Green-Wood Cemetery vandalized, damage $100,000

August 24, 2012 Associated Press

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Dozens of tombstones and memorials have been vandalized at a Brooklyn’s historic Green-Wood Cemetery where celebrities are buried, causing $100,000 in damage.

Groundskeepers on Tuesday discovered 51 damaged and toppled plaques and statues scattered throughout the cemetery, which opened in 1838.

Green-Wood Cemetery president Richard Moylan told the Daily News that most of the damaged monuments date to the 1800s. Green-Wood is asking for the public’s help to pay for repairs.

The cemetery is a final resting place for historic figures including politician Boss Tweed, composer Leonard Bernstein, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and actress Laura Keene, who was on stage when Abraham Lincoln was shot. The U.S. Department of the Interior designated it a National Historic Landmark in 2006.

The police Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating.