Green-Wood's Main Entrance Arch—of brownstone—was built 1861-1863. Robert A.M. Stern, architect and historian, has described them as "the finest example of High Victorian architecture in America." They were designed by Richard Upjohn and Son. Upjohn was Green-Wood's early go-to architect—he drew the plans for Green-Wood's Receiving Tomb (the final stop on this walk), the Ladies' Shelter (sadly, made of wood, it deteriorated and is long gone), and the Viaduct that still carries Fifth Avenue above the Cemetery at 35th Street. This entrance was established after the approach to Green-Wood's first entrance, along Sixth Avenue, had filled with bars—a development that made Green-Wood's trustees very unhappy. So they bought this corner of the land and built this grand entrance. In this photograph, taken soon after the gates were completed, the iron gates are down. Those gates no longer exist. But if you go under the Arches and look up, you can see the space that they would have disappeared into when they were raised and Green-Wood was open for visitors.

Here are those gates in their up position, tucked up into the stonework, in a photograph circa 1870.

John Anderson (1812-1881) made his fortune selling tobacco. And it was quite a fortune! His mausoleum is dated 1864 above the doorway. In today's money, it would cost $326,000! If you walk up the stairs and onto the landing, you can see the Statue of Liberty in the distance, beyond the Main Entrance Arch, in the harbor. Built while the Civil War raged, the architecture of this mausoleum, Greek Revival, was meant as a political statement. Anderson supported the idea, tracing its roots to Ancient Greece, that a republic was the best form of government for the people and could survive in the real world—that a monarchy was not needed. It is a little-remembered fact that the kings and queens of Europe were rooting for the Confederacy to triumph during our Civil War—to show that every country did, in fact, need a monarch. The four statuettes, two in front and two in the back of the mausoleum, are of the evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and are signed by their sculptor, John Moffitt. He also sculpted the reliefs on the Main Entrance Arch and the figures in the upcoming Durant Mausoleum. Walk around behind the mausoleum and see if you can find the spot where the photographer, who took this image 150 years ago, stood at his camera to do so.

Thomas Clark Durant (1820-1885) was the vice president of the Union Pacific Railroad. It was his job to raise money from investors to pay the Irish track-layers as the Union Pacific ran west from St. Louis in a race with the Central Pacific, which was being built by Chinese immigrant workers and heading east from California. Together they would unite their rails at Promontory Point, Utah, to open the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. It was one of the great technological advances in nineteenth-century America. For every mile a company's men built, that company was given, by the United States government, acres and acres of land on either side of the track. But Durant did not do his job all that well—the ceremony to drive the "Golden Spike," marking the completion of the work, was held up for several days when he, on his way to attend, was kidnapped and held for ransom by his trackman—who let him go only after they were paid the wages due them. Note his name, "T.C. Durant."--above the doorway. Why the period after his name? A visitor on a recent tour, apparently conversant in design, suggested that it was there to balance the inscribed name as it stretches across several stones--without that period the symmetry would be off. A good observation!

Thomas Clark Durant (1820-1885) was able, despite a great scandal associated with his work on the Union Pacific Railroad, to accumulate a substantial fortune. To decorate the interior of this mausoleum, he hired sculptor John Moffitt (who also worked on the Main Entrance Arch and the Anderson Mausoleum) to create three marble works inside it. This photograph, which dates circa 1875, gives you a glimpse of what is behind that heavy gray granite door. This is inconspicuous consumption—paying a sculptor to create art, then locking the door so that few would see those works. Green-Wood does occasionally open this mausoleum up for special tours—keep an eye out for our next such event at green-wood.com. There is nothing like being inside this mausoleum and hearing the ping as the huge granite door is swung closed—and all goes dark.

Charles Morgan (1795-1878) was a shipping and railroad magnate who dominated commerce in the Gulf Coast area. Morgan City, Louisiana, where his railroad ended and his ships docked, was named for him. His bust, carved in marble, tops his family mausoleum. This is also Greek Revival in design—the columns, the Ionic capitals (the things with the curls—known as volutes—at the top of each column), and the pedimented gable (that triangular shape just below the bust). The granite curb approaching it was straightened and reset by Green-Wood's Restoration Team about five years ago. Note, in the photograph, how neatly the stones at the base of the stairs leading to the mausoleum were laid out. Also, note the spectacular oversized black-painted cast iron urn in front of the mausoleum—it still is planted with annuals every spring.

Green-Wood's Receiving Tomb, built in 1853, is made of brownstone; its rounded arches are of Romanesque design. Its architect, Richard Upjohn, created this space, built into the hill to ensure constant cooling, for the temporary storage of up to 1,500 bodies. Such storage was necessary when there was a delay in burial because the ground was frozen when a family awaited the arrival of out-of-towners for the funeral, or when lot purchasers were undecided on which lot to purchase. Upjohn was the first president of the American Institute of Architects and is best remembered for designing Trinity Church at the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Note the pond in front of the Receiving Tomb in this photograph. That is Arbor Water, one of Green-Wood's spring-fed glacial ponds. It was filled in about 1910 for the erection of the Historic Chapel (to your right as you stand facing the Receiving Tomb). Also, note the black vents above the Receiving Tomb on the hill; they allowed gases released by bodies, as they decomposed, to escape. The wildflower and perennial plantings on this hill, done just a few years ago, eliminated grass that had to be mowed often and replaced it with better habitat for birds, insects, and bees.

Back where you started!