This angel looks to be weeping or wiping away a tear as she (he?) guards a grave at the Evergreens Cemetery on the Brooklyn-Queens border.
More angels just like this one stand by tombstones all over this necropolis of about half a million, which includes the graves of many German immigrants who settled in nearby Bushwick in the 19th century after the cemetery was founded in 1849.
It’s a lovely place to visit on a warm summer day.
The gentle hills and slopes of Brooklyn’s Evergreens Cemetery are filled with figures of angels: intermediaries between earth and heaven and messengers from God who guard the graves of the dead.
Different angel poses have different meanings. The one above appears to be dropping flower petals, which supposedly symbolizes the spreading of blessings.
Why this angel has its finger to its mouth, I’m not sure. The flowers could indicate a tribute—or that a life in bloom ended too soon.
Not all angels have wings, but perhaps this grief-stricken figure is meant to depict the deep Christian faith of the departed.
Green-Wood Cemetery at the other end of Brooklyn has plenty of haunting angel figures too.
The Evergreens Cemetery, 225 acres on the Bushwick-Ridgewood border, doesn’t get a fraction of the attention Green-Wood Cemetery receives.
But it should. Incorporated in 1849, this peaceful burial ground is a necropolis of over half a million.
Think Civil War soldiers, Lincoln assassination figures, artists and actors, and thousands of ordinary prosperous German-Americans who settled in this part of the city in the 19th century.
Among the elaborately carved angels and mausoleums is a curious firefighter memorial: two statues of firemen plus the gravestones of fallen firefighters from several Eastern District volunteer hose, hook, or engine companies.
An 1858 New York Times news brief describes its beginning:
“The Board of Representatives of the Eastern District Fire Department, at a recent meeting, adopted a plan for a monument to be erected on the grounds in the Cemetery of the Evergreens.
“The design is a marble pedestal six feet square, upon which is to be placed a full-size statue of a fireman.
“The whole ground to be surrounded by a galvanized iron fence, the posts representing Corinthian hydrants. The expense, it is estimated, will not exceed $2,500, and the work will be commenced forthwith.”
Ephemeral New York 