Greenway Botanical Garden at the Naval Cemetery

About this Sacred Place

The Sacred Place at the Greenway Botanical Garden at the Naval Cemetery (formerly called the Naval Cemetery Landscape) was created as part of The Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, a much larger plan to transform unused space around Brooklyn Navy Yard into lush waterfront, and was a National Nature Sacred Awards grantee. Covering more than 1.8 acres, the space is the site of a former naval cemetery that held more than 2000 graves. Some human remains are still in the ground, and it was vital to everyone involved that the space honor the site’s history. Thus, the paths that now allow visitors to navigate the green space are raised wooden walkways. Meaning, visitors hover over the land — a meadow now home to an array of native plants that draw pollinators like bees, moths and butterflies and are maintained by gardeners on the site.

The sustainable landscape is helping restore the balance of the local environment while offering a space where visitors can contemplate and reflect.

Like all National Nature Sacred Awards sites, research was conducted at the site. The focus was to better understand nature’s effects on stressed communities. Researchers partnered with The Williamsburg High School of Arts and Technology (formerly The Green School of East Williamsburg) and Brooklyn Community Housing and Services (BCHS).

In conjunction with the high school, the team developed a ninth grade science curriculum based on the planned meadow. Students learned soil science, hydrology and biology, using the planned space as a laboratory. Following grade nine, students were invited to join a club that engages them in steward activities, introducing the public to the site and selling plants to members of the local community.

And for BCHS, which provides housing assistance for community members who have had challenges functioning in society, the project engaged residents in on-site programs run by The Horticultural Society of New York, encouraging them to interact with the nature available in their nearby community.