Green-Wood Cemetery: Moss

On a recent walk through Green-Wood Cemetery (aka my happy place), I noticed that a lot of headstones were covered in moss, algae and/or lichen. I've already established that I know absolutely nothing about plants or greenery so I'm not entirely clear on the difference between the three, or sure that those are the only greenish things that grow on headstones. But what I am sure of is that a moss-covered tombstone is creepy and beautiful, and Green-Wood is lousy with them right now.

I happened upon a particular spot in the cemetery where almost every stone was covered, and it doesn't appear to have much to do with the composition of the stone itself—although the older and more porous a stone, I'm sure the more likely it is to be host to any and all creeping flora. Whenever I see one stone covered in ivy or any type of growth it makes me wonder how it was chosen as a host above all the others. I happen to extra-love any stone that looks overgrown and forgotten, and if I intended to have a tombstone of my own one day (I don't, despite my love of cemeteries) I would love nothing more than to have it entangled in ivy.

I've been to Green-Wood so many times now—and it's such an overwhelmingly large space—that narrowing my focus helps me to not jump around frantically feeling as if I'm missing something. Green-Wood does such a wonderful job of maintaining the stones and the space, that it's a testament to that maintenance that it's actually quite rare (in my experience) to find anything remotely crumbling or unkempt in the cemetery.