Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Slovenia mushroom foraging
Slovenia • 6 days, 5 nights
Forest to Table in Alpine Slovenia
from
Central Asia yurt night stars
Uzbekistan • 15 days, 14 nights
Central Asia Road Trip: Backroads & Bazaars
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
The miniature theatre’s 200-seat capacity is slowly being filled with tiny figurines of beloved film characters, from classic movie stars to Muppets. Statler and Waldorf are perched in their usual spot at the front-right balcony. There’s even an ongoing call for visitors and locals to add their own favorite characters to the growing crowd.
East Van Vodville Cinema
Gombe mountains seen from Lake Tanganyika.
Gombe National Park
The Oswego Furnace and Salamanders
Graffiti on the exterior walls and the conveyor belt
Kiel’s Old Waste Incineration Plant
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
Cacio e pepe lasagna combines two classics.
C'è pasta... E pasta!
Spaghetto taratatà is named for the sound of rattling sabers.
Giano Restaurant
The gnocchi here get blanketed in a sugo with braised oxtail.
Cesare al Pellegrino
Romans insist you should feel the cracked peppercorns and cheese grains on your tongue.
Flavio al Velavevodetto
Tripe is fried to a crisp.
L’Osteria della Trippa
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
The rocky Revere Beach coast in Revere, Massachusetts, just outside Boston.
Which Places With Bad Raps Are Actually Worth Visiting?
about 6 hours ago
A dugong displays the telltale “smile.”
Saving the Sea Cows of Vanuatu
about 6 hours ago
The first photo of the “woolly devil” made a stir among botanists when Deb Manley uploaded it to iNaturalist in March 2024.
How the Woolly Devil, Member of a New Plant Genus, Was Discovered on a Hike in Big Bend
1 day ago
You don’t need to go to Turkey to see hundreds of hot air balloons rising.
Dear Atlas: Where Can I Find the Most Unusual Festivals in the U.S.?
2 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States New York State New York City Brooklyn William Beard's Grave

William Beard's Grave

The painter who popularized "bulls" and "bears" as symbols for the stock market didn't get a proper headstone for over a century.

Brooklyn, New York

Added By
Kris
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
William Beard’s Grave   lampbane / Atlas Obscura User
William Beard’s Grave   lampbane / Atlas Obscura User
‘Bear Stung by Bees’   William Holbrook Beard
  SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
Main Gate   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
William Holbrook Beard   J. T. Upson
William Beard’s Grave   lampbane / Atlas Obscura User
  wherearewedude / Atlas Obscura User
  wherearewedude / Atlas Obscura User
Green-Wood Cemetery  
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Strolling along Green-Wood Cemetery's Atlantic Avenue one may come upon a magnificent cast metal bear perched upon a headstone. One might assume that this was put there during the cemetery's heyday of grand sculptures and mausoleums in the late 19th and early 20th-centuries, but while this particular grave has been there since 1900, the bear is a more recent addition.

William Holbrook Beard was a painter who studied at the Düsseldorf Academy and later relocated to New York in 1861. He was known for his anthropomorphic portraits of animals performing human activities, as well as his famous painting "Bulls and Bears in the Market," which helped popularize the association of those two animals with Wall Street.

When Beard was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery after his death, his grave was unmarked for more than 100 years. The absence of a proper memorial was risen by historian Jeffrey Richman to gallery owner Alexander Acevedo, who had previously featured Beard's work. Acevedo put out a call for donations, which was answered by Colorado sculptor Dan Ostermiller with a work depicting a bear straddling a headstone. It now stands in Green-Wood cemetry.

Related Tags

History & Culture Memorials Cemeteries

Know Before You Go

Beard's grave is located closest to the cemetery entrance on 20th Street and Prospect Park West. Make a left on Border Avenue, a left on Jasmine Avenue, then follow Meadow Avenue west until it crosses Atlantic Avenue, where you make another left to see the grave.

The Prospect Park West gate is open until 5pm in the winter and longer (6 or 7pm) in warmer months.

Community Contributors

Added By

lampbane

Edited By

SEANETTA, jonathancarey, wherearewedude

  • SEANETTA
  • jonathancarey
  • wherearewedude

Published

January 11, 2022

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • https://www.wikiart.org/en/william-holbrook-beard/bulls-and-bears-in-the-market
  • https://forgotten-ny.com/2018/11/william-holbrook-beard-green-wood-cemetery/
William Beard's Grave
500 25th St
Brooklyn, New York, 11232
United States
40.657978, -73.994063
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Grave of Governor DeWitt Clinton

Brooklyn, New York

miles away

Spritz Cookie Gravestone

Brooklyn, New York

miles away

Tomb of Secrets at Green-Wood Cemetery

Brooklyn, New York

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Brooklyn

Brooklyn

New York

Places 241
Stories 45

Nearby Places

Grave of Governor DeWitt Clinton

Brooklyn, New York

miles away

Spritz Cookie Gravestone

Brooklyn, New York

miles away

Tomb of Secrets at Green-Wood Cemetery

Brooklyn, New York

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Brooklyn

Brooklyn

New York

Places 241
Stories 45

Related Places

  • The monument

    Leadville, Colorado

    Irish Miners' Memorial and Cemetery

    Thousands of unmarked, sunken graves in a pauper's cemetery.

  • One of the many sculptures/memorials in the cemetery.

    Shanghai, China

    Longhua Martyrs Cemetery

    A memorial to those who died at the hands of the Kuomintang while fighting for communism in China.

  • Burning towers built in 1857.

    Beechworth, Australia

    Chinese Burning Towers

    Constructed in 1857, mourners used these towers to burn offerings of paper prayers and gifts for the afterlife.

  • Addolorata Cemetery.

    Raħal Ġdid, Malta

    Addolorata Cemetery

    Malta’s largest cemetery is a Victorian-era architectural masterpiece.

  • Ahlat, Turkey

    Ahlat Seljuk Cemetery

    Hundreds of medieval Islamic gravestones decorate the mountainous landscape in the largest cemetery in Turkey.

  • Memorials at the symbolic cemetery

    Vysoké Tatry, Slovakia

    Symbolic Cemetery at Popradské Pleso

    A serene memorial that honors the adventurous spirits of climbers who lost their lives in the High Tatras.

  • The Countess Pillar.

    Brougham, England

    Countess Pillar

    A memorial overlooking a busy roadway is linked with the story of a 17th-century noblewoman’s legal battle for her inheritance.

  • Pune, India

    Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

    A riverside stone memorial dedicated to an unidentified hero.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.