Interior of the block between East 2^nd Street and East 3^rd Street and Second Avenue and the Bowery est. 1831 – NYCIL & Nat’l Reg Property
52-74 East 2^nd Street, est. 1832 – NYCIL & NYCHD & Nat’l Reg Property

New York Marble Cemetery and New York City Marble Cemetery were Manhattan’s first and second public, non-sectarian burial grounds. Respectively, they contain 156 and 256 underground vaults made of Tuckahoe Marble, hence their matching monikers. While marble tablets with vault numbers and owners’ names are affixed to the surrounding stone walls in both, only NYC Marble permitted markers and monuments above ground. The vaults belong to prominent politicians, merchants and members of some of the city’s oldest families. President James Monroe was interred in NYC Marble from his death in 1831 until being moved to Richmond, Virginia, in 1858. NY Marble’s last interment was in 1937, but NYC Marble’s vaults remain open to family members. Both cemeteries are open to the public on designated days (check their websites) and are visible through iron gates (NY Marble’s gate is located between 41 and 43 Second Avenue). Across the street from NYC Marble, note the limestone façade of Olivet Memorial Church, designed in the Gothic Revival style by J. C. Cady & Company in 1891. Both cemeteries are listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places and New York City Individual Landmarks. New York City Marble Cemetery is located within the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District.