October 11, 2004: Marble Cemetery 2
Both the New York Marble Cemetery and the New York City Marble Cemetery have websites- surprisingly, the smaller NYMC has the larger virtual presence. An interesting fact from one of the websites: "...over time, everything disintegrates. A wooden casket could be added every few years ad infinitum. Most vaults have not been used since the late 1800s and would now appear empty." Also: "The south side of nearby Houston Street was once lined with cemeteries," so to my friends living in LES, NoLiTa and SoHo, most likely your apartments are haunted. Question for Mr. Lockhart Steele: do bleeding walls make an apartment more or less hip? [Unrelated: categories on Bluejake appear to finally be working- they may help you find your way around. Please ignore all of the content posted under "writing"- it's mostly self-indulgent stuff from 2002.]
Comments
Having grown up next to the NYMC, I can assure you Jake that bleeding walls only improve the value of a house. It's the insane stray cats that breed there that are the real problem...
More fun then poltergeists though is the fact that the NYMC is, at least the last time I checked, the last remaining place where a person can still be buried in Manhattan. And I believe there is still a legit space available (for a couple hundred thou of course). There was an article last year about it in the Observer, but I can't find it now and I'm don't remember how the whole thing ended up. Basically one vault had never been used and therefore was up for grabs.
And as a side note, the mullberrys that grow in the north-east corner of the yard are excellent...
Yes, as mentioned by the poster above, burials can still occur at NYMC, but you have to be the descendant of a plot owner. Last burial occured in 1930s.
A fascinating place that is exploring renting the space out for parties & weddings (email: info@marblecemetery.org). Thx.
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