Cypress Hills Cemetery

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CYPRESS HILLS CEMETERY.

On Saturday afternoon we enjoyed a very pleasant drive through the undulating and meandering avenues of the Cemetery of Cypress Hills; and in conversation with the President of the Company, Edmund Driggs, Esq., elicited some facts in relation to it which may not be devoid of interest to our readers. Greenwood, in the Western District, was a household word with the public, and was associated with the affecting reminiscences of many inhabitants long ere Cypress Hills was reclaimed from the barren wilderness; added to which its proximity to the City Railroads makes it a usual place of resort; so that we must confess to having overlooked the fact, that the Eastern District has on its boundaries a resting place for the dead whose attractions for the living visitor already rival and bid far certainly to excel those of its older and more celebrated rival of Gowanus.

We thought, on entering the gates of Cypress Hills, that a half hour’s drive would amply suffice to disclose whatever of beauty or picturesqueness in scenery it might contain; but at the end of three hours we found many of its groves and avenues were yet unvisited, and many of its attractions yet unseen. Eight or nine years ago, its location presented a far different appearance. The slopes of the hill were occupied by cornfields and potatoe patches; the summits were covered with rank vegetation and great forest trees, and the valleys were swamps. Now we found twenty miles of macadamized avenues where the valley swamps had been shaded with ornamental trees of rare foreign specimens; the slopes adorned by choice plants and trees, and the forest undergrowth of the surface supplanted by smooth shaven turf and dotted at intervals more close, by grave head stones, tablets and monuments; thirteen lakes, at various elevations, plentifully stocked with gold fish; the trees vocal with feathered warblers; the paths securely trodden by wild rabbits, scarcely knowing fear, and permitting us to approach almost close enough to touch them.

The existence of the Cemetery dates from 1848. In that year it was chartered by the Legislature and the first and only interment of that year took place. The charter of the Company empowers them to hold 500 acres of land. As the general law forbids Cemetery Companies to hold more than 250 acres in a single county, the Cemetery was located on the borders of Kings and Queens, the boundary line of which intersects the grounds midway. As yet, only 400 acres have been enclosed. The Company have a special act empowering them to hold 100 additional acres in the County of Queens.

The Company employ a resident Surveyor and overseer, Mr. Palmer, whose urbanity in giving information to visitors, and professional skill, as exemplified in laying out the grounds, equally entitle him to credit. There have as yet been over 39,000 interments—nearly ten thousand less than in Greenwood. The charges at Cypress Hills compare favorably with those of Greenwood. The Company have already expended over $20,000 for ornamental trees, which they import from all quarters of the world. A nursery of six acres is now being laid out, with the intention of introducing still more numerous and choice varieties. We noticed some forty or more choice specimens, all of which appeared to be thriving. A month or two hence, when they are in full bloom, a drive through the Cemetery will be an exquisite pleasure. There is no restriction on entrance—all persons, riding or on foot, may freely pass in and out, the only condition extracted by the Company being a compliance with the rules forbidding disorderly conduct or wilful damage. To those of our citizens who are addicted to riding, we cannot point out so pleasant a drive in the vicinity as through this Cemetery. There is every variety of scenery to be viewed, a capital road underneath, and length of avenue enough to occupy one’s horses the whole afternoon in getting over. During the whole eight years of the Company’s existence, only one person has had to be put out of the ground for improper conduct—and only one instance of wilful damage has occurred, in which a mischievous individual fired a gun at a tablet, defacing the inscription. The Company offered a reward for his apprehension, but the perpetrator was not detected.

There is no sectarianism in the management of the Cemetery. People of every Catholic and Protestant denomination, of every nation and color, sleep side by side in its peaceful tombs. In many cases whole sections of the grounds are secured by Churches, for the exclusive use of their members. The benevolent Societies of St. George, St. Andrew, St. Patrick, and St. David have purchased allotments which they devote to the interment of poor and friendless people of their several nationalities, who may die in their adopted country without leaving means behind them to defray funeral expenses.

Only about 100 acres are improved. The rest is undergoing transformation, and portions of it afford, in their wild and "natural" state, a complete contrast to the ornamented portions. In driving through some parts of the ground, the visitor may almost fancy himself imbedded in the seclusion of a primeval forest. Some fifty men are kept constantly at work, gradually reclaiming every part of the ground from its original weakness, carefully tending the graves and keeping the entire Cemetery in order. The entire number of lots, when the improvement are complete, will be about 30,000. The present average of burials is almost 85 per week. There are also a large number of removals going on from city grave yards. Fortunately for humanity, there need be no apprehension of a second removal. The Legislature in granting the charter of the company, and also in the general Cemetery laws, have taken every precaution against the necessity of ever removing bodies wholesale therefrom. They have declared lots once purchased and used, to be forever exempt from taxation, and forever inalienable from the family of the owner.

Much of the Cemetery occupies very high ground. On the southerly side of the hill the visitor stands at the highest point on the grounds, 219 feet above tide water. This is the most elevated land on the Island, except the summit of Montank Point? It commands a splendid view of the adjacent country. From the Observatory, erected on a piece of table land at a little distance, the spectator, standing at an elevation of 265 feet above high water, can trace plainly in the distance, on a moderately clear day, with the naked eye, the buildings of Blackwell's Island, New York and all parts of Brooklyn, Sandy Hook, Staten Island, Coney Island, Jamaica, Flushing, Newton, Astoria—in fact all the surrounding country, the extreme altitude placing him above all obstructions from intermediate irregularities of the country.

While the tide of advancing and swelling population is pressing on Greenwood and even clamoring for the extension of an avenue through her consecrated precincts, Cypress Hills need stand in no apprehension of such an exigency. The establishment of the Cemetery has done much to populate the neighborhood. When the works of improvement began, there were only five houses visible from the front; now quite a populous village has grown up in the valley. The location of the Water Works Reservoir and Pump Well in the immediate vicinity will also contribute to populate the neighborhood, but long before Williamsburgh grows out to Cypress Hills public sentiment will have outgrown such barbarism as that of running an avenue over the resting places of the dead. We look for a rapid and continual growth of the Eastern District in this direction, and hope to see Cypress Hills Cemetery and the Resevoir brought into direct accessibility with the city by means of a railroad. Meanwhile, our advice to all who own vehicles or are in the habit of hiring, and are fond of a pleasant drive, is to visit the peaceful City of the Dead instead of frequenting the dusty avenues. To New Yorkers, Cypress Hills is more accessible than Greenwood—it can be reached sooner, from above 14th street.