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Tremendous art is being created at the graveyard.
Four students from South Ozone Park’s Epic High School South are working with sculptor Samantha Newman at Maple Grove Cemetery these days.
Newman is the artist-in-residence at the Kew Gardens resting place, and the interns – Dana Gervais, Jackeline Mejia, Giselle Cartagena, MaKayla Tlaseca – are working with the Friends of Maple Grove via the NYC Department of Youth & Community Development’s Summer Youth Employment Program.
Their goal is to honor more than 1,500 people whose cadavers were recently discovered in a mass grave in an area that was once called “Ocean Plot.” Most of them are unidentified children who died from contagious diseases more than 100 years ago.
Currently, the site has no memorial, monument or tombstone, but it will soon.
Newman is carving the figure of a lamb out of marble. Upon completion, the sculpture will be placed there. (It’ll adopt the name “Ocean,” too.)
A symbol of innocence, purity, and sacrifice, the lamb was a common represenation of the death of children in the Victorian Era.
Meanwhile, the students are scouring internment books at Maple Grove to identify those buried in the plot by name and age. They hope to purchase a stainless steel time capsule with all the names inside and bury it there. That way, these unidentified, poor children who suffered and then died too young will finally get a proper memorial – and they will never be forgotten.
To finance the project, the team has created a Go Fund Me campaign. All donations will go directly to related purchases.
Established in 1875, Maple Grove Cemetery is spread out over roughly 75 acres in the vicinity of Queens Boulevard, Hoover Avenue, Kew Gardens Road, and 86th Road. The vehicle entrance is at 127-15 Kew Gardens Rd., and there are several parking spaces.
Images: Friends of Maple Grove