Green-Wood Cemetery: David Jay Clark

Annamaria on Monday

 

Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn is the most historic such place in New York City.  It was founded in 1838 by Henry Evelyn Pierrepont, a Brooklyn social leader.   My husband David's connection with the place began then, at a point when his family had been in New York (formerly New Amsterdam) for 197 years.  His ancestors bought their plot immediately and the first of them - Simon Van Ness - was buried in it on 5th of April 1853.  David was not a proud man and did not think of lot of himself in any way.  But he was an eleventh generation New Yorker and did express, to me, his pride in the length of his family's connection with Green-Wood.

Green-Wood occupies the highest point in Brooklyn, only 200 feet above sea level.   Not very high at all, but nonetheless important during the Revolutionary War and the site of the Battle of Brooklyn, one of the decisive encounters of that conflict. 

Memorial to the Battle of Brooklyn

From that high ground, one can see the Statue of Liberty in the harbor to the west.  There is a statue of Minerva, the Roman Goddess of Wisdom, looking out and saluting Lady Liberty.   By local law, no building can be erected that would block the sightline from one goddess to the other.

My photo from this past Friday.

Last Friday was a murky day, but here is a pilfered photo that shows Minvera's salute

A tourist attraction for more than 150 years, Green-Wood now has over half a million "permanent  residents."  It hosts four to five funerals every day and draws over half a million visitors a year.  It boasts a magnificent chapel designed by Warren and Wetmore, who also designed Grand Central Terminal.  Many of the most famous and infamous New Yorkers are buried there, including Boss Tweed, Theodore Roosevelt Sr, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Leonard Bernstein.  At this moment in spring, it is glorious with blossoming dogwood trees and brilliant azaleas.    Here are photos taken this past Friday when fourteen of my dearest stalwart friends  accompanied me to inter David's ashes.

While there, we visited the graves of some of David's favorite "fellow permanent residents."

Louis Moreau Gottschalk

After David and Ruth, Lenny (as all we New Yorkers call him) is the resident
 whom I most revere. 

Now just some random shots to show you how lovely and interesting Green-Wood is:

A view of Manhattan from the battle site.

A Civil War monument

The hill where David's family plot is located.

As we gathered at the grave

The urn is reflecting the miraculously beautiful dogwood overhead, at the height of its spring bloom

A final souvenir image, before we left.


 David is now at rest beside his beloved mother, Ruth Van Ness Clark.

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun, 

Nor the furious winter’s rages; 

Thou thy worldly task hast done, 

Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages: 

Golden lads and girls all must, 

As chimney-sweepers, come to dust. 

Fear no more the frown o’ the great; 

Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke; 

Care no more to clothe and eat; 

To thee the reed is as the oak: 

The scepter, learning, physic, must 

All follow this, and come to dust. 

Fear no more the lightning flash, 

Nor the all-dreaded thunder stone; 

Fear not slander, censure rash; 

Thou hast finished joy and moan: 

All lovers young, all lovers must 

Consign to thee, and come to dust. 

No exorciser harm thee! 

Nor no witchcraft charm thee! 

Ghost unlaid forbear thee! 

Nothing ill come near thee! 

Quiet consummation have; 

And renownèd be thy grave!

William Shakespeare
From Cymbeline

This beautiful poem was sent to me Friday afternoon after the funeral by my dear, friend Davis McCallum, Artistic Direct of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.  Davis is in the picture above, first on the right, of my friends who came with me to Green-Wood..  His friendship--like that of the others who were there--is precious to me and a balm to my soul.