A little while ago, three weeks to be exact (Time does fly by quickly!), I met up with the lovely Susan Tuttle in New York City. Susan is one of the most creative, talented and down-to-earth people I have had the good fortune of meeting through blogging.
Walking through the East Village with Susan was a pleasure.
While exploring, we stumbled upon the New York City Marble Cemetery which was open to the public as part of Open House New York. According to a volunteer, the deceased are no longer allowed to be buried in Manhattan. This is due to epidemics breaking out in the 19th C., the resulting overcrowding of the city's cemeteries and churches realizing that they could make a nice profit selling parcels of their land to developers. These days, the deceased are laid to rest in one of the neighboring borough cemeteries, such as in Brooklyn. An exception to this would be if your family still owned an underground vault in the New York City Marble Cemetery.
The grounds of the cemetery is about the size of an apartment building and has a few standing headstones and several marble slabs laid flat on the ground. As cemeteries go, upon first glance, it doesn't look that interesting. What's creepy cool about this place, though, is that each of the marble slabs can be lifted up (not easily, mind you) and a ladder put down the shaft underneath. At the bottom of each shaft is a crypt for the bodies of the deceased. It's a strange feeling then, to stand on the grass and to imagine what and who is laying underneath your feet.
The day that Susan and I visited the cemetery, we saw people lounging on the grass and several dogs chasing one other. A woman dressed elegantly in black with an extra large black hat, green glasses and bright red lipstick that matched her scarf, caught my eye. She sat in a chair amongst the marble slabs, knitting a scarf. I'm sure one of her knitting needles was a magic wand. I couldn't resist taking her photo and as I did, two men behind me murmured, "Isn't she fabulous?"
I approached her and asked if she would mind if I took her portrait as she really did look fabulous. She looked quite pleased and agreed.
