People Continue To Leave Sticks At 100-Year-Old Grave Of Rex, A Very Good Dog

Losing a beloved pet is always difficult. Even though we know it's inevitable when we adopt them, that doesn't make the pain any less when the time eventually comes.

This is something many of us relate to and maybe that's why so many visitors to the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn pause to honor the grave of one very good boy.

Among the graves of famous soldiers, artists, and politicians, sits a bronze statue of a dog.

He rests on a stone platform that simply says "Rex." There's no other information presented about him, but that hasn't stopped visitors who stumble upon him from leaving him a stick in appreciation.

Rez has sat and guarded the plot for more than a century.

Though there is nothing on the statue to confirm it, historians believe that Rex belonged to John E. Stow, who is buried behind him and marked by a towering gravestone. Stow died in 1884 and was a New York fruit merchant for more than 40 years.

Rex has been gifted with sticks for a very long time.

The Dodo spoke to Stacy Locke, the cemetery's communications manager, and she explained that Rex's grave has always stood out, since he sits at the intersection of some of the streets, and occasionally people leave items other than sticks.

"Someone also left a picture of a dog there once," she said, "maybe their little pet who passed away, as to say, 'Rex, look after my little one.'"

If you'd like to visit Rex yourself, he's easy to find.

He's in Section 81, right where Green-Bough Ave and Sycamore Ave meet.

It's not clear whether or not Rex himself was actually buried there or if it is simply a monument to a beloved pet. The cemetery prohibited pet burials in 1879, but it's unknown when Rex might have actually passed away.

h/t: The Dodo

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