City of the dead

I had never honestly wondered about the number of cemeteries in New York, but there was an interesting footnote link here, titled The Cemetery Belt: Why does Queens have so many cemeteries?. It turns out, that with the passing of a state law in 1847 that allowed burial as a commercial enterprise. Thus, from the 1850s to the early 1900s, more than 35 000 bodies were transferred to Queens from churchyards around New York. The massive increase in immigration led to a lot more deaths...

By 1852 there were 50 burials a day in Calvary, half of them Irish poor under 7 years of age,

...and the skyrocketing costs (up to $10) caused all sorts of problems.

Interesting numbers: There are currently 29 cemeteries in Queens; four of which are Catholic, three Protestant & 14 Jewish.

Here's the original link. (Be careful of pop-ups)