The Community Mausoleum was built in 1924 to offer above-ground burials – presumably for those who didn’t want or couldn’t afford their own above-ground mausoleums.

According to Rootsweb

This mausoleum was erected in 1924 to replace the original Receiving Tomb. Architect Sidney Lovell styled the building after twelfth-century gothic churches of northern Europe. At the time of its dedication in 1925, the building design was described as Tudor Gothic. The mausoleum was erected with permanence, as well as grandeur, in mind. The exterior is pink Etouah marble from Georgia. The interior is white marble from Alabama. Massive cast bronze doors mark the entrance to the mausoleum and private chapel area. In fact, all the doors, windows and gates in the mausoleum are made of or framed in bronze. The community mausoleum houses a small chapel, 292 crypts, 68 niches and two private rooms.

Taken with a Fujifilm X-E3 and Sigma 18-50 f2.8

There’s certainly a lot of space at Kensico Cemetery.

Taken with a Fujifilm X-E3 and Sigma 18-50 f2.8

“Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla, Westchester County, New York was founded in 1889, when many New York City cemeteries were becoming full, and rural cemeteries were being created near the railroads that served the city. Initially 250 acres (1.0 km2), it was expanded to 600 acres (2.4 km2) in 1905 but reduced to 461 acres (1.87 km2) in 1912, when a portion was sold to the neighboring Gate of Heaven Cemetery. The cemetery has a special section for members of the Actors’ Fund of America and the National Vaudeville Association, some of whom died in abject poverty. The cemetery contains four Commonwealth war graves, of three Canadian Army soldiers of World War I and a repatriated American Royal Air Force airman of World War II. As of December 2021, eight Major League Baseball players are buried here, including Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Lou Gehrig. Many entertainment figures of the early twentieth century, including Russian-born Sergei Rachmaninoff, were buried here.” (Adapted from Wikipedia, which also provides a long list of the well-known people buried there).

Apart from my fascination with cemeteries it was this latter was what brought me to the ceremony. I wanted to find the final resting places of Sergei Rachmaninoff (because I like his music) as well as a that of Danny Kaye (UNICEF‘s first Goodwill Ambassador. I worked for UNICEF for about 38 years). I failed on both counts. After walking around for about three hours, following the map I couldn’t find either of them. By this time, I was hungry, tired and my feet hurt. I sat down for a couple of minutes and took a look at the Find a Grave website, which has GPS Co-ordinates for graves. From this I discovered that there was no way that could ever have found these graves using the map, because the map is just wrong: the graves are not in the locations marked by the map. Now I know where they are I guess I’ll have to go back again.

While it’s a pleasant enough cemetery with its open landscapes, attractive mausoleums, nice statuary etc. it’s not one of my favorites. I tend to prefer older cemeteries, where the old, crumbling gravestones are packed tightly together.

Taken with a Fujifilm X-E3 and Sigma 18-50 f2.8