As Indian summer winds up and fall blows in, our thoughts turn naturally to autumnal activities: pumpkin spiced lattes, leaf-peeping, apple picking and cemetery tours.
New York’s sprawling bedrooms of the dead will be filled with life this fall as tours acquainting us with illustrious underground residents, glorious monuments and the interesting history of our local cemeteries abound. Here are just a few:
The Woodlawn Cemetery (Tours meet at Jerome and Bainbridge avenues in the Bronx)
“Beer Barons,” Oct. 16 at 2 p.m.
A guide takes you through the winding roads of Woodlawn as you learn about George Ehret’s Hell Gate Brewery, the hidden caves of the Ebling Brewery and Rudolf Schaefer of brewski fame.
Tickets are $10 to $15.
“Illuminated Mausoleum Night Tours,” Oct. 30 at 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.
For the first time ever, 1,300 mausoleums will be lit from within to guide you through the dark, as you learn about Woodlawn’s historic monuments and the entertainers, entrepreneurs, artists and veterans who number among the cemetery’s 300,000 permanent residents.
Tickets are $13 and $17.
Green-Wood Cemetery (500 25th St. in Brooklyn)
“Historic Trolley Tour,” Oct. 19, 26 and 30, at 1 p.m.
Tour guides take you through the 478 acres where George Washington and his troops fought the historic Battle of Brooklyn pointing out luminaries in this 560,000 ossuary, where Jean Michel Basquiet, Boss Tweed, Leonard Bernstein and others now reside.
Tickets are $15 and up online, plus service charge
“Almost Presidential,” Nov. 6 at 1 p.m.
In this trolley tour, you’ll hear insight into the campaigns and political upsets of the past, including that of newspaperman Horace Greeley (now a denizen of Green-Wood), who lost to Ulysses S. Grant in 1872.
Tickets $20 for members and $25 for non-members
“Green-Wood Cemetery: Murder & Mayhem, Scandal and Spiritualism,” Oct. 22 and Nov. 5 at 2 p.m.
These strolls, conducted by “Boroughs of the Dead” tour company, focus on Green-Wood’s scandalous and lesser-known inhabitants – femme fatales, revolutionaries, spiritualists, gangsters, artists and murderers.
Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the cemetery, with a portion of the price going to the Green-Wood Historic Fund.
