Friends of Historic New Utrecht Presents Talk on Green-Wood’s Civil War Project

March 19, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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BROOKLYN — Green-Wood Cemetery’s historian, Jeffrey Richman, will tell the story of Green-Wood’s Civil War Project in an illustrated presentation at the New Utrecht Reformed Church Parish House, 84th Street and 18th Avenue, at 7:30 p.m., on Wednesday, March 28.

The event will be presented by Friends of Historic New Utrecht. Admission is free, and Richman’s talk will be followed by an audience question-and-answer session and reception.

The nation last year started the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, but Green-Wood’s Civil War Project began 10 years ago. Hundreds of volunteer researchers have so far identified more than 4,800 Civil War veterans — both Union and Confederate — who are buried at Green-Wood. The volunteers have written biographies of each veteran and have obtained Veterans Administration gravestones for more than 2,000 men with unmarked graves.

Richman has been Green-Wood’s historian since 2000. In addition to heading the Civil War Project, he has curated several exhibits about Green-Wood, created two self-guided tours for cemetery visitors and written two books, Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery: New York’s Buried Treasure (1998) and Final Camping Ground: Civil War Veterans at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, In Their Own Words (2007).

The program is part of a series of concerts, lectures and other free historic, educational programs offered each year by Friends of Historic New Utrecht, which conducts tours of its own New Utrecht Cemetery, at 85th Street and 16th Avenue. This old Dutch cemetery with its weather-worn tombstones provides a unique examination of life in the days when New Utrecht was still a separate town.

Persons interested in learning more about the Friends of Historic New Utrecht’s many free community programs and New Utrecht’s history are invited to call (718) 256-7173, check the website historicnewutrecht.org or inquire at [email protected].