Mount Zion Cemetery and the Betts Avenue Incinerator



Every cab ride home from Laguardia I've made a mental note to return and take a photo... that only took 15 years. The Cemetery was founded in 1890 and the incinerator sometime around 1930. The area was rural so I imagine it seemed like a good place for a garbage incinerator but I cannot help but to over think an incinerator lurking overhead of a Jewish Cemetery. Forgotten New York has more information on Mount Zion


I'd love to see some of Milton Spector's images from his favorite Contax.

I've been thinking a lot about incinerators and the impact they have had on our health. I grew up in a city that had one - right next to our middle school. Some days the smell and smoke were so bad we couldn't open the windows no matter how hot it was. It was awful, we played ball right under the black smoke overhead. After many years of trying, the incinerator was finally turned off in 1988 but that doesn't help everyone I know that have had health issues ever since. That never seems to end. I'll keep researching the Cancer numbers and try to make a connection, I know it won't make anything easier but gives me something to focus on when I'm angry.