The Bronx Journal/February 2002 A2 L O C A L Woodlawn Cemetery A UNIQUE HISTORICAL PLACE IN THE BRONX DAVID DAVITT Bronx Journal Staff Reporter PHOTO: LENORE SCHULTZ lthough Woodlawn land that Woodlawn now sits on. Woodlawn Cemetery between Mr. Condon vation non-profit organization) states that During guided tours of the cemetery that and one of the alleged kidnappers prior to currently the cemetery averages 2,200 buri- is considered one take place during the fall season, cemetery the grisly conclusion of this case, when the als annually, 1000 of them being crema- of the earliest o fficials often refer to R.H Macy, battered and decomposed body of the infant tions. J.C.Penney and F. W. Woolworth, the was found in a wooded area not far from the There are currently 300,000 people buried cemeteries in the outlying founders of the first department stores, and Lindbergh residence in New Jersey. in Woodlawn. Future plans for the ceme- boroughs of New York, no interred here in spectacular mausoleums, as Susan Olsen, Executive Director of the tery include the construction of a new the Merchant Princes of Woodlawn. Two Friends of Woodlawn Cemetery, (a preser- administration building, which will house a one is quite sure (even victims from the ill fated Titanic, Ida and new hi-tech computer and telephone sys- cemetery historians) where Isidor Strauss (of the Abraham & Strauss tem. Throughout the year, the Friends of department store chain) have statues dedi- Woodlawn sponsor many educational pro- the name “Woodlawn” cated to them outside of their family mau- grams for schools and community groups. actually derived from. There soleum in Woodlawn. The era of the There are currently During Black History Month 2001, the American Civil War is represented in cemetery held an essay writing competition are many cemeteries named Woodlawn by the remains of General 300,000 people buried in for the children of Middle School 80. The Woodlawn throughout the Archibald Gracie, a Confederate General children were asked to write an essay about (whose New York home, Gracie Mansion Woodlawn. Future plans one of the famous Black Americans buried United States and it is has served as the official residence for New in Woodlawn. Most noted are Billie unclear if Woodlawn in the York Mayors for over a century) and by for the cemetery include Holliday, Miles Davis and WC Handy. those of David Glasgow Farragut, who Thomas Farrelly, 53, Marriott Hotel Bronx was the first one to became America’s first naval Admiral. the construction of a new Security Officer, remembers working in the use the name. The cemetery was featured in the infa- cemetery in the early 1970’s and witnessing mous Lindbergh baby kidnapping case of administration building, the funeral of another great Jazz composer Woodlawn Cemetery opened its gates as a 1932. Charles Lindbergh, the first man to and performer, Duke Ellington. He likened non-sectarian cemetery on 313 acres in the fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, had his which will house a new the funeral to a New Orleans Mardi Gras North Bronx in 1863. The cemetery, baby son taken from the family home by festival with the Jazz musicians giving the through its inhabitants, is linked to an array unknown abductors. John Condon, a hi-tech computer and deceased a raucous send-off. Other famous of events in American history. Georg e retired schoolteacher from the Bronx, people buried in Woodlawn include Fiorello Washington’s forces built a defense to cover offered to act as an intermediary between telephone system the old Post Road after their retreat from the Lindbergh family and the kidnappers. White Plains in August of 1776 using the Several clandestine meetings took place in Continued on next page.