Woodlawn Cemetery guide

Photographs: Jolie Ruben

Stalk celebrities

More than 300,000 New Yorkers, including journalist Joseph Pulitzer, composer Irving Berlin and artist–museum founder Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, are interred here. Free maps are available at the administration and security desks, so you can locate each person’s resting place.

Herman Melville, who received postmortem acclaim for Moby Dick, attracts frustrated “New York writers on a pilgrimage,” says Susan Olsen, Woodlawn’s director of historical services. She’s also seen students leave pens with their school insignia on his grave.

Jazz musicians and aficionados head to Woodlawn to visit greats like Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and Max Roach. The musicians’ graves vary stylistically, from Davis’s elaborate memorial to Hampton’s understated headstone, but their proximity to one another is intentional. “It is common to find artists and musicians who were friends in life wanting to be near each other in death,” says Olsen. Visitors sometimes play music—live or recorded—and even leave CDs at the musicians’ resting places.

Similarly, Latinos and salsa lovers the world over flock to Celia Cruz’s mausoleum. Cruz, who rests along with her husband and manager, Pedro Knight, chose to be buried in the Bronx due to its reputation as the “Borough of Salsa.” The simple stone mausoleum has Cruz’s name across its front, but fans can peer past the wrought-iron C on its door to see a colorful stained-glass depiction of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, Cuba’s patron saint.

Be one with nature

Fall is one of the best times to gaze at Woodlawn’s trees. The cemetery boasts six of the 105 Parks Department–designated Great Trees, noted for their age, size, rarity, beautiful form and historical significance. This includes a huge weeping beech tree that dates from 1890, located near financier Jay Gould’s mausoleum. Olsen recommends visiting in late October to catch the fall foliage at its most colorful and spectacular.

Bird-watchers will enjoy spying the hawks, cardinals and blue jays that roam the property. Olsen has also spotted a heron on the grounds (tip: it likes to hang out by the lake). Also seen at the lake: enormous carp and turtles.

Dig deeper

On Saturday 10 and Sunday 11, Olsen will show visitors around and inside some of the cemetery’s most interesting mausoleums. Expect to learn about the resting place of Oliver and Alva Belmont (as in the racetrack), which is an exact copy of a French chapel, and inventor Henry Westinghouse’s grave site, adorned with Tiffany stained glass.

During Halloween weekend (Oct 30–Nov 1 at 6pm), volunteers from the cemetery’s nonprofit organization Friends of Woodlawn will lead a tour through the grounds after dark. Attendees—who should arm themselves with flashlights—will be treated to macabre tales about some of Woodlawn’s residents. One such story, from the 1920s, is about the bizarre death of Bert Savoy, the city’s first known drag queen; his last words were “Miss God, stop that,” right before being struck by lightning.

After your visit…

The Bronx’s northernmost nabe—also called Woodlawn, or “Little Ireland”—is situated between the cemetery and the border of Westchester County, and is home to a large Irish expat community. Check out Katonah Avenue, the main drag, featuring long-standing family-owned businesses like the Rambling House (4292 Katonah Ave between 236th and 237th Sts; 718-798-4510, ramblinghouse.com), which serves Eire-friendly eats like shepherd’s pie ($11).

Or hop on the Metro-North for a two-stop, five-minute ride ($2.50–$3.50 for a ticket) to the New York Botanical Gardens (Bronx River Pkwy at Fordham Rd, Bronx; 718-817-8700, nybg.org; $6, seniors and students $3, children 2–12 $1, children under 2 free). Meander through the 250-acre grounds, which feature more than 1 million living plants, including autumn crocuses and kale plants (which are in bloom during the fall). Beginning October 17, a stunning array of Japanese chrysanthemums will be on view during the “Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden” exhibition. After seeing the vibrant flowers in bloom, you’ll almost forget that you were wandering through a graveyard moments before.

GO THERE NOW! Woodlawn Cemetery: Webster Ave at 233rd St, Bronx (718-920-0500, woodlawncemetery.com). Subway: 2, 5 to 233rd St; 4 to Woodlawn. Daily 8:30am–5pm, free.

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