Awesome Tombstone's From New York's Coolest Cemetery

Image via Complex Original

Celebrating 150 years in 2012, The Woodlawn Cemetery is a designated National Historic Monument. One of the finest examples of the 19th-century garden cemetery, Woodlawn is the final resting place of such luminaries as Herman Melville, Miles Davis, and the great Duke Ellington.

Musicians, writers, and even captains of industry mingle within the cemetery's outstanding landscape.

Check out some of the most amazing tombstones from New York's coolest cemetery.

Bache Mausoleum

Memorializes Jules Bache (1861-1944), banker, art collector, and philanthropist.

DeLong Memorial

Memorializes George Washington DeLong (1844-1881). Sculpted by Leonard Craske.

DeLong discovered and claimed three islands (De Long Islands) for the US in the summer of 1881.  During the mission his ship became trapped in ice and eventually was crushed and sank. DeLong and his crew abandoned ship and set out for Siberia in three small boats. After reaching open water, they became separated and one boat, was lost and never found. DeLong's boat did reach land, but only the two men sent ahead for to rbign back rescuers survived. DeLong died of starvation near Mat Vay, Yakutsk, Siberia. A crew member returned a year later to recover DeLong and the other crew members bodies.  He and five of his men are together at Woodlawn.

“Duke” Edward Kennedy Ellington (1899-1974)

Jazz great.

Farragut Memorial 

Memorializes Admiral David Glasgow Farragut (1801-1870).  

He is remembered in popular culture for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War, usually paraphrased: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" by U.S. Navy tradition.

Gates Mausoleum

Detail of the door on the John W. Gates Mausoleum (1914).  Bronze sculpture by Robert Aitken, best known for creating the West Pediment of the Supreme Court in Washington DC.

Gerould Memorial

The angel is a replica of the Giulio Monteverde angel in Genoa and Rome.

W. C. Handy (1873-1958)

Memorializes William Christopher Handy, widely known as the “Father of the Blues.”

Huntingon Memorial

Memorializes Arabella Huntington (1850-1924).  She was once known as the richest woman in America, and as the force behind the art collection that is housed at the Huntington Library.

J Massey Rhind Lions

Detail of lions by sculptor J Massey Rhind which stand in front of the George Ehret Mausoleum. Ehret was the founder of Hell Gate Brewery.

Melville (1819-1891)

Memorializes Herman Melville, famed author of Moby Dick.  The grave marker, chosen by his wife, depicts a blank scroll and quill.

Miles Davis (1926-1991)

Memorializes Miles Davis.  Davis is buried at Woodlawn, along with many other jazz musicians, who want to be close to the Duke throughout eternity.

John W. Gates (1855-1911)

Also known as “Bet-a-Million,” Gates because in a 1900 horse race in England, Gates won $600,000 on a $70,000 bet, which rumors escalated to over id="mce_marker" million.  He was a Gilded Age industrialist who popularized the use of barbed wire in the US.