Albany Rural Cemetery

About this property

The Albany Rural Cemetery was established October 7, 1844, in Menands, New York, United States, just outside the city of Albany, New York. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful, pastoral cemeteries in the U.S., at over 400 acres (1.6 km2). Many historical American figures are buried there. On April 2, 1841, an association was formed to bring the cemetery into being. A committee of the association selected the site on April 20, 1844. The cemetery originally contained 100 acres (0.40 km2). This portion was consecrated October 7, 1844. Daniel D. Barnard delivered the dedication address, which was one of many given at rural cemeteries across the northeast in the years from Justice Joseph Story's address at Mount Auburn Cemetery in 1831 to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in 1863. The first interment was made in May, 1845. Located near the entrance is the Louis Menand House. David Bates Douglass, a military and civilian engineer, working in the capacity as a consulting architect, designed the landscape layout of Albany Rural Cemetery, between 1845 and 1846. He modeled his design of the Albany Rural Cemetery, as well as his subsequent and final one, Mount Hermon Cemetery, in a rural area outside of Quebec City, Canada East, upon his first design, the highly acclaimed Green-Wood Cemetery, in what at the time was a rural section of Brooklyn. All three of Douglass' garden cemeteries have been conferred a historic status, by their respective jurisdictions. In 1868, bodies from other cemeteries were removed and reinterred in Albany Rural Cemetery. The cemetery has a number of notable burials, particularly of 19th century New York State politicians and industrialists, and figures relating to the history of the Adirondack Park. President Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886) – the 21st President of the United States, was interred with his wife Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur, (1837–1880). His memorial was designed by Ephraim Keyser and dedicated on June 15, 1889. Erastus Corning (1794–1872) – Founder and president of the New York Central Railroad. Erastus Corning 2nd (1909–1983) – Great-grandson of Erastus Corning and the mayor of Albany for 41 years. He is also in the Corning family plot. Anne Darling (1913–1991) – Actor best known as the shepherdess in Bride of Frankenstein. John G. Farnsworth (1832–1895) – Adjutant General of New York Charles Fort (1874–1932) – American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. Peter Gansevoort (1749–1812) – Colonel in the Continental Army and later a brigadier general in the US Army. Known for leading the defense of Fort Stanwix during the Saratoga Campaign.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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