The Art, Architecture and Residents of Woodlawn Cemetery

Please RSVP only if you truly intend to come. Please alter your RSVP as soon as you know you will not. Please read this description 3 or 4 times before asking questions.

Led by Ellen Fleishman and Lynn Hamlin

Established in 1863, Woodlawn Cemetery has been called “a popular final resting place for the famous and powerful”. It is a 400-acre non-sectarian cemetery —with over 310,000 individuals interred on its grounds. Over 100,000 people visit from all over the world each year.

But more than its residents is the artistic and architectural significance of how they chose to be remembered. Mausolea at Woodlawn were designed by some of the leading architects of the time including John Russell Pope; Carriere and Hastings; McKim, Mead and White and James Gamble Rogers, to name a few.

Join us on a private 4+ mile walk and meet many of their permanent residents. They include actors of the stage and screen, Broadway and film producers, musicians, civic leaders, retailers, writers and publishers, philanthropists and financiers. Learn about their extraordinary contributions to society and about the artists and architects that designed and built their forever homes.

Led by Woodlawn Docent Joanna Cohlan, she even holds the keys that unlock some of these Mausolea for a peak inside! Many include Tiffany windows and other artistic wonders.

We will spend about 4 hours walking the grounds of this Class 2 Arboretum which include some of the Great Trees of New York and there will be much commentary.

A National Historic Landmark as quoted by the Parks Department, “the cemetery is distinguished by memorials that represent the largest and finest collection of funerary art in the country.”

There is a $10. fee to cover a donation to the cemetery payable at the event’s start.

There are restrooms in the cemetery. No eating is permitted. You may bring lunch and snacks to consume when we leave. There are few restaurants nearby. Of course, water is encouraged.

RSVPs for this event are now closed. It will reopen closer to the event when some will drop out and others now waitlisted will join the event. No need to further lengthen the waitlist now.
Ellen Fleishman 917 734 7813