Trinity Church Cemetery

Saturday was an absolute gorgeous day (sunny and in the 50s — finally!) and I didn't have plans until the afternoon so I headed out to wander around downtown. I'm still having fun getting to know my new camera, so my first stop was Trinity Church cemetery to take some photos.

Aside from just loving everything about cemeteries, they make wonderful places to take photos, especially for someone like me who is just getting acquainted with a new camera. They're not usually crowded and there is always something visually interesting to focus on.

I've been to Trinity Church (and its cemetery, which surrounds the church) many times and it's definitely my favorite Manhattan cemetery. The churchyard cemetery (there are two others associated with Trinity, one on Riverside Drive and one at St. Paul's Chapel) opened in 1697 and as I've said about cemeteries, the older the better.

There are many important people spending eternity here, including signers of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, delegates to the Continental Congress, US Senators, Representatives, Revolutionary War heroes and Alexander Hamilton and his wife.

There are even a few tombstones carved withe the symbol of the Free Masons, and if you've seen National Treasure you might get as nerdy excited about that as I did. This is the church under which they end up finding the treasure. No matter how cheesy the movie (or unbelievable the plot), I still love seeing famous filming locations in person and I'd be lying if I didn't say that was one of the reasons I love Trinity so much.

I am totally obsessed with the old, crumbling tombstones and I think they are leaps and bounds above the tacky marble headstones that we have today. The skull, bones and angel carvings are so incredibly beautiful to me, and the typography is pretty much perfect.

Trinity Churchyard might actually be one of my very favorite places in all of New York and despite being in a very tourist-heavy area of the city, it's usually quite peaceful and nearly empty. I love that through all of the changes to the area in the past 317 years, it has not only endured but remained in great condition. Although some of the tombstones are in pieces, a large number of them are in surprisingly good shape. One of my very favorite things to spot at an old cemetery like this is a tombstone gently leaning on the one next to it — I can't help but think that they belong to a husband and wife who just couldn't spend all of eternity being separated, and my heart simultaneously breaks and warms whenever I see a pair of leaning stones.

I also think we really need to start bringing back the carved crossbones-style tombstones, because what is cooler than that? (nothing).

Calvary Cemetery

I finally got a real deal camera (aka not a point-and-shoot and not my iPhone) last week, and I couldn't think of a better place to break it in than a cemetery. I adore cemeteries (the older the better), and I've already been to Woodlawn and Greenwood, in the Bronx and Brooklyn, respectively.

I recently found out about Calvary Cemetery in Queens, and it seemed like the perfect place for a Sunday stroll. The weather was absolutely beautiful this weekend, so Sunday I headed out to Queens via the 7 train. It was a bit of a hike to Calvary, but I definitely didn't mind the sunshine.

Calvary was the first major cemetery to be established outside of Manhattan, and dates back to 1848. It's an enormous spread, especially by New York standards, and I spent a few hours just wandering around, taking it all in. It's definitely the "tallest" cemetery I've ever been to, meaning that most of the headstones are very vertical in nature and a majority have some sort of figure or cross on top.

The hilly landscape makes for sweeping views, and the Manhattan skyline peeking out over the headstones is pretty perfect. I hardly saw anyone on my visit and I love when I feel as if I have a place all to myself. Cemeteries are such beautiful and peaceful places and I find them infinitely fascinating. The designer in me loves the variety in lettering and decoration, and I love the huge expanse of history covered in such a small area.

Calvary has a few mausoleums, but it's definitely the tall headstones that make the most impact. The more vine-covered and crumbling a cemetery is, the more I love it, and although Calvary has its share of decay it's still a very well-kept place. There was also something about the partially snow-covered ground that made the landscape even more striking and I bet it is unbelievably amazing after or during a big snowstorm.

Calvary is definitely my favorite of the New York cemeteries I've been to thus far and I can't think of a better way to spend all of eternity (or at least a sunny Sunday) than in such a peaceful place, with a view that's hard to beat.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

On Sunday a group of friends and I spent the whole day exploring Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow in the Hudson River Valley. We'd been planning the trip for a while, and I can't remember being as excited for anything in quite a while. I'd never been to upstate New York before, and Sleepy Hollow seemed as if it would be the epitome of all fall and Halloween delights. The area definitely did not disappoint, and we crammed a ton of adventures into the more than 12-hour trip.

A definite highlight was the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and Old Dutch Church Burying Ground. There are a lot of famous New York names buried in the cemetery, including a Rockefeller, a Chrysler, the Helmsleys, Elizabeth Arden and, of course, the area's most famous resident, Washington Irving.

The grounds are incredibly beautiful, especially this time of year. The entire area was exploding with fall colors, and the higher ground overlooks the Hudson River Valley, which is one of the most spectacular sights I've seen. Every corner I turned there were more and more beautiful trees and the weather was perfect.

The cemetery is a mix of old and new tombstones, fancy mausoleums and gorgeous statues — they apparently still have plots available if you're in the market for one. I can't think of many better places to spend all of eternity, but it was also a great place for a leisurely Sunday stroll.

The Pocantico river runs alongside the cemetery, and although the original "headless horseman" bridge is no longer standing, there is a rustic bridge that, according to the maps, "makes a nice souvenir photograph."

The Old Dutch Church is small and plain, but the churchyard has some of the oldest graves in the cemetery. I'll never get tired of exploring historic cemeteries, and there is always something new and interesting to discover. A lot of graves were even decorated for Halloween with pumpkins and flowers, which was appropriately festive. They offer tours during the day, but also after dark which might be neat to check out if I go back next year. I can easily see an October trip to Sleepy Hollow becoming a tradition, and there is plenty that I didn't see the first time around.

Woodlawn Cemetery

Woodlawn has been on my list of places to visit for a long time, and the weather on Sunday was perfect for a cemetery stroll. I know some people are creeped out by the idea of cemeteries, but I've always loved them. They're sad,  yes, but also peaceful, beautiful and in a way, hopeful. I think it's nice that in reading the names of people long gone I'm helping in some small way to preserve their memories.

Woodlawn is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City, and a designated landmark. I only ended up walking around about half of the cemetery — the office is closed on Sunday and I didn't have a map — but what I saw was absolutely beautiful.

The grounds are filled with huge mausoleums, intricate tombstones and beautiful signage. I love the variety of markers — obelisks, poems, angels, portraits, etc. I would love to go back to Woodlawn and explore further. There are quite a few famous gravesites that I'd like to see, and will definitely be picking up a map next time I go. I think I'll try to go again when the leaves really start changing since there's nothing that says fall to me quite like a good cemetery stroll.

There were already quite a few hints of fall if you looked hard enough, and I can only imagine how amazing the whole place will look in a few weeks. Maybe I'll even be brave enough one day to do one of the nighttime tours of the cemetery?