Green-Wood Cemetery: Fall

Moving to Brooklyn has been wonderful for me in many ways, but one of the most unexpected joys has been my proximity to Green-Wood Cemetery. I've been there countless times since I moved in August, and it's frequently becoming one of my most-visited spots in the city.

We went on a short walk through Green-Wood on Black Friday, when the weather was unseasonably warm and sunny. I can't think of a better anecdote to the $10 flatscreen brawls at Wal-Mart than a walk through a beautiful, historic cemetery and you don't get any better in that department than Green-Wood. I've still yet to cover all of its sprawling grounds, and I discover new delights each time I go even in the sections that I've frequented.

Some of the highlights included some interesting stone inscriptions—"Mother and Sister," "Mother and Son," "Father and Daughter," and the heartbreakingly sweet "They Made Home Happy." I also found a funeral traffic cone, some wonderful worn faces, bricked up mausoleums and one very vigilant dog, guarding his owners graves for all of eternity.

I had a hard time finding any truly spectacular leaf displays this fall, but the best foliage I did find was in cemeteries, specifically Woodlawn and of course Green-Wood. The Japanese maples really came to work this year, and the yellows (never my favorite leaf color) were striking and seemed to hold out a little longer than everything else, which mostly just turned brown and then fell off.