TRINITY CHURCH CEMETERY & MAUSOLEUM— A WALK THROUGH HISTORY Welcome to Trinity Church Cemetery & Mausoleum—a unique historical site and a quiet sanctuary. This guide provides a tour of the grounds. The cemetery offers a serene place to walk, views of the Hudson River, and is the final resting place of many notable people. The Cemetery was established in 1842 by the parish of Trinity Church. It was opened after burials were prohibited in Lower Manhattan due to outbreaks of cholera and other diseases. The site’s earlier history dates back to 1776, when the Battle of Fort Washington was waged here during the American Revolution. As you walk the grounds, take note of some of the interesting people interred here (highlighted on the map). One recognizable name is John James Audubon, the naturalist and artist. His estate, Minniesland, was located nearby, and Audubon is buried in the Eastern division, behind the Church of the Intercession. His memorial is a tall distinctive Celtic cross adorned with reliefs of animals including deer, buffalo, and elk. Other notable names include: Alfred Tennyson Dickens, son of Charles Dickens; John Jacob Astor, industrialist; Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man; and Clement Clarke Moore, author of the beloved poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas. (also know as ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas). Trinity Church Cemetery & Mausoleum offers the only active community mausoleum in Manhattan. It is operated as an outreach ministry of Trinity Church Wall Street, an Episcopal parish in Lower Manhattan made up of Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel. You can learn more about the parish’s history and mission at trinitywallstreet.org. Thank you for visiting! WEST 155TH STREET WESTERLY u 11 i t y q o w 21 BROADWAY 12 C B HENRY HUDSON PARKWAY HUDSON HENRY e r 10 f A WEST 153RD STREET WESTERLY DIVISION followed by a procession to his grave to Also buried in the vault is Caroline a committed vestryman at Trinity (The first three biographies refer to individuals lay a wreath. Schermerhorn Astor’s son, John Jacob Church and fought for resolutions for interred in the mausoleums) Astor IV, whose body was retrieved Trinity to establish more programs to Ralph Ellison was an author, most Behind the Sands monument, in the after he perished during the sinking support the poor. His son, Morgan Dix, famous for his novel Invisible Man, for same tract, is the Rt. Rev. Benjamin T. of the Titanic. His pregnant wife, would serve as the rector of Trinity which he won the 1953 National Book Onderdonk e, fourth bishop of Madeline Force Astor, survived and Church from 1862 to 1906 and is also Award. The Ralph Ellison Memorial, New York. A cenotaph memorial to was eventually interred with her son, interred here. featuring a 15-foot Invisible Man Onderdonk can be found in the John Jacob Astor VI, in Trinity sculpture, is nearby at 150th Street Monument Room of the Chapel of Cemetery. Off on its own is a simple and beautiful and Riverside Drive. All Saints inside Trinity Church, headstone for Alfred Tennyson Broadway at Wall Street. In the same area is a very prominent Dickens s, son of novelist Charles Jerry Orbach B was an actor best above-ground mausoleum for the Dickens, and godson of poet Alfred, known for his long roles on Law and Following the path around toward the Cisco Family u, a wealthy finance Lord Tennyson. Alfred Dickens was Order and Homicide: Life on the Street. east, just at the turn, is an aboveground family. John J. Cisco was assistant visiting New York to celebrate the He was also a Tony Awarding-winning mausoleum for Abraham Oakey Hall secretary of the treasury under centennial of his father’s birth when Broadway actor. r, the city's district attorney, 1855­­ President Lincoln and a Trinity he died suddenly. Trinity Church –1858, and mayor, 1869­­–1872. Later in Church vestryman. offered to hold a funeral and provide The first African-American fire life, he defended the famous feminist a burial space. commissioner of a major U.S. city, and anarchist Emma Goldman against Follow the road around the corner and Robert O. Lowery C was appointed charges of inciting to riot in New York you’ll see a hillside vault marked Turn right on the path and a short way New York City’s fire commissioner in City. Jumel i for Eliza Bowen Jumel, wife down on the left is Samuel Seabury, d 1965, when arson-fueled fires ravaged of a wealthy French wine merchant. a descendant of the first American the city's minority communities and Continue on the roadway, and on the After his death, she married Aaron Episcopal bishop. Seabury served racial tensions divided the FDNY. left is a mostly illegible headstone for Burr, the controversial third vice on the New York Supreme Court. Samuel B. Ruggles t, a lawyer who president of the United States who In the 1930s, he headed the Seabury On the pathway outside the mausoleums influenced the development of Gramercy killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Commission to investigate city is a beautiful monument with columns Park and Union Square. He also served The Morris-Jumel Mansion is nearby. corruption. His investigations for Richard Sands q, a circus on the commission to expand the Erie fought Tammany Hall and led to the impresario famous for walking on Canal and build the Erie Railroad. A little further down the road on the resignation of mayor Jimmy Walker. ceilings with suction cups. right is a tablet memorial to Oliver There are a several Astor vaults in Evans o, a writer and engineer noted Following the path around again to the At the bottom of the hill is a marker for the cemetery, including one for for being one of the first Americans southeast corner is a tall monument to Clement Clarke Moore w, author John J. Astor y, considered the first building steam engines and an advocate Richard F. Carman f, a real estate of the holiday favorite A Visit from multi-millionaire in the United States. of high-pressure steam. magnate. Carman helped rebuild the St. Nicholas (’Twas the Night Before John Jacobs Astor’s grandson William city after the great New York fire of Christmas). Moore was the son of Backhouse Astor Jr. and his wife, John Adams Dix a was a famed Union 1835. He sold 23 acres to Trinity Bishop Benjamin Moore, sixth rector Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, are Major General during the Civil War, a Church for this cemetery. of Trinity parish. An annual reading of buried in the Astor vault. Caroline was New York State governor, and served Moore’s famous poem takes place at a prominent socialite in New York’s as both a United States Senator and The Church of the Intercession, high society in the late 19th century. Secretary of the Treasury. Dix was also WEST 155TH STREET 20 EASTERLYEASTERLY h CHURCH OF THE INTERCESSION g AMSTERDAM BROADWAY j 17 ; l Illustrations: Robert Van Nutt Van Robert Illustrations: WEST 153RD STREET EASTERLY DIVISION At the highest spot in the cemetery ARCHITECTURE AT Bertram Goodhue 20 you’ll find a fenced area that contains TRINITY CEMETERY The Church of the Intersession was Once you’ve crossed Broadway the grave of Robert Bowne previously a chapel of Trinity parish, and walked to the back of the Church Minturn k, a shipping merchant James Renwick Jr. and was known as the Chapel of the of the Intercession, the first monument and owner of the famous clipper In 1843, the Trinity Vestry selected Intercession. The chapel, designed by you’ll see is the tall, ornate monument ship Flying Cloud. The ship held James Renwick Jr.’s designs for the Bertram Goodhue, in English Gothic to John James Audubon g. Audubon the record for the fastest passage layout of the cemetery. Renwick also style, was consecrated in 1915. Inside was a naturalist, ornithologist, and (89 days, 8 hours) from New York designed St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the chapel is a memorial and tomb artist. His book Birds of America to San Francisco for more than 100 New York City and the Smithsonian honoring Goodhue. Along the arch became a renowned catalog of many years. Minturn was a founder of St. Institute in Washington, D.C. of the tomb are sculptural renderings species. Part of his 19th-century farm, Luke's Hospital and among the first of Goodhue’s notable designs: St. Minniesland, to propose Central Park and, along Calvert Vaux Bartholomew’s Church, St. Thomas’ was adjacent to Trinity Cemetery. with his wife, donated land for its When the city decided to open Church, Yale Library, and the Nebraska establishment. 11th Avenue through the cemetery, State Capitol, to name a few. The On your right is the Church of splitting it into easterly and Chapel was made independent of the Intercession h. During the Hike down the mound and walk westerly divisions, the Trinity Trinity Church in 1976 and became groundbreaking for the construction toward the far eastern part of the Vestry commissioned Calvert Vaux known once again as the Church of of the building in 1912, a parade cemetery (toward Amsterdam to build a bridge to connect the two the Intercession. of 3,000 people processed up Avenue). Here a plaque marks the halves. In 1857, Vaux, along with Broadway to the site where the Middle Redoubt of Battle of Frederick Law Olmsted, had Frederick Clarke Withers 21 English Gothic-style chapel would Washington Heights l, where developed the architectural and Frederick Clarke Withers designed eventually be built in 1915.