New York Marble Cemetery

It's been more than a year since I went to the New York Marble Cemetery but I remembered recently that I'd never shared my photos. The "the oldest public non-sectarian cemetery in New York City" is open at least one day a month during warmer months and I happened to catch it on an open day last April.

The NYMC is hidden away down a little alleyway (marked by an incredible arched gate) and opens up into a courtyard surrounded by apartment buildings. There are no headstones—instead there are 156 below-ground burial vaults with the names of the interred carved in plaques embedded in the surrounding stone wall. Underground vaults were popular at the time due to health concerns over burying people who suffered from infectious diseases like tuberculosis.

There is also a New York City Marble Cemetery a few blocks away—which can get confusing—but despite basically sharing a name, the two are otherwise unrelated. The New York Marble Cemetery is available to rent out for parties and weddings (get married and buried!). There are a few benches, small statues, patches of flowers, potted plants and not much more—it's a really beautiful, open and peaceful place. It's almost easy to forget that you're in the middle of the Lower East Side.