2026 AMERICA 250 ADVENTURE - CEMETERIES OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY

SATURDAY - JULY 4, 2026: Well, Today didn't go as planned. I spent the night at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Hawthorne, New York.  I decided to stay here because had planned on driving over to a nearby train station and takin the Metro North to the Northern Part of Manhattan and walking over to visit Grant’s Tomb on Riverside Avenue. I got up a little early and went to purchase my train ticket. But went I started to enter my information an alert came up that the station that I needed to get off a was closed “due to police activity.”

So, I walked down and had breakfast and came back to my room and once again tried to purchase a ticket. But once again I was met with an alert, only this time it was “service interruption,” which I think means that the train I needed is not running at all.

I still had plenty of time before I had to check out of the Hotel, so I set about replanning my day. This Hotel is only about two miles from two really large cemeteries that have a lot of notable people buried in them. So, this is going to turn into a cemetery day.

After checking out of the Holiday Inn I drove around to the Gate of Heaven Cemetery. This is a very large Catholic Cemetery. When I large cemetery, I mean more than 250 acres large and has more than 200,000 graves.  Because it is so large, I logged on to Find-A-Grave and used the coordinates listed for individual graves.

Immediately upon entering the cemetery from Stevens Avenue there is a large group of crypts situated around what appears to be a large chapel. It is here that I find the first person that was on my list. Academy Award winning actor James Cagney rests in one of the end crypts.

James Cagney is regarded as one of the finest actors that ever to appeared camera. He is best remembered for such films as “Public Enemy,” “Angels with Dirty Faces,” “The Roaring Twenties,” and “Taxi.” He won an Academy Award for his role of George M. Cohan in the 1942 Musical “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

He was 86 years old when he passed away from a heart attack on March 30, 1986.

Gate of Heaven cemetery is the final resting place of a number of notable baseball figures, and I was able to visit 4 of them during this visit. 

First I stopped and visited the grave of long time National League Umpire John McSherry.  During his 25 years as a National League Umpire, John worked Two World Series, Two National League Division Series and eight National League Championship Series.

Big John as he known around the league was very popular with the Players, Managers and fans. On April 1, 1996, John was scheduled to work the plate for the Opening Day Game between The Cincinnati Reds and Montreal Expos at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

Seven pitches into the game, John Called time and started to walk toward the tunnel that leads to the Umpires Dressing Room behind home plate. John collapsed and was immediately tended to by trainers and medical staff.

He was taken from the field and transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. John McSherry was 51 years old.

Next up I visited the grave of the man who gave up one of the most famous homeruns in Major League Baseball History. Back in 1951 the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers ended the regular season in a tie. The National League order a three-game playoff to decide the National League Champions.

With the Dodgers ahead 4-2 in the Bottom of the 9^th inning Giants third baseman Bobby Thomson stop to the play to face Dodger Pitcher Ralph Branca. With two runners on base, Thomson sent Branca’s pitch over the outfield fence for a three-run homer, giving the Giants the National League Pennant.

Today, here at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, I paid my respects to Ralph Branca, the man who gave up that three-run homer that has come to be known as “The Shot Heard around the World.”

Just around the corner from Ralph Branca are the graves of two of the great New York Yankees.  First, I stopped at the grave of Yankee Player and Manager, Billy Martin. 

Billy who wore uniform number 1, was a scrappy second baseman for the Yankees and a lifelong friend of Yankee Greats Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford. After his playing days were over, Billy turns to managing. From 1969 through 1988 Billy managed the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, and Oakland A’s.

But his is best known for being the Manager of the Yankees on 5 separate occasions. Some people joked that the only reason George Steinbrenner hired him was so he could fire him. Billy’s fiery temper that he showed as a player followed him as a manager. Not only did he have some well documented dust up with Yankee Owner George Steinbrenner, but he and Yankee Star Reggie Jackson came close to coming to blows in the the Yankee Dugout and had to be separated.

Billy was still a special consultant to Steinbrenner when he was killed vehicle crash on Christmas Day in 1989. Some say that Steinbrenner was prepared to name Billy as the Yankee Manager for the 6^th time before the team reported to spring training in 1990.

Just a short walk from the grave of Billy Martin is the grave of, George Herman “Babe” Ruth, one of the greatest and most beloved Yankees of all time. During his career he had a lifetime batting average of 342 with 2,873 hits and 2,214 Runs Batted In. His 714 Home Runs stood as the Major League Record until it was broken by Hank Aaron in 1974. The Old Yankee Stadium was known as the House the Ruth Built. 

Babe Ruth passed away on August 16, 1948, from the complications of Cancer.

After finishing up at Gate of Heaven, I moved next door to Kensico Cemetery where I wanted to visit the grave of another Yankee Great. But first I stopped at the Memorial Bench where the Cremains of Singer/Actor Danny Kaye are interred. 

Danny Kaye starred in 23 films, including Wonder Man in 1945, The Kid from Brookly in 1946 and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  But he is perhaps best remembered for co-starring with Bing Crosby in the 1954 Holiday Hit, White Christmas.

From the Danny Kaye Memorial Bench, I made my way to the gave of the man baseball fans know as “The Iron Horse,” Yankee Great Lou Gehrig.

Lou was named as and All-Star seven consecutive times and won the Major League Triple Crown in
1934. He had a career 340 batting average, 2,721 hits and 1,995 runs batted in. He played in 2,130 consecutive games. A Major League Record that stood until broke the record by playing in 2,632 games.

Lou Gehrig died on June 2, 1941 from the complications of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) which is commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

My final stop of the day was at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York. This area was the setting for Washington Irving’s Story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” featuring The Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane.

Washington Irving is buried in this cemetery along with a number of other notable people. But due to it being the 4^th of July, I couldn’t get to his grave because of a private function that was being conducted by the historical society.

So, I spent the next hour or so driving around the cemetery admiring some of the elaborate private Mausoleums. It is hard to believe that some of the private mausoleums are more than 10 time more expensive that the Average American Home.

In addition to William Rockefeller, Walter Chrysler and his family are resting in the Chrysler Mausoleum. My last stop of the day was at the mausoleum that holds the remains of Harry and Leona Helmsley.

The Helmsley’s were successful real estates executives and hotel operators. Leona was often referred to as “The Queen of Mean,” for the way she treated employee, family and friends. One former employee said following her death, “there won’t be many mourners at her funeral. Nobody liked her and nobody is sorry she is gone.”

Finishing up at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery it was time to make the 35-mile drive up to the Comfort Suites just off of Interstate 84 in Fishkill, New York.

I cashed in some Choice Hotel Point for a free night stay. After a good supper at the 84 Diner, I settled into my room for the night. But about 10:30 p.m. my phone started going off with severe weather alerts. Severe storms with 80 mph winds and baseball size hail were approaching the Fishkill Area.

After looking at the weather radar, I decided to hustle down and move my car under the hotel’s entrance awning.  Just before the storm hit a couple of other people had the same idea.

This turned out to be a good move. Five minutes later the storm hit and it was a humdinger. I have never been in a storm this bad. The wind blew over two trees across the road from the hotel and the area was peppered with grapefruit size hail for about 10-minutes. Most of the car windows were busted and the vehicle bodies were pretty much destroyed. The next morning most of the hotel guests were accessing the damage and on the phone with their insurance.

 I am so thankful that I was able to get my car under cover and avoided damage.  The hotel clerk told us that we could leave out cars under the cover for the rest of the night, Which we gladly did. Even though no more storms passed through, that kind gesture allows me to get a fairly good night’s sleep.

For the last several day temperatures have been in the High 90’s and into the 100’s, but with the passing storms, the temperature has now dropped back into the lower 70’s. Tomorrow promises to be a much cooler day.