Green-Wood Cemetery
Address The gate at the main entrance to Green-Wood is, all by itself, worth making a trip to this cemetery. Well worth seeing. At Green-Wood I wanted to see Leonard Bernstein's grave, but as a long-time fan of Old Calvary Cemetery I wanted to see John G. Draddy's Civil War Soldiers Monument, which was restored in 2002. A weather-worn yet still charming Civil War Monument, also crafted by John G. Draddy, sits largely unknown in Section 3 of Old Calvary. I think that monument should be restored as well, but without the tourism appeal of Green-Wood I am skeptical the job will be done any time soon. Bernstein's grave and Draddy's Civil War Soldiers Monument are both located at the highest point an Brooklyn and offer a grand view of lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. What a strange place to have been as the 9/11 attacks happened. Also at Green-Wood is the site of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, an American composer greater than Bernstein whose performance tradition I feel has been lost. Seeing John G. Draddy's Civil War Soldiers Monument made me more irate over the condition of that artist's Calvary Veterans Memorial at Old Calvary in Queens. Those bronze statues have been allowed to erode and fester, while the similar statues at Green-Wood have been restored. The Green-Wood location, with all its glamour, will allow for this Civil War Memorial to be seen by more people than the Calvary monument. But the monument at Old Calvary is of equal if not higher integrity, as it is not just ornamental. The Civil War Monument at Old Calvary marks the burial locations of 21 Civil War soldiers.
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