Celebrity Graveland

August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891

…for there is no folly of the beast of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.

Herman Melville enjoyed a modest amount of success as a writer in the first half of the 19th Century.  But, it was his novel about a man obsessed with a white whale that wrote his name into the history books…even if it was not celebrated fully until after his death.  Moby Dick; or, The Whale is the epic story of a sea captain wrestling with hate and madness and the crew who are dragged along on his vengeful pursuit. It is one of the titans of classic American literature and has given us over 150 years of analogy, characters and great names and archetypes like Ahab, Ishmael and Queequeg. And, I guess rather directly, it’s also responsible for Starbucks. So…yay, books!

After the initial fervor over his masterpiece ebbed, Melville died relatively forgotten at the age of 72. It wasn’t until years later that he was looked upon as the literary pioneer he is today.

Burial

Woodlawn Cemetery – Bronx, NY

Specific Location

Catalpa Plot; There is a small path that bisects this section up from Catalpa Ave., Melville’s grave is just to the west of this path, just north of a very large tree.

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