In New York, a cemetery has become a “cultural institution”
In the heart of Brooklyn lies Green-Wood Cemetery, a place for reflection and strolling, popular with tourists and locals alike. Guided by the recently retired director, The New York Times visited this place which, over the past two decades, has established itself as a cornerstone of the Big Apple's cultural life.
Do you remember Roy Smeck, the guitarist and banjo legend of the 1930s?
“He is here,” explains Richard Moylan, sitting in his office amidst the chaos that reigns when one is about to move.
It's a phrase he often repeats, or at least used to repeat. At 70, this likeable and talkative man with thick white hair has just retired after fifty-three years of dedicated service. Hired by Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn as a simple gardener, he eventually became its director in 1986, thus becoming, in effect, the mayor of the 570,000 souls who came here to find eternal rest.
In his office, five or six guitars that belonged to Roy Smeck sit alongside books, CDs, and other works of art associated with the personalities buried here. All these objects were lovingly collected by Richard Moylan for the cemetery.
“We also have Leonard Bernstein,” he tells us. As well as FAO Schwarz (the founder of the toy store chain), Eberhard Faber (the pencil manufacturer), and Samuel Morse (the creator of the famous code). “But I don’t think we have Jonas Mekas,” he laments, referring to the filmmaker who was cremated in Green-Wood in 2019.
Located in the semi-industrial district of Green
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