Graveyard Train

nemesisbecoming: 13th Jul 2005 - 14:33 GMT

When I was younger and we would take school trips via the train to Coney Island or the Aquarium or something, when the train would go over the cemetaries, we would supersticiously have to do the Holy Cross over and over until we cleared the cemetary. I forgot what the penalty or reason was for doing so. I think the kids thought if you didn't do that out of respect, the souls would come for you...

jeeff: 13th Jul 2005 - 14:35 GMT

the 'no vehicles beyond this point' sign is blatantly lying.

Hectop: 13th Jul 2005 - 15:02 GMT

Ok, a bit of correction here from someone who lived on Bay Parkway @ 65th Street for 14 years: Washington Cemetery is quite far from Avenue X, actually between avenues J & M, split by McDonald Ave where the F train runs. The view in the shot is from East to West, where you can see the tops of Verrazano Bridge in the background.

shoshannah: 13th Jul 2005 - 15:41 GMT

heh, that cemetary is right by my grandmother's old apartment. (I say old because she's dead now.) She live in the apartment from 1965 (well before I was born) until 2001, and we kept it until 2004 when we moved to downtown Brooklyn. That cemetary is as much a part of childhood as is the playground on the other side of Bay pkwy (closer to kings hwy). It always concerned me how the cemetary was split in half by a major thoroughfare.

Anyway, I've always considered that area to be my own secret garden, almost as though it were a part of my imagination, because it was one of those landmarks that was never to be discussed. Seeing these pictures makes me feel comforted.

Thanks!

joey: 14th Jul 2005 - 02:40 GMT

imagine that! a road running through the cemetary. remember the twilight zone episode where the kid talked to his dead grandmother on the phone becuase the downed telephone line lay across her grave? must be a sppoky street to drive on ...

jack: 31st Aug 2005 - 17:23 GMT

i had friends that hanged out on ave j. they were the ave j boys. they thought they were rough but the ave u boys could push them around. that area from j thru to coney island was my hunting grounds when i was 16. mc donald ave is a famous road. i used to jump on the back of the trolley and get a free ride to coney island, circa 1956

Dom: 1st Nov 2005 - 06:12 GMT

Washington Cemetary is indeed quite far from Ave X...I used to work at the Shoprite on McDonald & I...and if I rode by bike, I'd ride along Bay Parkway past the cemetary to McDonald Ave and then McDonald down to Ave I. It was creepy at night, even waiting for the bus at the corner of McDonald & Bay Pkway.

I grew up across the street from Seth Low JHS...and McDonald Ave was a part of growing up.

Matt: 14th Jun 2006 - 05:12 GMT

Wow, now this brings back lots of memories riding this line everyday, seeing the cemetary, and wondering what it would be like down there at street level. Thanks for posting.

Mark Kavanagh: 6th Sep 2006 - 03:36 GMT

I grew up near the Ave I station on McDonald Ave in the 1970's. I remember when the current Shop Rite was the Ave I Flea Market, and before that it was a Ford car dealership. We shopped at Key Food (which Shop Rite killed), and we would get pizza from Toto's Pizza which was a small triangle shop at the corner between 20th Ave/Ave I and McDonald.

lmsw: 27th Oct 2006 - 02:35 GMT

My great grandparents are buried there- I took my grandmother there in 1982 to visit her father-in-law and mother-in-law's graves- it was overwhelming. The massive amount of graves and the fact that with a few directions we were able to find them fairly easily...but literally had to climb between headstones to get to their actual graves...I cannot imagine how that place looks at night

bread: 15th Oct 2008 - 01:11 GMT

Lol, last time I tried to visit it, the graveyard was locked up tight. Strange, what were they trying to lock out? Or lock in?

JohnnyFDNY: 16th Jan 2009 - 01:37 GMT

JohnnyFDNY
which class were you in at St. Joe's. Sister Ambrosia, Sister Bernnette, or the third one. I also am a graduate of 1960 from Sister Ambrosia's class

former nyc green and white: 11th May 2009 - 08:00 GMT

in the late 70's and 80's every time some mobster was being brought up on charges, this stretch of mcdonald ave is where we would pick up alot of "unidenitified's". i always considered it the ave of the lost souls.