More people are buried at Calvary Cemetery, in Queens, New York, than in any other cemetery in the United States.
“Calvary Cemetery is by far the most important burial ground in the vicinity of New York, and, in fact, in the United States in point of interments, extent, and the number of monuments and headstones that go to make it a wilderness of rising tombstones.”
-The Leonard Manual of the Cemeteries of New York and Vicinity, 1901
This episode is focused on the history of the cemetery, what it’s like to visit it nowadays, and some of the most interesting people buried there.
Highlights include:
• The Cemetery Belt, a collection of NYC cemeteries that can be seen from space
• A rich man who died in a barn
• A Black, queer communist author and poet
• Rome’s ancient catacombs
• Some NYC mobsters
• A female author who grew up in a castle
• A NYC cop who was assassinated in Sicily
For more audio about Calvary Cemetery, check out our patreon.
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E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
Photos taken in and around Calvary Cemetery, Queens, in April and May 2020
Sources consulted RE: Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York
Websites RE: Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York
- More about Joe Masseria: https://newtownpentacle.com/2010/10/29/the-man-who-could-dodge-bullets/
- Vistors guide of Calvary Cemetery in “brooklyn” (1876):
https://archive.org/stream/visitorsguidetoc02broo?ref=ol#page/14/mode/2up - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Queens
- http://www.nymoon.com/pubs/undertone/dead/
- https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/64107/calvary-cemetery
- https://hyperallergic.com/54404/there-are-more-people-who-are-dead-than-alive-in-queens/
- https://hyperallergic.com/53757/from-da-bronx-to-eternity/
- https://hyperallergic.com/54052/trinity-church-burial-grounds-manhattan/
- https://www.6sqft.com/interview-meet-mary-french-the-woman-archiving-new-york-citys-140-cemeteries/
- http://www.interment.net/data/us/ny/queens/calvary_cemetery.htm
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Petrosino
- https://calvarycemeteryqueens.com/cemetery-map/
- https://www.brownstoner.com/history/st-raphaels-r-c-church/
- Atlas and directory to the plots and grounds of Calvary cemetery
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15372992W/Atlas_and_directory_to_the_plots_and_grounds_of_Calvary_cemetery - The Leonard manual of the cemeteries of New York and vicinity 1 edition
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL12735678W/The_Leonard_manual_of_the_cemeteries_of_New_York_and_vicinity
cemetery trees: - https://archive.org/stream/cu31924089529634?ref=ol#page/n21/mode/2up
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_City#Blissville
- https://hyperallergic.com/54404/there-are-more-people-who-are-dead-than-alive-in-queens/
- Popular Mechanics: An Illustrated Weekly Review of the Mechanical …, Volume 12
: https://books.google.com/books?id=qCbZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA292&dq=%22Raymond+F.+Almirall%22+%22architect%22&hl=en&ei=85RUTdOXCoH6lweH8tCiBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAzgo#v=onepage&q=%22Raymond%20F.%20Almirall%22%20%22architect%22&f=false - https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120325/maspeth-middle-village-ridgewood/man-found-dead-at-calvary-cemetery-queens/
- https://www.spinlister.com/blog/beyond-calvary-cemetery-queens-cemetery-cycling-tour/
- https://forgotten-ny.com/2011/12/calvary-cemetery/
- https://untappedcities.com/2016/09/28/the-top-10-secrets-of-nycs-calvary-cemetery-in-queens-the-largest-in-the-us/?displayall=true
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Ascendancy
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Order
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hughes_(archbishop)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbonism
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favour_Royal
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Ann_Seton
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_of_Moscow_(1812)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_draft_riots
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Patrick%27s_Old_Cathedral
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Patrick%27s_Cathedral_(Manhattan)
- http://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyqueen2/cemeteries/Calvary.htm
- https://calvarycemeteryqueens.com/
- https://calvarycemeteryqueens.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/09/CAL-price-list-9-26-19.pdf
- https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=870
- https://untappedcities.com/2016/09/28/the-top-10-secrets-of-nycs-calvary-cemetery-in-queens-the-largest-in-the-us/?displayall=true
- https://www.brownstoner.com/history/queenswalk-calvary-cemetery/
- http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_commissions/archeo/inglese/documents/rc_com_archeo_doc_20011010_catacroma_en.html#Roma
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Dolan
- https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/calvary-monument/history
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Masseria
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellammarese_War
- https://newtownpentacle.com/?s=calvary
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hand_(extortion)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Petrosinohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Letitia_Martin
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connemara
- https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyqueen2/cemeteries/Calvary3.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Blood_Brotherhood
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_McKay
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Eastman
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_We_Must_Die
- https://scalar.lehigh.edu/mckay/claude-mckays-queer-poetics-public-humanities-syllabus
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/claude-mckay-abandoned-romance-in-marseille-because-it-was-too-daring-he-was-just-ahead-of-his-time/2020/02/05/1c215cc4-46a1-11ea-ab15-b5df3261b710_story.html
Listen to the Ouija board series:
- Ouija Boards Part 1 – Planchette and Automatic Writing
- Helen Peters and Ouida / Invention (Ouija Boards Part 2)
- William Fuld (Ouija Boards Part 3)
- 19th Century Ouija Board Stories / Early Ouijamania (Ouija Boards Part 4)
- Victorian Egyptomania (Ouija Boards Part 5)
- Ouija after World War I (Ouija Boards Part 6)
- 1920s Ouijamania (Ouija Boards Part 7)
- More 1920s Ouija Board Stories (Ouija Boards Part 8)
- Kill Daddy: The Turley Ouija Board Murder (Ouija Boards Part 9)
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