Even A Cemetery Suffers In This Economy

LATimes ^ | September 03, 2009

[Steelfish]

Even A Cemetery Suffers In This Economy

Historic grave sites are crumbling at New York's Green-Wood Cemetery -- the resting place of Leonard Bernstein, Louis Tiffany and others -- and the money to save them is scarce.

Acid rain is eating away at statuary in the 171-year-old Brooklyn cemetery, where those buried include Leonard Bernstein and Louis Comfort Tiffany. (Tina Susman / Los Angeles Times / August 15, 2009)

Reporting from New York - It's tough being an angel, even in as idyllic a setting as the Green-Wood Cemetery, where the leaves of shade trees rustle in the summer breeze and the grassy hills offer vistas of New York Harbor.

Acid rain eats away the delicate tips of wings. Marble hands clasped in prayer lose their fingers and thumbs. Noses drop to the knolls. Some cherubs, targets for thieves and vandals, simply vanish.

Sure, the full-time residents of Green-Wood might not notice. Leonard Bernstein (1918-90) has yet to rise up in protest. Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) remains quietly at rest.

So do the soldiers and generals of past and present wars, the men who gave us the Steinway piano, animal rights, soda pop and the sewing machine, and the actress reputed to have cradled Abraham Lincoln's head on her lap as he lay dying.

But those responsible for preserving the 171-year-old national historic landmark do notice -- and lately they've found another problem to contend with: The economy is taking a toll on efforts to save the statuary that graces Green-Wood.

[Question Liberal Authority]

So the cemetery survived the Civil War, the Great Depression, and the Jimmy Carter administration. But 7 months of Obama and it’s nearly finished.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Acid rain is eating away at statuary...

I thought acid rain was one of those things that only happened when a Republican was in the White House?

[JohnLongIsland]

nothing a cemetary czar couldn’t cure...