Gate of Heaven

I had a solemn occasion to visit Gate of Heaven cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y., this week. It’s one of the most beautiful cemeteries I’ve ever seen — and it is vast, perhaps 250 acres, managed by the Archdiocese of New York.

Touring one of the larger structures at the site, I was struck by how the names and dates on the stones are a kind of pageant of Catholic ethnicities — names that relocated from poor villages in Ireland, Italy, and Poland to New York City, then often in the second half of the 20th century into the suburbs.

About the Author

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is a senior writer at National Review Online.

Featured Tags

I had a solemn occasion to visit Gate of Heaven cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y., this week. It’s one of the most beautiful cemeteries I’ve ever seen — and it is vast, perhaps 250 acres, managed by the Archdiocese of New York.

Touring one of the larger structures at the site, I was struck by how the names and dates on the stones are a kind of pageant of Catholic ethnicities — names that relocated from poor villages in Ireland, Italy, and Poland to New York City, then often in the second half of the 20th century into the suburbs.