History Lesson at Cypress Hills Cemetery by Lisa L. Colangelo - NY Daily News

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Bearing flowers, Naomi King went on a Black History Month tour of Cypress Hills Cemetery last week.

Myeisha Nixon stared at the elaborate gravestone for jazz great Eubie Blake as she listened to a brief lecture about his numerous accomplishments.

"It's fun and exciting to learn about new things," said the bubbly 10-year-old as she walked through Cypress Hills Cemetery last week to hear about the famous African-Americans buried on its sprawling grounds.

But the unusual setting made the trip a little more exciting - and eerie, she admitted.

"They can stack graves on top of each other!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening, when she learned that coffins in family plots are sometimes stacked.

The group of Brooklyn youngsters went on the tour as part of a Black History Month celebration organized by Assemblyman Darryl Towns (D-Brooklyn) and Cypress Hills Cemetery.

The cemetery has embarked on a campaign to celebrate its famous permanent residents, which include a number of African-American trailblazers.

Baseball legend Jackie Robinson is buried there, along with writer and historian Arturo Schomburg and Charlotte Ray, the first female African-American lawyer in the nation.

Taliayah Rios, 11, and Marianny Rodriguez, 10, left flowers at the gravesites of Charlotte Ray and Wallace Turnage, a slave whose thrilling story of escape was detailed in the book "A Slave No More."

"I thought it would be really creepy to come here," said Marianny. "But it's fun and interesting."

Towns said he was amazed to discover the rich history in Cypress Hills, a 210 acre site that straddles Brooklyn and Queens.

"I had lived in the community for over 40 years and never knew the treasures we had in Cypress Hills," said Towns.

"When youngsters see that these heroes chose this as their final resting place, it might make them take a second look at our community and remember it deserves respect. It's not a place where you litter and graffiti."

Stephen Duer and Allan Smith, co-authors of a book about the cemetery, served as tour guides answering questions along the route.

Some of the kids were captivated by the colorful, heartbreaking memorials and headstones for infants.

"We're a monument-loving society," said Duer. "In my opinion, every stone in a cemetery is a monument to a life lived and has a story to tell."

Cypress Hills Cemetery in Queens Touting Itself as Final Resting Place for Many Black Celebrities by Lisa L. Colangelo - NY Daily News

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Flags adorn graves at Cypress Hills Cemetery.

A graveyard might seem an unlikely place to celebrate the illustrious lives of local heroes.

But the operators of Cypress Hills Cemetery say its picturesque and sprawling grounds - the final resting place for more than a dozen prominent African-Americans - is the perfect destination for the commemoration of Black History Month.

There are baseball legend Jackie Robinson, renowned musician and composer Eubie Blake, as well as writer and historian Arturo Schomburg.

But the cemetery also the final resting place of lesser-known 19th-century trailblazers, such as James McCune Smith, an abolitionist who was also the first African-American to obtain a medical degree in the United States, and Charlotte Ray, the first female African-American lawyer in the nation.

"These are some very important people who have really contributed to the history of America," said Patrick Russo, office manager at Cypress Hills Cemetery, which straddles the Brooklyn-Queens border.

Cemetery officials are planning to celebrate this rich history and raise awareness with a new colorful map and booklet that highlights its famous denizens.

It comes on the heels of a book published last year that provides an in-depth look at the cemetery, its history and unique monuments.

"Green-Wood and Woodlawn are viewed as the big boys of the cemetery world, but there are so many others not as well-known," said Stephen Duer, one of the authors of "Images of America: Cypress Hills Cemetery."

The cemetery is also unique because unlike many other burial grounds where African-Americans graves are found on designated lots, they are scattered through its 210 acres.

Duer and co-author Allan Smith worked with cemetery officials to identify more than 75 notable people of all backgrounds.

"That's only through some surface research," said Duer. "It's like a treasure hunt."

Another notable African-American buried at Cypress Hills is Wallace Turnage, a former slave whose path to freedom was detailed in the recent book "A Slave No More" by David Blight, a Yale University professor.

In September, cemetery officials joined historians and family members to honor McCune Smith with a new headstone. Some of his descendants had learned about their historic connection only in recent years.

Greta Blau, who is white, discovered her ancestry when she learned about McCune Smith during a African-American studies class at Hunter College. His was a familiar name included in a family Bible.

"I am so proud to have that kind of legacy," said Antoinette Martignoni, Blau's 92-year-old grandmother who is the great-granddaughter of McCune Smith. "Imagine sharing those genes! It's been very exciting."

Russo said he hopes more people see Cypress Hills, and all cemeteries, as places for learning.

"They are a great educational tool for Black History Month and the rest of the year," said Russo. "There are so many important people here and in every cemetery. You just have to investigate."

Cypress Hills cemetery is at 833 Jamaica Ave. For more information on the cemetery and its publications, call (718) 277-2900 or check its website at www.cypresshillscemetery.org.

Book Review: ‘Cypress Hills Cemetery’ Tells Stories, Reveals Secrets by Linda J. Wilson - Queens Gazette

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Cypress Hills Cemetery
By Stephen C. Duer and
Allan B. Smith
ISBN: 9780738573434
128 pages
Arcadia Publishing
On Sale: September 6













A book with the word “Cemetery” in its title can be counted on to scare some people off. In the case ofCypress Hills Cemetery, by Stephen C. Duer, whose passion for cemeteries led him to create Cemetery Nation, which explores all aspects of this intriguing subject, and Allen B. Smith, a retired architect, local historian, trustee of the Queens Historical Society and a restorer of the Wyckoff-Snediker family cemetery in Woodhaven, that would be unfortunate, because its 128 pages are packed with information, not only about the founding and history of the first rural cemetery in Greater New York to be organized under the Rural Cemetery Act of 1847, but also about the meaning of every tree and plant, and the import of every statue and symbol found on the tombstones and monuments that adorn Cypress Hills’ 209 rolling acres that even today command magnificent views of Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.

While Cypress Hills Cemetery’s main entrance, and hence its post office address, is in Brooklyn, at 833 Jamaica Ave., most of the cemetery proper lies in adjoining Glendale in Queens, and that borough proudly claims it. In seven chapters, Inception and Development, Magnificent Man-Made Monuments, Mysterious Markings and Secret Symbols, Names That Echo from the Past, Memorials and Honors Earned, Fellowship and Immortality and Today and Tomorrow, Duer and Smith tell the story of how the cemetery grew with the borough, expanding to hold a 3.5-acre National Cemetery section with the graves of 7,000 Union soldiers and 239 Confederate prisoners and an oak tree that stands as a living memorial to President James A. Garfield, shot July 2, 1881 and died September 19 of that same year. A Mount of Victory plot holds among others the grave of one Isaac Daniels, who fought in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Other notables whose remains rest in Cypress Hills include actress Mae West, musician Eubie Blake and Major League baseball player Jackie Robinson.

The first person interred in Cypress Hills shortly after it opened was one David Corey, died Dec. 9, 1848, aged 11 months and 11 days. Many other children’s graves dot the landscape, some succumbing to the infectious diseases that raged for most of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and others who died by other means, including Gavin Cato, whose death in a car accident brought about the Crown Heights riots of 1991 and Nixmary Brown, beaten to death by her stepfather in 2006 after years of abuse at his hands and those of her mother.

Duer and Smith explain why cypress trees are a favorite of cemetery landscapers and that oak trees in cemeteries “stand for life everlasting and can symbolize power, authority and victory” while weeping willows indicate sadness, grief and perpetual mourning. Chapter Three, Mysterious Markings and Secret Symbols, is a mustread for anyone who has ever wondered about the significance of the carpenter’s square and compass of the Freemasons, chains with broken links, hands pointing upward and palm branches, the last named appearing on Christian and Jewish graves, among many other symbols of lives lived and the hopes for the deceased expressed in stone by those they left behind. Cypress Hills also holds two buildings known as Abbeys that hold crypts, and a number of mausoleums. Duer and Smith include an explanation of the derivation of the word “mausoleum” that is well worth perusing the book to discover.

Cypress Hills Cemetery has moved into the new century with many of the problems facing burial grounds everywhere, especially the deterioration of many of the oldest markers and increasingly crowded space. It has addressed several of these with new sections holding graves marked by in-ground bronze markers and young trees planted along the cemetery’s drives and avenues with silver plaques denoting to whom they are dedicated. Sitting benches can be dedicated to a deceased loved one and the cemetery has invested considerable time and funds in sculpture and ornamental art.


Cypress Hills Cemetery is an entertaining and informative read. Aside from getting the name of the local architect who designed the cemetery’s third administration building incorrect (it’s Gerald Caliendo), and the fact that, like many of the other books in the Arcadia Publishing Images of America series, the subject matter truly demands an index, the book is a worthy addition to the library of anyone interested in local history, especially that of Queens.

Anais Fernandez, 16, Dies After Alleged Drinking Binge; Neighborhood Distraught by Erik Badia Will Cruz - NY Daily News

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Anais Fernandez was found passed out in Highland Park, and later died. An autopsy will be conducted Tuesday. Noonan for News

The teenage girl who died after drinking in a Brooklyn park was remembered Monday as a straight-A student who adored animals.

Anais Fernandez, 16, aspired to become a veterinarian, heartbroken relatives said. The student at Queens' Grover Cleveland High School passed out Sunday in Highland Park in East New York and later died at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.

"Ay, Dios mio!" her distraught dad, Jose Fernandez, cried outside the family's Queens home.

Anais was hanging out and drinking with her unidentified boyfriend in the reservoir area of the park when she "just started throwing up," said a friend named Jose, who didn't want to give his last name.

Cops don't suspect foul play. The medical examiner plans to conduct an autopsy Tuesday.

Anais was preparing to go to college, her father said.

"She was all A's," he said in Spanish through an interpreter. "A lot of offers from a lot of universities."

Relatives and friends insisted that Anais didn't drink. "She never, ever drinks," said family friend Ana Rodriguez.

In her Ridgewood neighborhood, friends remembered Anais as a sweetheart who'd try to rescue birds and cats.

"This girl, she loved animals," said neighbor Patrick DeFillippino. "She used to take all the cats and feed them."

Man Apprehended Near Cemetery with Skull in Bag: Police by Rebecca Henely - YourNabe.com

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A member of the NYC Medical Examiner's office carries what police said was a human skull out of a walkway bordering Cypress Hills Cemetery. Photo by Christina Santucci

Police responded to a 911 call for an emotionally disturbed person near Cypress Hill cemetery Thursday and found him carrying a skull in a bag, said a spokesperson for the NYPD.

The spokesperson said that at 10:44 a.m. Thursday a Hispanic male, 37, called 911 saying he was planning to kill himself.

Officers from the 104th Precinct responded to the scene in Highland Park, adjacent to the intersection of Cypress Hills Street and the Jackie Robinson Parkway in Ridgewood. When they met the man, they found he was carrying a skull in a white bag, police said.

The skull appeared to be a number of years old and the case was not an open homicide, police said. The skull was being examined by the medical examiner’s office, police said Friday.

The man was removed to Elmhurst Hospital for examination, police said.

Bill Thompson Opens Campaign Office in Cypress Hills - 2009-10-10

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Help At Last for City Cypress Hills Police Burial Ground by Lisa L. Colangelo - NY Daily News

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The Boy and Girl scouts were on hand today at Cypress Hills Cemetary to pay their respects and to remember. Rosamilio/News

Better days are on the way for the Police Gardens, a longneglected police burial site at Cypress Hills Cemetery.

The cracked walkways are being dug up and replaced with smooth concrete. A group of active and retired police officers have promised to gather on the site on May 16 for a somber wreath-laying service in honor of Police Memorial Day.

They hope to festoon the small granite headstones with American flags.

But replacing the 6-foot bronze statue of a policeman and the plaques stolen from the grounds more than 40 years ago by vandals might be a tougher feat.

"I almost believed it was a lost cause," said retired cop Robert Berl, who lives near the cemetery and has been lobbying to get it refurbished. "I think it's great that something is finally going to be done."

Since the Daily News first wrote about the plight of the Police Gardens last month, dozens of people have contacted the cemetery to offer assistance.

Cemetery President John Desmond, a retired New York City police officer, was so heartened by the response that he donated the materials and labor to fix up the walkways.

"We are offering all our resources and will be ready to do whatever they want," said Desmond.

Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch is planning to attend the Saturday ceremony to show support.

"We certainly want to see it restored," said PBA spokesman Al O'Leary.

The cemetery and volunteers are limited in what they can do. The Police Gardens, also known as the Police Arlington, is technically owned by the NYPD Honor Legion, which controls who is buried at the site.

A call by the Daily News to the Honor Legion, a fraternal organization that recognizes cops involved in gun battles and other life-threatening situations, was referred to the NYPD's public information office.

The site, established more than 100 years ago, has a rich history, but there is no marker to show it is a police burial ground. The bronze statue, stolen in 1966, was never replaced and only its pedestal remains.

"These are officers who worked for the city," Berl said. "Their families thought that this would be a place of honor."

lcolangelo@nydailynews.com

Council Member Elizabeth Crowley and Parents of Victim Introduce Legislation to Make NYC Safer...

Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, today introduced legislation to raise the penalty for anybody who leaves their vehicle running and unattended. The bill came in response to a tragic hit and run by a drunken thief who stole an idling car and fatally struck Alex Paul of Brooklyn and Robert Ogle in Middle Village, Queens, early in February. Another similar tragedy occurred weeks before in Chinatown when an unoccupied van was left in reverse and mounted a sidewalk, ramming into a group of preschool students, killing two of the children and injuring at least eleven other people.

“A few weeks ago, a seemingly avoidable tragedy struck my district,” said Council Member Elizabeth Crowley. “Sadly, the death of the two young men, Robert Ogle and Alex Paul, may have been avoided if a man had not left his car running while shopping in a store. The current fine for leaving your car ignition on and unattended is five dollars. With this new legislation that I am proposing, the fine will be raised to two-hundred and fifty dollars to deter anyone from being careless with their vehicles. Leaving your car running and unattended seems like a minor, careless mistake but all New Yorkers must understand that it is irresponsible, dangerous and potentially deadly.”

Council Member Crowley was joined by Council Member John Liu, Chair of the Transportation Committee, as well as Mei and Brendan Ogle, in honor of their late son Robert Ogle, on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday before the bill’s introduction. Robert Ogle, 16, of Middle Village, was a junior at the elite Brooklyn Technical School, where he was a football player and an aspiring journalist. The other victim, Alex Paul, 20, of Cypress Hill, Brooklyn, had met Robert on Saturday night and the two were part of a group having fun around the neighborhood.

In partnership with the new law, Council Member Crowley is working with Council Member John Liu to implement an awareness campaign to prevent people from leaving their cars running while unattended.

PHOTO CREDIT:William Alatriste