(CLASS) Cemetery Symbols & Secrets from New York's City of the Dead

On the Day of the Dead, join this class on how to decipher the messages left by departed New Yorkers in a graveyard near you. Focusing on funerary art found in cemeteries across the five boroughs, we will discover some of the most common cemetery symbols and their meanings. This exploration will highlight some of the most beautiful, strange, and spectacular monuments you can visit in the city's burial grounds, which are its most underappreciated spaces for art, architecture, and nature. 

Allison C. Meier is a writer with a passion for the overlooked stories behind our art, culture, and history. Her book Grave (Bloomsbury, 2023) investigates the past, present, and future of the American grave and she moonlights as a cemetery tour guide in New York City burial grounds. She is also the author of Concrete New York (Blue Crow Media, 2026), An Opinionated Guide to New York Architecture (Hoxton Mini Press, 2026), and Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads (Bloomsbury, 2026).

Supplies: Bring a notebook and writing utensil, if you like!