Ehret bronze door, Egyptian head

lion guarding Ehret mausoleum

lion guarding Ehret mausoleum

Haffen family plot

Another brewing family – the Haffens, whose building in the Hub still stands and is an NYC Designated Historical Landmark. The “main man” in this plot is John M. Haffen, who died in 1932, buried here with his first and second wives and children. John M. was a prominent Bronx banker in the early 20th century. His grandfather, Mathias, started the Haffen Brewing Company, which the family sold to Jacob Ruppert in 1917.

Gates mausoleum bronze door

Sculptor Robert Aitken, who also did the pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court building, produced the bronze doors of the Gates mausoleum, a mourning woman in classical robes.

Paladino monument

So what if one has three tracks (and always did), while another line had four, but now one is empty?

Elevated at Gunhill Road

6 train overpass

But look at this, an overpass of the #6 train, at Allerton Avenue, obviously four pair of stringers, but one of them has had its track ripped out. This line was originally part of the grandiosely-named New York, Westchester, & Boston Railroad (NYWB), a short-lived venture that once carried commuters between Westchester and the Bronx. The NYWB had four tracks: two running each way. After it went defunct, the NYC MTA took over the line, and converted it for the #6 train, which had to operate on a 3-track system, like the rest of the MTA’s elevated. Actually, all the converted NYWB track is surface; this is only an overpasss.

Other differences: Note that the tracks do not sit right over the stringers. Also notice the much heavier construction of the NYWB’s overpass compared to the elevated at Gun Hill Road.

The Bache mausoleum features the Egyptian motifs that were so popular at the time.

Bache mausoleum

Bache mausoleum door and lintel

Bache mausoleum stained glass window

It is surprisingly easy to get a decent photograph of the interior of these mausoleums. They are all locked, of course. But, if you put your camera lens between the grillwork, right up to the glass, and focus, you can get a photo like these. Modern digital cameras do pretty well in low light conditions.

Bache mausoleum interior

Matthew Borden’s sarcophagus

The Borden family memorial features a large central granite block, with Bible verses on either side. Flanking it, on a raised circular platform are the sarcophagi of Matthew, his wife, and four of their children (who all died young).

Borden mausoleum

Tuliptree allee by library

These Tuliptrees have spread out so much and have been so well-tended, they don’t look much like their tall, telephone-pole-like brethren in Harriman State park.

purple, yellow, red flowers

Enid Haupt Conservatory

yellow star-shaped flower

bright red flowers

blue and white flowers

Webb family memorial

James Watson Webb

James Watson Webb (February 8, 1802 – June 7, 1884) was a United States diplomat, newspaper publisher and a New York politician in the Whig and Republican parties.

William Seward Webb

William Seward Webb, M.D. (January 31, 1851 – October 29, 1926) was a businessman, and Inspector General of the Vermont militia with the rank of Colonel. He was a founder and former President of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Jacob & George Webb

Apparently this is not the same family as William H. Webb, founder of the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, originally in the Bronx, now in Long Island.

Coster Mausoleum

Borden mausoleum

Ehret mausoleum

When he died in 1927, George Ehret was the wealthiest man in New York, having made his fortune as the owner of the Hell Gate Brewery. Obviously a man of forethought, Ehret had his Romanesque Revival mausoleum built in 1900, with lions out front, by sculptor J. Massey Rhind.

Armour mausoleum

Manger mausoleum

Elm Court – Robert Moses crypt

Robert Moses crypt

Community mausoleum

The beautiful court in another nearby community mausoleum.

Woodlawn Chapel

Eastern White Pine

One of the Cemtery’s Great Trees, an Eastern White Pine. Sadly, the nearby Weeping Pendant Silver Linden was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012.