People Are Leaving Sticks at a Cemetery To Pay Tribute To a Dog Who Died A Century Ago

By Sara
November 16, 2020
2 minutes read

Gone, but never forgotten.

The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York is known to be the final resting place for a lot of well-known artists and musicians. These include the famous Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ebbets, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. People visit their loved ones in the cemetery, bringing flowers to place on their graves. But one particular grave gets more attention than the others. Next to his owner’s plot, at the corner of Sycamore and Greenbough Avenues, rests Rex the dog, who passed away about a century ago. Instead of flowers, people leave sticks at the good boy’s statue’s paws. This has been going on for quite a while, but the sticks have been increasing since the past couple of months.

The story of Rex.

John E. Stow was a successful fruit merchant in NY who died in 1884. In the 19th century files of Green-Wood, there was a note that included the installment of a “bronze likeness of a dog,” placed right next to John E. Stow’s grave. Even though the statue exists, we are not sure if Rex is actually buried there. “I think people like to believe that there is a dog interred there and there very well might be,” Stacy Locke, Communications Manager at Green-Wood Cemetery says. “But it’s hard to say.”

The cemetery is huge, taking up 478 acres. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been exploring the cemetery as it is easy to maintain social distancing in such a large area. Rex’s statue is hard to miss, so every time someone passes by, they leave a couple of sticks to pay their respects to the good boy. “It’s right under a tree and there are lots of sticks around,” Locke says. “People will drop a stick across his little paws. Someone also left a picture of a dog there once, maybe their little pet who passed away, as to say, ‘Rex, look after my little one.’”

If you want to give Rex’s grave a visit as well in New York City, you can easily find it in the Green-Wood Cemetery, Lot 2925, Section 81.