{{Short description|Historic site in Brooklyn, New York}} {{Distinguish|Beth Olam Cemetery of Hollywood}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Beth Olam Cemetery | nrhp_type = | image = BETH OLAM CEMETERY, BROOKLY, KINGS COUNTY, NY.jpg | caption = | location = 2 Cypress Hills St., Brooklyn, New York |coordinates = {{coord|40|41|26|N|73|52|48|W|source:NOTNRIS2013a|display=title,inline}} | locmapin = New York City#New York#USA | built = 1851 | architect OR builder = | architecture = | added = May 16, 2016 | area = {{convert|12.37|acre|ha}} | refnum = 16000254<ref name=featured>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/16000254.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802054519/https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/16000254.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 2, 2017 |title=Beth Olam Cemetery|publisher=National Park Service |accessdate=June 27, 2018}}</ref> }} The '''Beth Olam Cemetery''' is a historic cemetery in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, New York, United States. It is located in the city's Cemetery Belt, bisected by the border between Brooklyn and Queens.
It is a rural cemetery in style, and was started in 1851 by three Manhattan Jewish congregations: Congregation Shearith Israel (Spanish Portuguese) on West 70th Street, B'nai Jeshurun on West 89th Street, and Temple Shaaray Tefila on East 79th Street.
In 1882, Calvert Vaux was commissioned to design a small, red brick Metaher house or place of purification and pre-burial eulogies, near the entrance to the Shearith Israel section, and also designed its gates. It is the only religious building that Vaux, the co-designer of Central Park, is known to have designed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cemeteries |url=https://www.shearithisrael.org/about/our-history/cemeteries/ |website=Congregation Shearith Israel |access-date=January 20, 2023}}</ref> Many mausoleum windows are made with Tiffany stained glass and LaFarge bronze doors.<ref>{{cite web |title=Beth Olam Cemetery |url=https://billiongraves.com/cemetery/Beth-Olam-Cemetery/68356 |website=Billion Graves |access-date=January 20, 2023}}</ref>
The burial ground contains many examples of architecture and funerary art.<ref name="nrhpdoc">{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/16000254.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203094148/https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/16000254.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 3, 2017 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Beth Olam Cemetery / The Fourth Spanish and Portuguese Cemetery (with 32 photos from 2015) |publisher=National Park Service|author=Marena Wisniewski |author2=Jennifer Betsworth |date=January 2016 |accessdate=June 27, 2018}}</ref>
==Notable burials== * Joseph Mayor Asher (1872–1908), English-born American rabbi of B'nai Jeshurun and professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * Nathan Bijur (1862–1930), American lawyer and New York Supreme Court Justice * Abraham Cohn (1832–1897), American Civil War Union Army soldier and recipient of the Medal of Honor * Abraham Lopes Cardozo (1914–2006), Dutch-born hazzan of Congregation Shearith Israel * Benjamin Cardozo (1870–1938), American lawyer and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States<ref name=v2>{{cite web|last1=Kaufman|first1=May |title=Thief Steals $30K In Mausoleum Items From Jewish Cemetery: Report|url=https://patch.com/new-york/queens/thief-steals-30k-mausoleum-items-jewish-cemetery-report|website=patch.com|publisher=Patch|date=April 22, 2019|accessdate=April 22, 2019}}</ref> * Jacob de Haas (1872–1937), British-born journalist and an early leader of the Zionist movement in the United States and England.<ref>(July 10, 1939). [https://www.jta.org/archive/300-attend-herzl-memorial-services-at-grave-of-his-collaborator-jacob-de-haas 300 Attend Herzl Memorial Services at Grave of His Collaborator, Jacob De Haas] ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency''. Retrieved on December 28, 2025</ref><ref>(July 6, 1939). [https://www.jta.org/archive/n-z-o-here-plans-pilgrimage-to-grave-of-jacob-de-haas N.z.o. Here Plans Pilgrimage to Grave of Jacob De Haas] ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency''. Retrieved on December 28, 2025</ref> * Emanuel Lasker (1868–1941), German chess player, second World Chess Champion. * Emma Lazarus (1849–1887), American author, poet, and activist, who wrote the sonnet "The New Colossus" describing the Statue of Liberty; niece of Jacques Judah Lyons<ref name=v2/><ref name=nu>{{cite news|last1=Dwyer|first1=Jim|title=163 Years Later, a President Visits to Say Thank You|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/nyregion/23about.html|accessdate=April 22, 2019|work=The New York Times|date=May 21, 2010}}</ref> * Uriah P. Levy (1792–1862), American naval officer, real estate investor, philanthropist, and the first Jewish Commodore of the United States Navy<ref>{{cite web |title=Congregation Shearith Israel – America's First Jewish Congregation –Beth Olam Cemetery |url=https://shearithisrael.org/content/beth-olam-cemetery |website=shearithisrael.org |publisher=Congregation Shearith Israel |accessdate=April 22, 2019 |archive-date=May 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504025321/https://shearithisrael.org/content/beth-olam-cemetery |url-status=dead }}</ref> * Jacques Judah Lyons (1814–1877), Surinamese-born American rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel; uncle of Emma Lazarus<ref name=nu/> * Henry Pereira Mendes (1852–1937) British-born American rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel<ref>{{cite news|title=700 Pay Tributes at Mendes Rites – Simple Funeral Is Held for Rabbi Emeritus of Shearith Israel Congregation – Service As He Directed – No Praise of Him Is Uttered and Body Is Left in Room Next to 'Auditorium Built for God'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/10/25/archives/700-pay-tributes-at-mendes-rites-simple-funeral-is-held-for-rabbi.html|accessdate=April 22, 2019|work=The New York Times|date=October 25, 1937|page=22}}</ref> * Benjamin F. Peixotto (1834–1890), American lawyer and diplomat * Judith Salzedo Peixotto (1823–1881), American teacher and principal * N. Taylor Phillips (1868–1955), American lawyer and politician<ref>{{Cite web|title=N. Taylor Phillips|url=https://jewishdata.com/secure/record_detail.php?id=680500|website=JewishData}}{{Dead link|date=December 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> * David de Sola Pool (1885–1970), British-born American rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel * Moses J. Stroock (1866–1931), American lawyer<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 31, 1931 |title=5,000 at Funeral for M. J. Stroock |volume=LXXXI |page=17 |work=The New York Times |issue=26943 |location=New York|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/10/31/98068514.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0}}</ref>
==See also== * List of burial places of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Find a Grave cemetery}}
{{National Register of Historic Places listings in Brooklyn}} {{National Register of Historic Places listings in Queens}} {{Jewish cemeteries in New York City}}
Category:1851 establishments in New York (state) Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1851 Category:National Register of Historic Places in Brooklyn Category:National Register of Historic Places in Queens, New York Category:Georgian architecture in New York (state) Category:Cemeteries established in the 1850s Category:Cemeteries in Brooklyn Category:Cypress Hills, Brooklyn Category:Jewish cemeteries in New York City