I told you I was sick

At 4,000 burials a year, (almost 11 everyday) Saint Raymond’s cemetery in the Throgs Neck section is one of our nations busiest.

It was founded in 1845, forty years before the ClockTower, on 180 pristine acres. Over 350,000 people are buried here now, including Typhoid Mary.

I took a spin through the other day. This is the only Roman Catholic cemetery in the Bronx. In 1962 plots cost $200. Today gravesites start at about $4,500.

St. Ray wasn’t some local guy, Saint Raymond of Penyafort was a 12th century Catalan-Spanish saint.

At St. Raymonds you can go in-ground, in-crypt or mausoleum, and there are special niches for cremation remains and even a “Garden of Innocents” for stillborn infants and young babies.

A portion was set aside in 1964 for local Roman Catholic clergy. That’s the WhiteStone Bridge in the background.

Jazz singer Billy Holiday was interred here in 1959.

 And you thought NYC housing was crowded.

http://straymondparish.org/cemetery.html

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E4D71F3DF930A35752C0A9669D8B63

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