Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery Doubles as Training Ground for Aspiring Masons

Welcome to the Brooklyn classroom of 14 aspiring masonry workers: A 19th century mausoleum inside the serene expanse of Green-Wood Cemetery. The Bridge to Crafts Careers program offers its students a unique hands-on experience across a 10-week program where the participants receive training in masonry restoration and preservation at the 1850s-era gravesite of New York banker Isaac Newton Phelps.

“I’m learning so much, and I never thought I’d see myself in a field like masonry,” said student Xavian Isaac, 21, of Queens. “But it’s honestly really eye-opening to see that I can do this type of work and that there is a place for me in this field.”

The cemetery partnered with Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, the World Monuments Fund, the International Masonry Institute and the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1 on the program where participants scale a three-tier scaffold constructed around the site. Read more in the NY Daily News!