The Greenwood Cemetery in South Brooklyn is filled with well-known residents—from artists and musicians to warfare generals and politicians.
Nevertheless, a hidden grave has acquired extra consideration from latest guests than ever earlier than.Among the many hundreds of angels and obelisks is Rex: a bronze statue of a canine mendacity on a stone platform along with his identify
engraved on it. Rex has stood guard over his proprietor’s plot close to the nook of Sycamore and Greenbough Avenues for overflow 100 years — and he is nonetheless a very good boy.Rex is believed to be the canine of John E. Stow, who was
one among the many metropolis’s longest working towards fruit retailers when he died in 1884. For years, individuals are amassing sticks and fallen branches to go away them on the nice boy’s ready paws.“When it entails Rex, he clearly stands
out,” Stacy Locke, communications supervisor for Inexperienced-Wooden Cemetery, informed The Dodo. “Individuals see him from the highway — it’s sort of a distinguished spot, proper off of the intersection of two roads right here.” “It’s
proper beneath a tree and there are various sticks round,” Locke added. “Individuals will drop a stick throughout his little paws. Somebody additionally left a picture of a canine there as soon as, perhaps their little pet who gave up the ghost, as
to say, ‘Rex, maintain my child .’”Inexperienced-Wooden has develop into a popular vacation spot for these trying to flee the crowds and luxuriate in nature through the COVID-19 pandemic. And since the variety of vacationers has grown, so
has Rex’s stick assortment.However Rex isn’t the only animal to be honored on the 478-acre cemetery — a number of different beloved pets have been buried with their homeowners earlier than the cemetery’s board of trustees prohibited
animal burials in 1879. “There’s one other canine sculpture that includes a related mysterious story nevertheless it’s a contact bit extra off the overwhelmed path,” Locke mentioned. “And that one usually has toys left thereon .”A notice in
Inexperienced-Wooden’s information relationship to the 19th century refers back to the location of a “bronze likeness of a canine,” however whether or not Rex is buried subsequent to his proprietor stays thriller.“Ibelieveindividuals want to
imagine that there is a canine interred there and there alright might be ,” Locke mentioned. “However it’s exhausting to say .” Rex’s statue could also be a candy reminder that no matter what quantity time passes, a canine’s love is without end.
