Notable monuments and funerary art
The grounds constitute an outdoor gallery of 19th- and early-20th-century sepulchral art. Among the most distinguished works:
- A bronze replica of the famous Greek statue "Winged Victory" marks the grave of Georgia Leschner Schwerine.
- Mary Mapes Dodge's grave— the author of "Hans Brinker" — is marked by a natural boulder with a bronze plaque.
- The Brisbin family monument (section O), an elaborate console-bracketed pedestal carrying a coffin-like sarcophagus topped with a shrouded urn, is among the largest and most impressive on the grounds. John Brisbin was president of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad.
- The Chetwood family's early columnar monument (section C) features a fluted shaft on a massive canted pedestal capped by a shroud-draped urn.
- A rare iron Eastern-rite cross, handmade by an ironworker for the grave of his daughter, Mary Hyra, in 1922, stands in the cemetery's Ukrainian section.
- The 1854 Van Buskirk–Jaques vault features an Egyptian Revival facade with the winged sun-disk emblem — one of the earliest above-ground vaults at Evergreen.
- The William H. Rankin mausoleum (section D), an Egyptian Revival design with lotus-capitaled columns, was built in 1920 at a cost of $15,000.
- Distinctive angel and classically robed female statuary appears throughout the grounds, including the Stanley and Iadarola monuments, and opulent monuments in the Roma sections rank among the most flamboyant anywhere.
Historic buildings and structures
- Administration Building — begun in the early 1900s and redesigned by architect C. A. Oakley, a two-story Colonial Revival structure of rock-faced cement block completed by 1907. It still houses the cemetery office today.
- Chapel— built 1932–33 in the Tudor Revival style by C. Godfrey Poggi, one of Union County's most prominent architects, who also designed Battin High School, Westminster Presbyterian Church, and the Elizabeth Daily Journal Building.
- Public Mausoleum— built 1912–13 as a Classical Revival receiving vault and converted to a community mausoleum in the early 1970s.
- Perimeter fence and gateways — the iron picket fence, begun in 1871, with elaborately detailed wrought-iron gateways that still frame the entrances.
The arboretum landscape
The naturally planted grounds constitute an arboretum of distinction, designed in the Picturesque tradition by surveyor Ernest L. Meyer. Of special note are a white oak standing 110 feet tall with a 225-foot limb span and a huge copper beech, both well over 300 years old. Surviving cherry and apple trees remain from the farm orchards on the original property, among linden, Norway and sugar maples, horse chestnut, American beech, sycamore, white ash, catalpa, English elm, weeping willow, magnolia, dogwood, Norway spruce, yew, and cedar. The roads carry the names of trees and the paths the names of flowers — a convention that survives from the original design.
Visiting the grounds
The grounds are open to visitors daily, and our printable grounds map can guide you to specific sections. See our directions page for visiting hours and travel information, or request the grounds map before you arrive.
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