Accessibility Info
PARK FACT:
Do you know an interesting tidbit about Calvary Monument that you’d like to share? Please send it to us!
Calvary Monument
First Calvery, Greenpoint Ave., Gale St.
Queens
Directions: Google Maps | MTA Trip Planner
Acres: 0.05
Soldiers Monument
This monument, in the middle of Calvary Cemetery in Queens, honors Union soldiers who died in the Civil War (1861-65). The elaborate monument was commissioned by the City of New York, and erected in 1866. It features a 50-foot-high granite obelisk decorated with bronze garlands and ornamental flags and topped with a bronze figure representing peace, which was sculpted by Daniel Draddy. Draddy also created the four life-size figures depicting Civil War soldiers that stand on pedestals surrounding the column.
Twenty-one Roman Catholic Civil War Union soldiers are interred at the site; the last burial took place in 1909. In 1929, the monument was given a new fence, and its bronze and granite details were replaced and restored. Draddy was well known for his church altars, including the Coleman Memorial in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. Family member, John G. Draddy, sculpted the bust of Thomas Moore in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.
The monument is in need of restoration and Parks seeks sponsors to support conservation of this historic piece.
Updated May 17, 2007
