Old Calvary Cemetary | cyclephotography

Old (First) Calvery Cemetary

I never seem to tire of cycling the Brooklyn Queens Waterfront. Especially on a day such as yesterday …low 80’s, low humidity with puffy cumulus clouds in great contrast to a deep blue sky. …..here we are on July 1st and I have not had to install one air conditioner yet at home.
All I needed was a new and interesting destination. I recalled my trip on May 13 as I ran cemetery row through Glendale on my way to Bushwick Brooklyn. I recalled further how beautiful and photogenic Evergreen Cemetery was. So I decided then that I would make some of New York’s famous cemeteries my new destinations. First Calvary, Holy Cross, Mt. Olivet, Woodlawn, Moravian ……and, of course, the grand daddy of them all, Green-Wood in Brooklyn. Even back in the early 19th century Green-Wood was popular for day visits. Today Green-Wood, with it’s almost 500 acres and 4 lakes, encourages visitors and photography with formal and self guided tours. Green-Wood was the place where celebrities and those with money would die to get into ….and that was an intended pun. :) Both Green-Wood and Woodlawn were considered “burial parks” as compared to First Calvary.”It is not a burial park, as Green-Wood or Woodlawn were designed to be; rather, it was a place where, when you’re dead, to get yourself buried” …….The Forgotten New York.

I decided that to do Green-Wood some justice I would wait until the fall to visit it in all its colorful splendor. Today I would ride to First Calvary. “First Calvary sometimes has a surrealistic atmosphere, with the beetling towers of Manhattan and Queens the backdrop” ….The Forgotten New York. …..and First Calvary did not disappoint. As old as Green-Wood (early 19th century) the monolithic monuments intertwined and juxtaposed with the Manhattan skyline to where, at first glance, it was difficult to separate them for what they were. With my usual starting point, Astoria Park, I stopped at Roosevelt Island, rode through Long Island City to the Pulaski Bridge and into Greenpoint …where for the first time I encountered the road I had to take ….Greenpoint Ave.
I would describe Greenpoint ave as probably the ugliest road in NYC. If one where to ask where all the manufacturing and light industry went, just answer …Greenpoint Ave. A mix of smells from food to strange spices to rubber to heavy crude oil and everything else unrecognizable in between. When Brooklynites complain about the Gowanus Canal I tell them that I have a creek to sell them on the Queens borderline ….and its called Newtown :) Greenpoint Ave crosses Newtown Creek and all its shoreline industry.
Rarely do I have to retreat to the sidewalk as I was competing with 18 wheelers, delivery and cement trucks. It seems that all the industry along a waterfront that converted to residential (Astoria, LIC) retreated to Greenpoint Ave. Even the sidewalks were challenging, as you never knew what was going to come out of a car wash, collision shop or scrap metal shop.
For these reasons First Calvary will probably not be on my “return” list. However once you made that right turn through the main gate it was like stepping into another world in all its visual and quiet splendor. First Calvary is beautiful nonetheless ….a diamond in the rough.