Calvary Cemetery of Queens, NYC
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Calvary Cemetery is not as prepared for visitors. There are no free maps readily available highlighting the grave-sites of famous residents, although findagrave.com will even tell you what section, lot, range and grave number many of the politicians, entertainers and mobsters are in.
But Calvary — or more specifically First Calvary, the part south of the Long Island Expressway and west of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway — is best admired for its dramatic setting: tucked in among highways, residential neighborhoods, industrial buildings and Newtown Creek, with views of Manhattan rising as a backdrop.
The best views are from sections 7 and 48, section 7 is more spectacular, as elegant obelisks and other monuments point skyward in the foreground, blending in seamlessly with the skyscrapers of Midtown far beyond, as if Ms. Chrysler and Mr. E. S. Building were buried in the distance. Section 48 has cleaner city views, but its headstones are mostly smaller and simpler, reducing the drama quotient.
