May 19, 2021
Sometimes when I get out of work, my feet take me to Green-Wood Cemetery… usually when it is beautiful out or when I have my good camera on me or if it’s been a minute. Most of the time I don’t deconstruct it. I just go, and let the why Read more…
March 23, 2021
Though it’s too early for the flowering trees I am waiting for, the gorgeous weather had me dropping in on Green-Wood Cemetery early for some crocuses, the start of some daffodils and some quiet contemplation. The pretty purple crocuses were scattered about here and there. Their vibrant shade is a Read more…
December 24, 2020
Around the block from Historic Richmond Town, The Church of Saint Andrew was established when the area was a British colony. In fact, Staten Island has New York City’s oldest churches! (Like this one established in 1680 in Port Richmond.) In the Revolutionary War it served as safe haven for Read more…
November 28, 2020
With beautiful weather and the price gouging of Thanksgiving over, I rented a car and hit the road. On the itinerary was a visit to Springfield Cemetery in Springfield, Massachusetts… to see a sculptured woman I’ve been long admiring. When I entered the historic cemetery I was struck by her Read more…
November 8, 2020
Since my trip to Manhattan’s Trinity Church & Cemetery was thwarted, I headed to the other side of Green-Wood Cemetery to capture the slightly past peak foliage and the familiar dour faces inside the blaze of a summer day in autumn, before the bright orange and yellow fall. Next up, Read more…
October 27, 2020
Lest you forget, it’s cemetery season. And even a quick glimpse into the wrought iron gates at dawn is eerily stirring as night’s restlessness leaves a trace of tension in the fog. The picketed border between the living and the dead hardly serves a purpose beyond framing the gravestones within. Read more…
October 22, 2020
The Allegheny Cemetery has a beautiful set of angel wings on its grounds–enormous feather-brushed bronze. The striking Porter Angel marks the resting place of Henry Kirke Porter, a congressman and businessman who died in 1921. She’s long been on my list of must-sees. And she was worth it. Pretty face, Read more…
The Homewood Cemetery has got what I like in a cemetery–it was founded in the late 1800’s, its grounds are Lawn Park style, and it’s full of gorgeous trees in peak foliage. And when you enter bright and early you can watch the bright streams of sun penetrate the morning Read more…
October 10, 2020
Staten Island’s Moravian Cemetery has it all–death heads and winged soul effigies on centuries old headstones, intriguing epitaphs, beautiful angels, heartbreaking modern-day memorials, lush green overgrowth, gorgeous trees, peace… quiet. Meandering through its paths in Autumn is the stuff that Cemetery Season is all about. Leaves are turning I found Read more…
October 4, 2020
As promised, haunting photo memorials and a couple of surprising secrets… off the beaten path at Green-Wood on that perfect Fall day.
To officially kick off the Cemetery Season, I wandered through Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery for hours, purposely not finding my way to my favorite monuments. I wanted to discover the parts that I had never explored, the parts I had passed along the way. Within this quest, I found so much Read more…
August 31, 2020
Sorry but I think the Maben Angel is more attractive than most living women. Is that weird? She’s way fierce. So after I left my apartment within quarantine to get a Covid and antibodies test in advance of maybe returning to school next week, I paid her a visit. Because Read more…
August 23, 2020
I have to show you this clown motel, aptly named The Clown Motel. Tonoapah’s most popular attraction imparts a layer of color, terror and creepiness to the desert landscape, more so when you consider it sits right next to the Old Tonopah Cemetery. And both are rumored to be Read more…
August 13, 2020
I will be seeing several ghost towns on my trip through Nevada, Utah and Arizona. Though most will be at the latter end when I am away from the tricky landscapes–within previous Gold Rush hot spots. But Grafton, established 1859 on order of Mormon bigwig Brigham Young, is right outside Read more…
July 22, 2020
Since I declared my intention of visiting all of Virginia’s dark sky parks and camping three evenings, forces of nature have threw me some curveballs. But I subscribe to several related philosophies that have me generally accepting, catching curveballs and admiring each. Though my que sera sera-ness might not serve Read more…
June 30, 2020
Like most beautiful cemeteries (and asylums) I can spend hours within, Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, a National Historical Place, was established in the mid-1800’s. I explored most of its 555 acres with my rental car because the heat was unbearable. But I ran out of the car like 600 Read more…
June 18, 2020
Since I returned to my school briefly of course I had to visit Green-Wood Cemetery. And yet again I saw some things I had never seen before! After all my visits I am still quite sure there are paths I have never walked down… things I have yet to admire. Read more…
June 12, 2020
An afternoon at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery would bring new discoveries, even more reasons to love its grounds. And since I’ve been carless for 11 days , I walked there from my apartment… just to see how long it would take. It was an easy walk that I’ll likely do again! Read more…
May 31, 2020
With some itineraries including the exploration of Ghost Towns in Pennsylvania and Nevada, I am starting a new Urban Exploration category with this first post about an abandoned village in New Jersey: Feltville. The remains of the this village established in 1845 lies within the Watchung Reservation in Berkeley Heights, Read more…
May 25, 2020
The burial ground for the unclaimed deceased patients of The Connecticut Valley State Hospital was active between 1878 through 1950. The small historically protected cemetery located in Middletown, Connecticut contains 1,686 numerical markers, each a life lost at the psychiatric hospital. Though the names of the interred remained private as Read more…
April 28, 2020
On my to-do list this afternoon: Lay under a Cherry Blossom tree. ✅ And if it’s on my list, it’s going to get done. Until I get myself to Japan for Hanami (on my list, so.. you know), I will run to Green-Wood annually when the cherry blossoms are in Read more…
April 19, 2020
Though it has become a source of disturbance and confusion, my want to uncover the abandoned lands that hold lost asylum patients has compelled me to trudge into thorny thickets now thrice. (Sorry, watching a Jane Austen movie). I was a bit uneasy this visit, having caught sight of several Read more…
April 15, 2020
Of course I had to throw in a couple of macabre stops while I was in New Jersey for its beautiful tulip fields. After a quick recon mission at the still partially functioning Trenton State Hospital, now Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, I deemed it worthy for a return at a later Read more…
April 13, 2020
The Eastern Gate of Heaven When I, upon returning home, realized I had missed seeing the Harlem Valley State Hospital’s cemetery, I knew I’d be back soon. The grounds of its Potters Field, called The Gate of Heaven, are very isolated… in the middle of the woods as you can Read more…
April 2, 2020
I took a bike ride to see the flowering trees at Green-Wood. The ride was rough as I am totally lacking in cardiovascular endurance. But boy was I thankful for my lung capacity, the strength in my legs, my health in general–my ability to put something on my list of Read more…
February 28, 2020
It’s been a while since I visited one of my favorite places in Brooklyn, Green-Wood Cemetery. Come to think of it, I haven’t really been hitting any cemeteries as of late and time did not allow a visit to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on my LA trip. I miss graving! Read more…