Embracing Topography, Integrating Natural Burial
The Cedar Dell is a one-acre burial landscape at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark. NBW’s design incorporates new burial plots, including Green-Wood’s first designated natural burial area, while allowing for the continuation of successful performing arts programming. Comprising parcels owned by Green-Wood and the Dutch Reformed Church, the Cedar Dell is home to existing graves that date back to the 18th century.
The design celebrates the space’s unique bowl formation to provide a sense of gathering and rest. Site elements are informed by concentric circles established by the ring of existing historic Dutch Reformed Church headstones. New headstones are laid out in an arcing band offset from the historic headstones. The outer reaches culminate in a richly planted band that doubles as drainage conveyance. A perennial garden is the final resting place for cremated remains as well as natural burials.
A central allée and grove of trees fill the open end of the bowl, providing a much-needed sense of enclosure via the tree canopy; and a collective memorial located at the center of the space creates a sense of destination and focal point for visitors. This collective memorial is comprised of an artful arrangement of three multiple-ton boulders unearthed at Green-Wood. Their surfaces host commemorative bronze markers for loved ones buried here.
