A selection of Woodlawn's 1,700 notable monuments were designed, and/or built by famed architects from the 19th and 20th centuries. John Merven Carrere and Thomas Hastings were the designers of Grand Army Plaza, the New York City Central Library and the Frick Museum Townhouse all in Manhattan. They also designed the Borden, Julius Stein and Arata monuments and mausoleums at Woodlawn. John Russel Pope is another architect turned monument designer who is best known for the National Gallery of Art and Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. Mr. Pope also created the Garvan, Leeds and Stewart mausoleums at Woodlawn. Other notable architects whose work graces Woodlawn include James Gamble Rogers who designed portions of Yale and Columbia Universities; McKim, Mead & White who designed numerous public and private New York buildings; Sir Edwin Lutyens; and Samuel Trowbridge.
With over 300,000 graves Woodlawn holds the remains of a great number of New Yorkers. In addition to locals the cemetery is the resting place for a wide array of societal giants, including Herman Melville, Fiorello LaGuardia, Augustus Julliard, Robert Moses, F.W. Woolworth, J.C. Penny and R.H. Macy of retail fame, Robert Moses the great developer. It's also the resting place of a host of composers and musicians, including Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington and Cecilia Cruz.
Some of the most beloved of Woodlawn's monuments are the trees that occupy its 400 acres. The Weeping Beech at the Gould mausoleum, Pendant Silver Linen and White Pine near the Wooolworth Chapel, European Cut Leaf Beech near the Manger mausoleum and the Umbrella Pine at the Paterno mausoleum were all designated as unusual and historic trees by the city of New York ion 1985.
Woodlawn is not the prototypical cemetery awash in shadows and tombstones. Instead the landscaping and design of the space creates more of a parklike atmosphere in which people may enjoy taking a walk or having a picnic. The cemetery puts on a series of events each year to take advantage of the surroundings; events include bird-watching, musical performances, lectures and even Easter egg hunts.
