Van Ness-Parsons Mausoleum

Take East 21st Street south from Church for a slice of the borough’s past. Van Ness-Parsons Mausoleum sits in quiet Green-Wood Cemetery, a marble sentinel above the rolling hills. Completed in the late 1800s, its Gothic arches and weathered inscriptions trace the names of Brooklyn families who shaped everything from shipping to streets.

The address is straightforward: Brooklyn, NY 11218. Inside the chapel you’ll find family crypts arranged aisle-side, some tucked behind iron gates, others bordered by tall ledger stones. Mid-week mornings find historians and genealogists here, notebooks in hand, decoding faded engravings with flashlights angled just so.

Call ahead if you need help locating a particular vault; the office can skip the usual gate buzz-in routine. Staff keep a printed plat under glass—plot A-7 south then right at the weeping beech looks simple on paper.

Directions are a map click away. Paste the link straight into your phone to avoid wrong turns at 4th Avenue: https://www.google.com/maps/place?ftid=0x89c25b28054863a7:0x451b379b26408175. The oak-lined lane just past the Gothic arch gate posts signals you’re in the right pocket of the cemetery—pin the coordinates once you hit the gravel loop and you’ll be set.