations with the United States government. Do-Hum-Me soon met Cow-Hick-Kee and they married. She became the toast of the town in New York City, performing at P.T. Barnum’s museum. It wasn't long, however, before she fell gravely ill and died - just five weeks after her wedding. Still in its early years, Green-Wood offered a lot for burial of the young woman, hoping to add an attraction to the struggling cemetery. Do-Hum-Me was buried on March 15, 1843, near Sylvan Water, wearing her wedding dress. Her monument was carved by sculptor Robert Launitz and paid for by Barnum. As skilled of an artist as he was, Launitz struggled with English spelling, inscribing the misspelling of "Cheif" to be seen by generations to follow. The epitaph to Do-Hum-Me reads, "Thou art Happy now for thou hast past; the cold dark journey of the grave; And in the land of light at last; has joined the good, the fair, the brave." (Lot 236, Sec. 41)
John Matthews Monument
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Monument to John Matthews (1808-1870), ca. 1875.
James Gordon Bennett, Sr. Monument
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Monument of James Gordon Bennett, Sr., founder of the New York Herald, ca. 1875.
Fountain Hill
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View of Fountain Hill in Green-Wood, ca. 1865. Fountain Hill was so named for the large fountain that stood at its crest. The fountain has since been removed.
Betania Baptist Kirke (Church)
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At the center of the photograph is Betania Baptist Kirke (Church), a Scandinavian church which was not an uncommon sight in Sunset Park in the early and middle of the 20th century. Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians made up a large population of the neighborhood, with a section of 8th Avenue from Sunset Park to Bay Bridge called Lapskaus Boulevard, after the Nordic beef stew. The building, though somewhat drastically altered, does retain some of its original features, most notably the slanted peak of the roof seen behind the new second floor facade. The building is still used for religious purposes as Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal Alpha y Omega.
Lake Avenue
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A series of Mausoleums along Lake Avenue, opposite Sylvan Water, ca. 1870. Mausoleums pictured include those of Mary Tileston and the Spofford family. (Lots 14451, 14452, Sec. 37)
Arctic Monument
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Detail of the Arctic Monument, circa 1875.
Menemon Sanford Monument
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Monument to sea captain and shipbuilder Menemon Sanford (d. 1852), ca. 1875. A competitor of Cornelius Vanderbilt in the shipping business, his monument reflects his maritime connection, with a ship at sea tossed by waves, ropes, mast, capstan, sextant, telescope, and calipers, all of marble. (Lot 1146, Sec. 43)
Spruce Hill
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View of Spruce Hill in The Green-Wood Cemetery, ca. 1865.
John Matthews Monument
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Monument to John Matthews (1808-1870), ca. 1870.
Bergen House
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Bergen House, ca. 1880. Known as the DeHart or Bergen House, this structure once stood on a plot west of Third Avenue near 37th and 38th Streets. The home was supposedly constructed in the mid to late 1600s for Symon (Simon) Aertszen DeHart. A record of the visit of two Labadists (a 17th-century Protestant religious community) missionaries to the home in 1679-80 notes: "They spent one night at the house of Simon DeHart, where they supped on raw and roasted oysters, a roasted haunch of venison, a wild turkey, and a goose, and sat before a hickory fire blazing half-way up the chimney." Passed through generations of Simon's descendants during the 1700s, the home was sold away from the DeHart/Bergen clan around the end of the 18th or early 19th century. Captured here circa 1880, the home was demolished before the turn of the 20th century. (Sources differ on the exact location of the house. All agree it was near Third Avenue —which was on the waterfront at that point— but some say 33rd Street, others, 37th, and still others between 38th and 39th.)
Sylvan Avenue
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A series of mausoleums along Sylvan Avenue, ca. 1875. Mausoleums pictured include those of Mary L. Adriance, Thomas Terry, and George H. and C. Moller. (Lots 19362, 19687, 14697, Sec. 41)
Horace Greeley Monument
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Monument to Horace Greeley (1811-1872), founder and editor of the New York Tribune, ca. 1875. Greeley's monument was erected by America's printers. Topped with a bronze bust of him by Charles Calverley, the pedestal has a bronze bas-relief on one side which shows Greeley as a youth, with composing stick in hand, standing over his type case. Another panel depicts a plow, an apparent allusion to Greeley's famous recommendation to the unemployed during the panic of 1837, "Go West, young man, and grow with the country." Greeley wrote his own epitaph, "Fame is a vapor; popularity an accident; riches take wings; the only earthly certainty is oblivion; no man can foresee what a day will bring forth; while those who cheer today will often curse tomorrow; and yet I cherish the hope that the journal I projected and established will live and flourish long after I have mouldered into forgotten dust.. and that the stone which covers my ashes may bear to future eyes the still intelligible inscription, Founder of The New York Tribune." (Lot 2344, Sec. 35).
"Precious Georgie" (George Sidney Cuyler Monument)
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"Precious Georgie," monument of George Sidney Cuyler, ca. 1880. The son of Theodore Ledyard Cuyler and Annie E. Cuyler, George Sidney Cuyler died at the age of four from scarlet fever, leaving behind a twin brother, Theodore, and two heartbroken parents. Theodore Ledyard Cuyler (1822-1909) was the longtime pastor of Brooklyn's Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church and nationally known for his work in both the temperance and abolitionist movements. Cuyler employed noted sculptor Charles Calverley to create a likeness of young Georgie to adorn his monument. The marble relief cameo, protected from the elements behind glass, remains in fine condition. (Lot 4228, Sec. 23/34)
Valley Water
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View of Valley Water in The Green-Wood Cemetery, ca. 1880.
Valley Water
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View of Valley Water in The Green-Wood Cemetery, ca. 1870.
Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel
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The chapel was constructed in 1911 after designs by Warren and Wetmore, architects of Grand Central Terminal, and is a reduced replica of Christopher Wren’s Thomas Tower at Christ Church College in Oxford, England.
Clara Bartlet Gregory Monument
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Monument to Clara Bartlet Gregory (1807-1845), wife of famed painter George Catlin (1796-1872), ca. 1865.
John Matthews Monument
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Monument to John Matthews (1808-1870), known as the "Soda Fountain King," ca. 1875. Dating to the early 1870's, the Matthews monument was created by prolific sculptor Karl Muller. Executed in terra-cotta and marble for the great sum of $30,000, it was named the "Mortuary Monument of the Year" in the year is was unveiled. The Mathews monument is adorned with the likenesses of members of the Matthews family, including John Matthews laying atop a sarcophagus at the center, and the faces of his daughters atop the four columns. The statue seated at the second level, which has greatly deteriorated over the years, typifies grief. Various flora and fauna can be found throughout the monument, as well as four gargoyles on the corners which spit water when it rains. The spectacular monument was once even more elaborate, featuring a central spire that loosened and has since been removed. (Lot 1345, Sec. 66)
Gassner Monument
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Monument of the Gassner family, ca. 1860. (Lot 5518, Sec. 45)
36th Street Entrance
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Original structure that stood at the Western Entrance to Green-Wood, near 34th Street and 4th Avenue, ca. 1875.
Cliff Path
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View of mausoleums along Cliff Path, ca. 1860.
Lake Avenue
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View along Lake Avenue, bordering Sylvan Water, ca. 1875.
Ravine Path
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View of Sylvan Water, looking down Ravine Path from Oaken Bluff, ca. 1890.
John Ruthven Monument
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Monument to John Ruthven, ca. 1860. (Lot 2169, Sec. 13/22)
Sylvan Cliff
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View along the shore of Sylvan Avenue, looking toward Sylvan Cliff, circa 1870.
Cornelia Polhemus Monument
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Monuments to Cornelia Polhemus and Jane D. Creed, ca. 1880. (Lots 182 and 1543, Sec. 61)
John Matthews Monument
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Monument to John Matthews (1808-1870), ca. 1870.
Frost Monument
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Frost family plot, prior to the construction of monument, ca. 1870
John Matthews Monument
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Monument to John Matthews (1808-1870), ca. 1870.
Arbor Water
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Arbor Water, a glacial pond formerly located near the entrance of The Green-Wood Cemetery, ca. 1870. Arbor water was one of several glacial ponds on the land that would become Green-Wood. It was filled in in 1911 to make space for Green-Wood's Historic Chapel, designed by architects Warren & Wetmore and completed in 1912. As seen in this photo, rowboats were once available for cemetery visitors to take out on the water.
Lake and Sylvan Avenues
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View in Green-Wood, near the intersection of Sylvan and Lake Avenues, ca. 1860.
Landscape Avenue
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View along Landscape Avenue, near Valley Water, ca. 1865.
Dr. Charles Isaacs Monument
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Monument to Doctor Charles Isaacs (1811-1860), ca. 1865. (Lot 13421, Sec. 61.)
Lake and Sylvan Avenues
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View of Sylvan Water, from the intersection of Lake and Sylvan Avenues, circa 1875.
Kelsey Monument
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Kelsey monument, ca. 1875.
380 36th Street
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Public School No. 82, 1930. Public School 82 was constructed in 1891 and designed by James. W. Naughton who was Brooklyn’s superintendent of school buildings and repairs from 1879 to 1898. He designed more than 100 schools during his tenure, including P.S 107 on 8th Avenue which has many similar features to P.S. 82. The Romanesque Revival building with the ivy growing on the facade is no longer, replaced some time after 1930 with a simple brick school building for now Public School 371, a small high school.
Photos
(131)
33rd Street, BMT Fifth Avenue Line
Fifth Avenue El, Brooklyn, at 33rd Street, September 22, 1941.
5 Avenue
5 Avenue
34th Street, BMT Fifth Avenue Line
Fifth Avenue El, Brooklyn, at 34th Street, September 22, 1941.
Fifth Avenue Viaduct
35th Street, BMT Fifth Avenue Line
Fifth Avenue El, Brooklyn, at 35th Street, September 22, 1941.
Sylvan Water
Sylvan Water
Do-Hum-Me Monument
Sylvan Water
Sylvan Water
Sylvan Water
Sylvan Water
Sylvan Water
Sylvan Water
Maple Ridge
36th Street Entrance
31st Street, BMT Fifth Avenue Line
Fifth Avenue El, Brooklyn, at 31st Street, September 22, 1941.
"The Poet's Mound" (McDonald Clarke Monument)
225 31st Street
\[Northwest corner of Fifth Avenue.] Northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 31st Street (latter side showing). Eds food shop.
937 Fourth Avenue
Brooklyn: 4th Avenue - 25th Street 4th Avenue, south from 25th Street, this being the west side of the AVCIIU6. P. L. Sperr July 21, 1940 A9oNe 270P
Lake and Sylvan Avenues
Lake and Sylvan Avenues
197 31st Street
\[View of north side of 31st Street.] View of north side of 31st Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues looking west.
Sylvan Avenue
36th Street Station, BMT Fifth Avenue El
Fifth Avenue El, Brooklyn, at 36th Street looking south, May 29, 1940.
36th Street Station, BMT Fifth Avenue El
Fifth Avenue El, Brooklyn, at 36th Street looking north, May 29, 1940.
36th Street Station, BMT Fifth Avenue El
Fifth Avenue El, Brooklyn, at 36th Street, September 22, 1941.
36th Street Station, BMT Fifth Avenue El
Fifth Avenue El, Brooklyn, at 36th Street, showing section cleared, September 22, 1941.
36th Street Station, BMT Fifth Avenue El
Fifth Avenue El, Brooklyn, at 36th Street, September 22, 1941. View north of 36th Street.
Betania Baptist Kirke (Church)
John Matthews Monument
John Matthews Monument
John Matthews Monument
John Matthews Monument
John Matthews Monument
John Matthews Monument
John Matthews Monument
John Matthews Monument
John Matthews Monument
John Matthews Monument
849 Fourth Avenue
Brooklyn: 4th Avenue - 31st Street 4th Avenue, east side, south from 31st to 32nd Streets. In the middle of the block is the Betania Baptist Kirke (church). July 21, 1940 P. L. Sperr
Sylvan Cliff
Brooklyn: 20th Street - 5th Avenue Greenwood Cemetery, from 20th Street on the north, to 37th Street on the south, and from Fifth Ave., on the west, to Fort Hamilton and Mc Donald Ave., on the east. A view of the "Lake Side Path" and "Sylvan Waters" in the Cemetery. About 1920. Eugene L. Armbruster Collection.
Sylvan Cliff
Fifth Avenue and 36th Street
\[Fifth Avenue and 36th Street, Brooklyn, NY?] Fifth Avenue and 36th Street, Brooklyn, NY? Eastward (?) view of a large open space with workmen and buses. Also showing subway train cars parked in the distance, and cars on the road alongside the yard.
James Gordon Bennett, Sr. Monument
James Gordon Bennett, Sr. Monument
177 31st Street
\[View of north side of 31st Street.] View of north side of 31st Street between 4th and 5th Avenues looking east.
209 30th Street
\[View of north side of Thirtieth Street.] View of north side of Thirtieth Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues looking west.
871 Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue El, Brooklyn, at 37th Street, October 17, 1941. Demolishing the last of the 36th Street station and car yards.
871 Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue El, Brooklyn, at 37th Street, October 17, 1941. Demolishing the last of the 36th Street station and car yards.
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