New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-10
THE MARBLE CEMETERY.
Eff rtS to Raise Funds to Pre0ent
Dissertation.

forthcoming before the end of next month the
New-York Marble Cemetery, one Of the oldest
and most quaint of the burial grounds within
the corporate limits of greater New-York, win
give place to rows Of tenement houses An ap-
peal has been made to descendants of the old
time New-Yorkers who are buried in this little
GODS acre" tucked away behind the buildings
or big city and the matter Of raising the funds
needed has been intrusted to special com
mittee- Should the attempt to raise the needed
amount fail an appeal may be made to the legis-
1ature for special enactment providing for the
maintenance OF the cemetery
The New-York Marble Cemetery which is
often confused with the New-YorlS Citv Marble
Cemetery, is located in the heart of the block
on the west side of 2d-aye between ID and I'd
SITS 1t is reached through a narrow little mas
sage between the buildings fronting on 2d-ave
ana on all sides the little burial ground is sur
rounded by high structures whose owners have
long looked with covetous eyes upon the ground
occupied by the cemetery.
For more than a year the descendants of the
original vault owners and the building inter
esIs desiring the cemetery site have been en-
gagged in controversy. firing of the attempts
to wipe out the cemetery. some of the descend
ants OF the original vault owners have had the
tonbs of their ancestors opened and the collins
removed to other cemeteries but the ma fority
OF them have preferred to await the outcome of
the attempt to save the oldtime burial ground
The aged sexton in charge and the tenants of
the blocks surrounding the old cemetery are
among those most thoroughly convinced that the
move TO save it viii result successfully
Oh, we hear it is to be wiped cut every year.
they say, but 1t is here yet, and it'll stay all
right"
Possibly the tenants of the blocks surrounding !
it are prejudiced in favor of the cerneterys con-
tlnuanoe by the benefits they derive from it. for
II constitutes the largest airshaft to be found
IN that part of the city and in the spring the /
green of its grass and the fragrance of the few
towering bushes to be found along its walks
afford grateful change from the noise and dirt /
of the streets on the other sides of the blocks |
surrounding it
Probably not one person in one hundred re-
siding in New-York knows that there is such a !
burial place as the New-York Marble Cemetery
and there are doubtless persons living within a |
Few blocks Of il who never heard of it. 1t does
not appear on the maps of the city. and none of
the 'rubberneek'' coach manipulators deem it of
sufficient interest to hunt it I'D for the benefit of
their patrons; and, indeed, no hasty search will
reveal it It takes time to locate the New-York
Marble Cemetery. The only outward sign of its
existence is high and narrow iron gateway on
the west side of 2d-ave.. about midway between
ID and Sd SITS. Passing through this and along
an alley running the depth Of the blocks fronting
on 2d-ave-, one comes to high wooden gate
This opens directly upon the cemetery and such
a cemetery! Surrounded all four sides by
the unsightly backs of tenement houses and
with not a monument in sight it looks not unlike
some big, overgrovn garden or areaway.
Between rows Of bushes run three broad
gravel walks. Beneath these the vaults are
located Opposite each row of vaults appear
tablets the high stone walls each tablet
bearing the name and age and the number of
the vault in which lies the person for whom II
was erected
On the extreme western wall Of the old GENE
terry is a big weather beaten slab OF marbie,
much like the directories seen in the corridors
Of large Office buildings Upon this ara the
names Of all buried in the cemetery, with thu
vault number opposite each name. Both names |
and numbers have been efaced by the /
weather that they now hardly decipherableA |
Among them are to be found, however by clnss |
scrutiny many family prominent In the /
history Of New-York Of long ago Those 0k /
Lorillard, Beekman. Spring, De Forest, ScribneE.
Ogilvie, Bogardus, Olyphant Quackenbos. Yarick
and others equally well known are among them. /
The cemetery was incorporated in 1881, and |
for some time it has been practically kept UP by
Daniel Parish, the sole survivor OF the original
trustees, at his own expense Out Of the $4,000
to be raised this month 1t Is proposed to pay /