Woodlawn Cemetery: Jazz Corner of the Bronx

Woodlawn Cemetery opened in eighteen sixty-three on what was then southern Westchester farmland, accessible by rail for New Yorkers seeking a parklike burial ground away from the crowded city. Over the next century and a half it became one of the most remarkable final resting places in America. Herman Melville is buried here.

So is Irving Berlin. Miles Davis. Duke Ellington.

Several jazz giants rest here. More than three hundred thousand people have been buried at Woodlawn across its history. The cemetery was declared a National Historic Landmark in twenty eleven, recognized not just as a place of quiet beauty but as a monument to the cultural life of New York City.