Green-Wood is a living cemetery that brings people closer to the world by memorializing the dead even as it embraces the art, history, and natural beauty of New York. Founded in 1838 and now a National Historic Landmark, Green-Wood was one of the first rural cemeteries in America. By the early 1860s, it had earned an international reputation for its beauty, attracting 500,000 visitors a year, second only to Niagara Falls as the nation's greatest tourist attraction. Crowds flocked here to enjoy family outings in the finest of first-generation American landscapes. Green-Wood's popularity helped inspire the creation of public parks, including New York City's Central and Prospect parks. Green-Wood is 478 spectacular acres of hills, valleys, glacial ponds, and paths, throughout which exists one of the largest outdoor collections of nineteenth- and twentieth-century statuary and mausoleums. Four seasons of beauty offer a peaceful oasis to visitors, as well as its 570,000 permanent residents, including Leonard Bernstein, Boss Tweed, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Louis Comfort Tiffany.

At once a celebration and an invitation, the book ranges from a consideration of the natural landscape in which it is set to a close look at its architecture, statuary, symbols, typography, birds and fauna, trees, and typography.