Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

Cypress Hills Cemetery was the first non-sectarian/non-denominational cemetery corporation organized in the Brooklyn/Queens area of New York City. The Cemetery is run as a non-for-profit organization and is located at 833 Jamaica Avenue in Brooklyn. The Cemetery occupies both Kings and Queens counties and its 225 acres are divided by the Jackie Robinson Parkway(formally the Interboro Parkway). Cypress Hills retains its two primary entrances at Jamaica Avenue(Brooklyn) and Cooper Avenue(Queens). The Cemetery reveals its historical significance through an extensive record of New York's most notable figures buried there. Established in 1848 east of the Ridgewood Reservoir, a section of the cemetery was designated as the Cypress Hills National Cemetery in 1862 as a military burial ground for soldiers of the American Civil War, which in 1941 received the bodies of 235 Confederate prisoners who died on Hart Island.

Features
The cemetery features:
 * Cypress Hills Abbey which was built in 1926.
 * Memorial Abbey Built in 1936.
 * Melrose Memorial Garden Built in 2008.
 * 225 acres of Rural cemetery
 * An urn garden
 * War of 1812 Memorial
 * Civil War Soldiers plot

Notable interments

 * Vytautas Bacevičius (1905-1970), Lithuanian pianist and composer
 * Eubie Blake (1883-1983), musician and composer
 * Homer Lusk Collyer (1881-1947), recluse and hoarder
 * Langley Collyer (1885-1947), recluse and hoarder
 * James J. Corbett (1866-1933), World Heavyweight boxing champion
 * Hiram Cronk (1800-1905), last surviving veteran of the War of 1812
 * Mock Duck (1879-1941), New York Chinese gang leader
 * Monk Eastman, real name Edward Osterman, (1873-1920), notorious New York Gang leader
 * Lee Falk (1911-1999), cartoonist, creator of The Phantom
 * Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson (1845-1894), major league baseball player, manager
 * Gloria Foster (1933-2001), actress
 * Kate Fox (1837-1892), spiritualist
 * Maggie Fox (1833-1893), spiritualist
 * Irving Lehman (1876-1945), Chief Judge of the NY Court of Appeals
 * George Leonidas Leslie (1842-1878) Architect, Noted Bank Robber
 * Rosetta Lenoire (1911-2002), actress, National Medal of the Arts winner
 * George H. Mills (1843-1885), murderer
 * Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), Dutch painter
 * Victor Moore (1876-1962), actor, comedian
 * Jackie Robinson (1919-1972), Hall of Fame baseball player, the first African-American player in the major leagues
 * Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (1874-1938), founder of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City
 * Mae West (1893-1980), actress, comedienne, and playwright; second floor of the Cypress Hills Abbey
 * Josh White (1914-1969), musician
 * John B. Wood (1827-1884), journalist

Cultural references
Cypress Hills Cemetery was opened for burials in 1851 and was designed to emulate a "rural cemetery" setting. The Cemetery features lush surroundings, rolling hills, and centuries old Cypress trees. Its location in one of the busiest areas in Brooklyn made it a challenge to preserve its natural beauty through 150 years of industrial and economic advancement. Today, the Cemetery serves as the final resting place for over 400,000 individuals. The history of Cypress Hills Cemetery is featured in the book, "Images of America: Cypress Hills Cemetery" by Stephen C. Duer and Allen B. Smith. In Marvel Comics, Cypress Hill Cemetery served as the headquarters of the supernatural superhero team, The Midnight Sons. The Cemetery was also introduced in many Ghost Rider comics featuring the Legion of Vengeance.