The First Open Space Node Along the Brooklyn Greenway
The Naval Cemetery Landscape is the first public open space to be developed by the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative along the 26-mile Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. Historically an unmarked burial ground associated with the Brooklyn Naval Hospital, this project revitalizes an abandoned parcel of the Brooklyn Navy Yard into a culturally and ecologically significant public space. The immersive site experience provides a sense of peace, refuge, and remembrance within an otherwise dense urban environment.
The design and installation of the wildflower meadow likewise responds to the sensitive site. Plants were selected for their seasonal color, form, and complementary textures, as well as for their benefit to pollinators and other wildlife. Containing more than 50 species, the Memorial Meadow focuses on the establishment of much-needed native plants for the overlooked pollinators critical to the ecological health of the region and the many community gardens surrounding the site. Monarch butterflies, attracted to the milkweed on which their larvae feed, have been plentiful among the sprawl of wildflowers, which includes pollinator species such as bee balm, goldenrod, purple coneflower, mountain mint, and brown-eyed Susan.
The meandering pathway provides a sense of peace and respite when wandering the site. An intersecting axis of granite blocks pays homage to the industrial past of the Navy Yard, offers a physical marker for those buried on site, and provides an additional opportunity to experience the meadow. The river-like boardwalk meanders above a sea of native grasses of the meadow; it then passes through a grove of native black cherry trees that provide a sense of enclosure and natural shelter. A wooden bench provided by NatureSacred contains a small notebook for visitors to the Naval Cemetery Landscape to reflect and record their thoughts. Numerous notebooks have been filled with open messages of gratitude and healing.
This understated landscape quietly evokes the histories of settlement and cultivation, life and death, while slowing the heart rate and connecting visitors with the stories of the site. The park naturally builds community as it hosts yoga, meditation, beekeeping, and ecology classes, fashion shows, and art installations while providing an opportunity for visitors to engage with the seasonal changes of the meadow. It engages the public in the importance of pollinator habitat in the urban environment, symbolically attracting many forms of life to a place that has historically commemorated death.
