Green-Wood after dark

Benjamin Norman for The Wall Street Journal - Green-Wood Cemetery’s catacombs, which date back to the early 1850s, will be open to visitors during Saturday’s moonlight tour. More photos from inside cemetery.

Green-Wood was founded in 1838 as the graveyards of Manhattan were filling up. It quickly became one of the city’s top draws for tourists, until a rule instituted in the 1960s limited entry to plot owners or those visiting specific graves. Those restrictions were lifted in 1999, and visitors returned in droves. Now 200,000 people come to Green-Wood each year, lured by the famous figures resting within its grounds, including Leonard Bernstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

I've been there myself, in fact; some years ago.

Moonlight tours and other creative ventures provide much-needed cash for Green-Wood, but the fund-raising ideas aren’t always successful. The moonlight tours have been less divisive and consistently popular, drawing up to 250 people with the unusual mix of tombstones and tunes. “We have two accordionists that come with it. They play ‘Blue Moon’ and other appropriate tunes for a moonlight tour,” Richman said.