Greenwood Playground

Ft Hamilton Pkwy., Prospect Ave., Greenwood Ave.

Brooklyn, 11218

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

Greenwood Cemetery was commissioned in 1838 as the first nonsectarian cemetery in the City of Brooklyn. Its striking Victorian gatehouses and shelters, contemplative winding paths, reflecting lakes, and a majestic view of New York harbor from its heights, drew thousands onto the grounds of the cemetery for walks or picnics. Greenwood’s immediate popularity, not only for burials, but as one of Brooklyn’s first large public spaces, demonstrated to city planners the importance of open, green spaces within the burgeoning metropolis. The cemetery remained the largest green space in Brooklyn until the opening of Prospect Park in 1866.