USA > New York > New York City > Exposition of the plan and objects of the Green-Wood Cemetery : an incorporated trust, chartered by the Legislature of the State of New York > Part 1
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1837
ARTES
SCIENTIA
LIBRARY VERITA'S
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
TUEBOR
PENINSUL
$;
1
RA 629 .B7 G 81
EXPOSITION
OF THE
PLAN AND OBJECTS
OF THE
GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY,
AN INCORPORATED TRUST
CHARTERED BY THE LEGISLATURE
OF THE
STATE OF NEW YORK.
NEW YORK: PRINTED BY NARINE & CO., - No. 11 Wall street corner of Broad.
1339.
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EXPOSITION, &c.
THE Trustees of the GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY, com- missioned by the Legislature of the State to manage the con- cerns of an important public institution, and naturally desi- rous that the character of that institution, and the plans con- templated by them, for its developement, should be correctly 'understood by the community in whose behalf they consider themselves as acting, respectfully ask attention to the follow- ing explanatory statements.
. " THE GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY" is the style and title of a body corporate, chartered originally by an act of the Legislature, bearing date the 18th of April, 1838, but which was essentially modified by a subsequent act, passed on the 11th of April, 1839.
Under the first mentioned of these charters, the associa- tion took the form and character of a joint-stock company, for it was not supposed, at that time, that sufficient funds to carry out the views and purposes of its projectors, could be raised in any other way, and the company was accordingly organized upon this principle, and commenced its preparatory operations in the latter part of the year 1838. Appendix A and B.
After locating the site of the Cemetery however, and while engaged in negotiating the purchase of the lands, it was dis- covered that the immediate demand for Cash capital could be reduced to a very small amount, (compared with that which had been previously apprehended, ) by giving bonds, pledging the proceeds of the undertaking, to a certain amount, in lieu of Cash, in pay nent for the land; and it was therefore agreed,
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uanimously, to petition the legislature for such a modifica- cation of the charter, as would place the institution at once on the footing of an incorporated Public Trust.
This was accordingly done at the next following session of the Legislature, and the required alteration, with some ad- ditional powers for the preservation and police of the grounds, was enacted as an amendment to the charter, by the law passed on the 11th of April, 1839. Appendix F, G and H.
The Green-wood Cemetery, therefore, as it now exists, is, in the fullest sense, as above expressed, a Public Institution, unconnected with any purposes of profit or gain to any indi- vidual whatever. Its powers as a corporation, are "to bold a tract of two hundred acres of land"-[which has been purchas- ed upon an equitable appraisal]-and "to sell or otherwise dispose of said land, to be used, exclusively as a Cemetery, or place for the burial of the dead."* But "after applying"(at least) "one half the proceeds of all sales to the payment of the purchase money of the land" [till that is paid for,] " the residue" is to be " applied, exclusively, to preserving, im- proving, and embellishing said land, as a Cemetery, or Bury- ing ground, and the incidental expenses of the Cemetery es- tablishment ;"' and whenever the whole purchase money shall have been paid off, then " the proceeds of ALL future sales, shall be applied to the preservation, improvement, and embellishment of the said Cemetery, and the incidental ex- penses thereof, AND TO NO OTHER PURPOSE WHATEVER."}
The Corporators of the concern are the purchasers of Cem- etery lots, and their successors in ownership, exclusively and forever. No person, however he may have been interested in the premises previously, can acquire any interest in the corporation on that account. The language of the law is, " all persons who are, or hereafter shall become proprietors
* See 3d section of the original act.
t Section 4th of the amendment.
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of lots or parcels of ground, conveyed to them by the said cor- poration, shall become members of the said body corporate ;" and when the lot so conveyed, is not less in area, than three hun -. dred square feet, the holder is entitled to vote in the election of Trustees.
The estate, property and affairs of the corporation are man- aged by a board of Trustees, fifteen in number, to be chosen from the Lot-holders. These are divided into three equal classes, one of which, in rotation, is to be elected every two years, making the entire term of office of the Trustees six years, with the privilege of re-election indefinitely. The first election, under this system is to take place in Dec., 1840 ; and in the mean time, the Trustees under the charter are as follows, viz :
DAVID B. DOUGLASS,
PETER SCHERMERHORN,
JONATHAN GOODHUE,
CHARLES KING,
THOMAS L. OGDEN,
RUSSELL STEBBINS,
ROBERT RAY,
HENRY E. PIERREPONT,
JACOB R. LE ROY,
JOSEPH A. PERRY,
ZEBEDEE COOK, JR.,*
PLINY FREEMAN,
STEPHEN WHITNEY,
A. G. HAMMOND,
GEO. S. HOWLAND.
All necessary powers are given to the Trustees, for the maintenance of a proper police, and for the care and preser- vation of the grounds in every respect ; to injure the enclo- sure or railings in any way, to deface or mutilate the monu- ments or tombs, or to cut or injure the trees and shrubbery on the grounds is a misdemeanor, punishable with fine, besides the appropriate remedies at law in cases of trespass, and for recovery of damages.
By the 6th section of the charter as amended, the corpo- ration are also empowered to " take and hold any donation or bequest of property upon trust, to apply the same, or the in-
* Elected in place of D. Embury, Esq., resigned.
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come thereof, under the direction of the board of Trustees, for the improvement or embellishment of the said Cemetery, or for the erection, repair, preservation, or removal of any tomb, monument, or grave stone, fence, railing, or other erection, or for planting or cultivating trees, shrubs, flowers, or plants, in, or around any Cemetery lot, or for improving the said premises in any other manner or form, consistent with the design and purpose of this act, according to the terms of such grant, donation or bequest."
Finally, all lands within the Cemetery precinct, whether held by the corporation at large, or conveyed in Cemetery lots to individuals, are "exempt from assessment," and " from all public taxes,"-" not liable to be sold on execu- tion," nor " applied to the payment of debts by assignment under any insolvent law " They may be alienated by the voluntary act of the owner, but in no other way.
Such are the principal permanent provisions of the two acts of incorporation. A few words in addition will show more fully the views with which the undertaking has been thus far matured, as well as the plans contemplated for its . further developement.
Of course, it is not assumed that the idea of a picturesque rural Cemetery in the vicinity of New York, is new. It is known that even before the establishment at Mount Auburn, the design of an institution somewhat similar had been suggested in more than one instance by public spirited individuals in this city, and something of the kind would doubtless have been carried into effect long before this, but for the difficulty of finding a suitable location, available, within a reasonable distance, on the Island of Manhattan.
In the years 1833 and 34, the writer being then alternately engaged in locating the Brooklyn and Jamaica Rail Road, and in making the preliminary surveys for the Croton Water Works, it became his duty, professionally, to examine the
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physical character and topography of the grounds around the city, on both Islands. These surveys, although they had no reference originally to the object now contemplated, were in- cidentally applied to it, in a public lecture delivered about the same time, in which the subject was embraced ; and the opinion was then expressed, that whenever it should be act- ed upon, with a proper estimate of its magnitude and impor- tance, the hills back of Brooklyn would furnish, not only the best locality in this vicinity, but probably one of the finest in the world.
No particular action was had, or expected in conse- quence of this suggestion, at the time ; but early in 1836 the attention of the commissioners for laying out the city of Brooklyn, was favourably drawn to the subject, and in the following year a number of philanthropic individuals of both cities-entertaining similar views, began to unite their efforts in its behalf; and it was on the wave of this movement, that the first act of incorporation was applied for and obtained.
The particular location of the Cemetery precinct was the result of a minute professional reconnaissance instituted soon after the passage of the first law. It embraced the en- tire range of hills from near Bedford, to near Yellow Hook- a distance of about four miles-was conducted with great quietness, without reference to any local or ex-parte interests, and had no object (the writer may affirm with confidence) but to ascertain the best possible location for the purpose, within these limits. *
The site of the Cemetery as now located, was the first chosen in conformity with this principle, and the better to
* Judge Hammond, one of the commissioners for laying out the city, and Mr. Henry E. Pierrepont of Brooklyn were the only persons associated with, or con- sulted by the writer while prosecuting these inquiries. These gentlemen were commissioners under the law, and among the most active and disinterested, in promoting its object, and to the latter particularly, the writer and the public are much indebted for his zealous and effective co-opcration in the subsequent nego- tiations with the land proprietors.
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secure the independence of the enterprise in relation to the interests alluded to, two other situations were chosen, as alternative, in case any obstacles should arise in the progress of the land negotiation. This expedient, generally important in the location of all public works, was the more so here as the prices of land had become unsettled since 1836, and if left to the option of the proprietors,-without alternative,- might have been graduated by the standard of that period, at twelve or thirteen hundred dollars per acre.
These preliminaries being settled, negotiations were com- menced with the owners of land,-beginning with those on the site first mentioned-of whom about thirty were assem- bled in a public meeting at Brooklyn, for that purpose. To these, the nature and objects of the undertaking were ex- plained at large, and after a free discussion of the subject in its various relations, two specific propositions were submitted for their adoption: first, that they should consent to sell, at a fair price, such portions of their respective premises as might fall within the Cemetery precinct ;- and secondly, that they should concur in some equitable and impartial mode of de- termining what that price should be.
To the first of these propositions, a majority of those pre- sent, after some little hesitation, gave their assent, and even- tually, the greater part also agreed to refer the question of price to the decision of a disinterested board of appraisers. Four persons wholly unconnected with property in that part of the city, where chosen to act under this arrangement*, and here the business of the meeting ended.
'The appraisers immediately entered upon the discharge of their duties, and spent some weeks in investigating the evi- dences of value : a graduated schedule of all the property likely
* Cyrus P. Smith, (the present mayor of Brooklyn, ) Major D. E. Douglass, Judge Hammond, (one of the commissioners for laying out the city) and Henry L. Pierrepont, Esq.
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to be embraced, was then reported by them, and the average of the whole, according to the boundaries now defined, was seven hundred and six dollars.per acre. It is true the agreements were not closed with the individual proprietors upon this estimate, nor without further and (in some instances;) very protract- ed negotiations ; but the result of the whole was, that the aver- age, at the time of concluding the negotiations, had been re- duced, from the amount just named, to six hundred and sixty-eight dollars per acre-being thirty-eight dollars less than the appraisal. It should be remarked further, that this price at the time it was agreed to, was considered a cash valuation, and was to be received as such in payment for stock ; after the change in the charter, however, by which the stock was extinguished, and with a view to meet the liberal footing upon which the institution was then placed, in a spirit equally liberal, a large proportion of the owners con- sented to take the bonds of the corporation, conditioned for payment, out of the half-proceeds of sales, (under the pro- visions of the new charter,) without any additional conside- ration on that account, and have ' actually completed their conveyances upon this principle.
Generally the bonds given, except for small amounts, are without any limitation of time, and in either case without lien upon the property itself ; in a few instances only it was found impossible to purchase certain parcels, except under the in- cumbrance of existing mortgages ; the amount of these mortgages, however, is not so great as to give any embar- rassment to the enterprise : responsible parties are held under ample security to remove most of them within a short period, and the Cemetery corporation guarantee their re- moval, at all events, before Cemetery lots are conveyed on the premises alluded to.
By the 3d section of the original charter, it is provided that the purchase shall be made " with the consent of the
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common council of Brooklyn, first had and obtained ;"' and it is proper to state for the information of the public, that the condition of this proviso has been fully complied with. As soon as the locality of the purchase was definitively agreed upon, a memorial was addressed to the common council on this subject, and by them acted upon affirmatively, without delay and without dissent. Appendix C and D.
In the same spirit, on a subsequent occasion their concur- rence was also given to an application to the Legislature, to exempt the property of the Cemetery from taxes : these and other like evidences, of a kind, fostering, and liberal spirit on the part of the municipal authorities of Brooklyn, it is plea- sing to the Trustees to be able to record. Appendix G.
By the 4th section of the same charter, it is also required that the location and boundaries of the tract should be re- ferred to the commissioners for laying out the city, under a certain act passed on the 23d of April 1835 ; to be incorpo- rated by them, in the official city plan, and the streets and avenues terminated on the outer margin thereof ; all which has been done accordingly, and the report of the commis- sioners on the subject ratified and confirmed by a subsequent act of the State Legislature, passed on the 18th of Febru- ary last. Appendix E.
The legal appropriation of the ground to the object and purposes for which it is designed, is now therefore com- plete, under all the sanctions which Legislative and Munici- pal enactment can give ; and the Green-wood Cemetery is henceforth, exclusively, and we trust inviolably set apart as a place of sepulture, sacred forever to the repose and memory of the dead.
The domain of the Cemetery, as at present defined, embraces an area of two hundred acres, situated on the undulating high ground, back of Gowannus church, at the distance of two and a half miles from the South Ferry ;
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and about as far, in a right line from the southern extremity of the Battery, as from the latter to the square of Union Place.
The surface of the ground is beautifully diversified with hill and valley-descending in some places to less than twenty feet above tide-water, and in others, rising to more than two hundred. One position in particular-called by way of pre- eminence, Mount Washington,-is two hundred and six- teen feet high, being the most elevated ground in Kings' county, and one of the highest points on Long Island.
With such variety of surface, the ground possesses, as may be supposed, a high degree of adaptation, as a place of sepulture either in tombs or in graves, and a variety and beauty of picturesque scenery withal, seldom to be met with in so small a compass. The views from Mount Washing- ton, for example, and from other eminences of nearly equal height, embrace the entire bay and harbour of New York with its islands and forts-the cities of New York and Brooklyn, the shores of the North and East rivers, New Jersey, Staten Island, the Quarantine, an unnumbered mul- titude of towns and villages sprinkled over the wide expanse in every direction ; and lastly, the margin of the broad Atlantic, from Sandy Hook to a long distance beyond the Rockaway Pavilion ; nor is the picturesque interest of the .. interior ground in any degree less impressive, than the . beauty of the external scenery.
A considerable portion of the ground is now covered with a fine old forest of native growth-the verdure and shade of which originally suggested the name of THE GREEN- WOOD :* this will of course be preserved and cultivated
* Among the various other names suggested, that of the " Necropolis"-(city of the dead)-has been recommended so strongly in a variety of friendly quarters, as to demand, in common courtesy, a statement of the reasons for not adopting it. The visible associations of the Green-wood Cemetery are intended to be exactly what its
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with care, and in due time those parts which have been cleared off for purposes of agriculture, will also be covered with appropriate plantations of shrubbery and trees, till the whole shall have acquired a character of sylvan still life in harmony with the quietness and repose of the grave.
The distance from the South Ferry to the gate of the Cemetery has been stated to be 23 miles ; should a boat be run, however, (as at no distant period, doubtless, there will be) from White Hall to the foot of Hamilton avenue, the distance from the ferry, in that case, will be less than two miles : or a ferry of 3} miles may be run directly from the city, to within a few hundred yards of the Cemetery, and this con- veyance, probably in a few years, as funerals multiply, will be found the most convenient and least expensive of any.
It should be remarked that a large portion of the ground is in plain sight from the city, and that, consequently, telegra- phic communications may be interchanged at all times, with perfect convenience and without delay.
Under all circumstances, the Trustees are not aware of any grounds, of sufficient extent, and in other respects suitable for this purpose, which could be reached from the city with equal convenience and in so little time. Probably at no season of the year, would a funeral be impeded in its movement to this Cemetery under any circumstances which
name implies,-verdure, shade, ruralness, natural beauty; every thing, in short, in contrast with the glare, set form, fixed' rule and fashion of the city: but the name of the Necropolis,-classic as it is-is associated chiefly with ideas of the latter sort; it savours of art and classic refinement, rather than of feeling, and herein is our objection .- A Necropolis should be an architectural establishment, not a shady forest. Besides, a Necropolis is a mere depository for dead bodies-ours is a Cemetery (Kotuningrov) a place of repose ;- and we cannot doubt that when its appropriate character is fully developed, the senti- ment of the community will concur with us in preferring the descriptive, though less pretending name of THE GREEN-WOOD,
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would not equally interrupt its passage from the central part of the city to the distance of the House of Refuge. In either case it would be necessary, in bad or inclement weather, to dismiss the funeral procession at the church, or the ferry, and con- vey the body to its final resting place, attended only by the immediate relatives and friends ; or as the practice now is in Boston and Philadelphia, to have small Receiving Vaults, con- nected with some of the churches, in which coffins may be de- posited under proper regulations for a limited time. These are free from any objection on the score of health, as there is little occasion to use them except in winter, and no diffi- culty is experienced, therefore, in keeping them always pure and wholesome. Finally, as the distance of Mount Auburn and Laurel Hill from their respective cities* is much greater. than that of the Green-wood from New York, and as the dis- tance is not felt in those cases, to be any inconvenience-it is not probable that it will ever be so regarded here.
The design for the interior arrangement of the Cemetery precinct is to intersect every part of it with convenient wind- ing avenues and walks, and in connection with them, to lay out Cemetery lots of the proper size for family burying pla- ces. These as in Mount Auburn will contain about three hun- dred square feet-say twelve feet wide by twenty-five feet long-within the enclosure-which is sufficient for the erec- tion of a family vault, or for the burial of at least three gener- ations of an ordinary sized family, in graves. Generally, the lots will be grouped so as to admit of four lots being taken together, with some advantage to the purchaser, whenever that is preferred. And regarding the expansion of families by the formation of new branches, in a long course of years, requiring, of course, a corresponding increase of Cemetery ac- commodation-it is believed, that in a great majority of in-
* Mount Auburn is about four miles from Boston, and Laurel Hill about the same distance from Philadelphia.
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stances, this will be deemed the true policy. To each single lot will be allowed a margin of one foot all around, for the erection of its enclosure, by which two feet will be added to each di- mension of a quadruple lot, when four are taken together ; making those dimensions twenty-six feet in width, by fifty- two feet in length, in the clear.
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