HOME OF DOOMED
Dozen from Titanic rest in a Queens graveyard
BUCOLIC Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx is the final resting place for some of the most prominent victims and survivors of the Titanic catastrophe.
“At that point, we were attracting a lot of wealthy folks,” said cemetery historian Susan Olsen. “We were the place to be.” The 400-acre cemetery is “home” to a dozen Titanic passengers — more than any other site in the United States.
Among them are Ida and Isidor Straus, who owned Macy’s department store. The couple famously gave up their chance to board lifeboats to let others escape safely.
The Straus family mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery is a striking stone behemoth, with its iron gates and stone-carved funeral barge designed by famed architect James Gamble Rogers.
According to survivors, Ida Straus refused to leave without her husband, saying, “We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go.”
The body of Isidor Straus was found floating in the water. His wife was lost at sea.
They were among the more than 1,500
who perished after the cruiseliner hit an iceberg and sank in the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, while on its maiden voyage from Southampton to Newyork City.
Among the Titanic survivors buried at Woodlawn is Col. Archibald Gracie IV, hailed for his heroics in saving dozens of women and children. He wrote about the tragedy in his book,
“The Truth About The Titanic.” But eight months after surviving one of the world’s worst maritime disasters, Gracie — the direct descendant of the builder of Gracie Mansion — died of diabetes.
Then there was Henry Harper, of the Harper & Brothers Publishing House, who packed into a lifeboat with his Pekinese, Sun Yat Sen. “Nobody really liked him because he famously brought his dog on the boat,” Olsen said.
Others buried at Woodlawn include Mary Holverson, who survived the disaster, and her husband Alexander Holverson, who did not.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the disaster, the Friends of Woodlawn have planned a special tour on April 29 called “100 Years Later: Little Known and New Facts About R.M.S. Titanic.