FORT GREENE AND GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY — BROOKLYN’S HISTORY is at the forefront of the last weekend in August each year, with major ceremonies taking place at Fort Greene Park and the Green-Wood Cemetery to mark the 248th anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn. The Society of Old Brooklynites will lead the 116th Annual Memorial Tribute to the Prison Ship Martyrs, who were considered to be America’s first POWs, on Saturday, Aug. 24, at 10 a.m. The ceremony commemorates the 11,500 patriots from the American Revolution who are entombed in a crypt underneath a 149-foot monument at the top of the hill in Fort Greene Park (DeKalb Ave. and Washington Park. On Sunday, Aug. 25, the action switches to the Green-Wood Cemetery, across which much of the Battle of Brooklyn was fought. Battle Hill, which is the cemetery’s highest point at 216 feet above sea level, will be the scene of the annual Battle of Brooklyn Ceremony, observed as part of a daylong Commemoration and Family Day, starting at 11 a.m. and including a re-enactment, and a parade up to Battle Hill. The ceremony will salute those who fought in this first major battle after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Click here for more information and tickets.
The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument designed by renowned architect Stanford White (1853–1906).
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