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We’re all going to die. Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery wants you to get comfortable with it.
By
Catalina Gonella
Published May 1, 2025
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Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
By
Catalina Gonella
Published May 1, 2025
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This Sunday is a time to think about death.
Green-Wood Cemetery’s first-ever “Sunday in the Cemetery” will bring together end-of-life professionals, artists, caregivers and community members for free open-house style conversations and workshops on death and remembrance.
The events are designed to encourage people to engage candidly with topics that people tend to shy away from, said Gabrielle Gatto, Green-Wood’s manager of public programs.
“Any death care worker you talk to, they will tell you that the more they deepen into their work, the more meaningfully they live their lives. It's just this wonderful great paradox,” she said. “We truly firmly believe here at Green-Wood the more you talk about that, the more you get comfortable with the uncomfortable truth that we're all going to die, and you can engage with your mortality in way more meaningful and comfortable settings.”
The programming on Sunday includes a morning meditation session focused on grief, a guided walking tour highlighting the art throughout the cemetery and a panel discussion about navigating pet death. Attendees can also explore healing through tactile crafts during a hands-on knitting and crocheting workshop, and learn about eco-conscious funeral and burial practices at a presentation by a funeral director.
There will even be a panel aptly named “Your End of Life Lineup,” where a funeral director, a thanatologist, a death doula and a chaplain will answer audience questions about the emotional, spiritual, practical and philosophical dimensions of death and dying.
“Green-Wood's goal is to normalize and humanize end of life experience, so what better place to do it than a potential final home?” Gatto said. “I think that this event is for anybody that is curious about death, dying grief or loss, and interested in healing from loss, or simply looking to start their week with meaning and intention.”
More details on the day’s full agenda and registration are available at the cemetery’s website.
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