clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Old Brooklyn Cemetery Could Be Resurrected as Public Park

New, 4 comments

Compared to, say, Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, the Brooklyn Navy Yard's Naval Hospital Cemetery is sort of the neglected stepchild of burial grounds. Partly because there are no bodies there these days: the cemetery was active between 1834 and 1910, and the bodies were moved elsewhere in 1926. For a while, the space was a baseball field, and it was all fun and games until a kid kicked a bone. Now, the site is just an overgrown field. But, the L Magazine explains, the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative has a different idea: turn the former cemetery into a publicly accessible meadow and pollinator habitat, which would help the neighborhood's gardens. The redevelopment plan calls for not disturbing the ground: the flowers are native to the space, and the public path would be an elevated boardwalk so people would be less likely to step off of it. No need to make the ghosts angry!
· What to Do with That Old Cemetery in South Williamsburg? [The L Magazine]