During the Greenwich Village's Halloween parade, I saw what appeared to be mausoleums beneath townhouses!?

Question

Does anyone know anything about these gravesites? They were very close to the sidewalk, just behind a high wall with a spiked wrought iron fence, and directly beneath occupied brownstones/townhouses...sort of at the foundation level.

Answer 1

Greenwich Village was once a true Village. Greenwich Village developed as a hamlet separate from the larger Manhattan. It officially became a village in 1712 and is first referred to as Grin'wich in 1713 Common Council records. In 1822, a yellow fever epidemic in New York encouraged residents to flee to the healthier air of Greenwich Village, and afterwards many stayed. As a Village they would have had the rights to have Village Grave sites.