Albany Rural Cemetery

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name = Albany Rural Cemetery
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caption = View of the cemetery
location = Cemetery Ave.
Menands, New York
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architect = Maj. D.B. Douglass
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added = October 25, 1979
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refnum = 79001566
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The Albany Rural Cemetery was established October 7, 1844 in Menands, New York, just outside of the city of Albany, New York. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful, pastoral cemeteries in the United States. Many historical American figures are buried there.

In 1886, President Chester A. Arthur, the 21st President of the United States, was interred at Albany Rural Cemetery along with his wife Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur. His memorial was designed by Ephraim Keyser and dedicated on June 15, 1889. Friends of the President contributed a fund that provided $10,000 for the memorial and for a statue that was erected in New York City. (Lot 8 Section-24)

John Van Buren, son of President Martin Van Buren is buried along with his wife, Harriet. John Van Buren, a handsome attorney known as "Prince John" died at sea on October 13, 1866, while on the voyage from Liverpool to New York. His grave is marked by an Italian Marble Cross. (Lot 28 Section-62)

A doric column, 36 feet in height, commemorates General Philip Schuyler, Major General in the Continental Army, Delegate to the Continental Congress, and one of the first two United States Senators elected from NY. (Lot 2 Section-29)

The last patroon, General Stephen Van Rensselaer, who died in 1839, was founder of the scientific school which later became Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. (Lot 1 Section-14)

Also the interred in the Van Rensselaer plot is William Paterson, who was one of signers of the Constitution of the United States, U.S. Senator and Governor of New Jersey. Paterson, also became Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and served until his death in 1806. (Lot 1 Section-14)

. (Lot 5 Section-27)

Erastus Dow Palmer, a world renowned sculptor, worked in an Albany studio producing statuary and portrait busts for many years before he died in 1904. He produced two statues which are on exhibit at the United States Capitol Building in Washington D.C.; the Robert Livingston Statue and "Peace in Bondage". (Lot 15 Section-34) Several of Mr. Palmer's works adorn markers at the Cemetery, one of which is titled "The Angel at the Sepulchre" which is located on the Banks plot. (Lot 1 Section-31)

Palmer also designed the granite monument at the grave of William Learned Marcy a U.S. Senator and Governor of New York for 3 terms. Marcy, also served as Secretary of War under President James K. Polk and Secretary of State under President Franklin Pierce. When he died in 1857, relatives recalled that Marcy "frequently expressed the wish to be buried where he had spent so much time in reading and in contemplation". (Lot 94 Section-62)

Located on a large circular plot is Erastus Corning 2nd, founder and President of the New York Central Railroad, mayor of Albany, State Senator and Democratic Congressman. Also on the plot is Erastus Corning 2nd., who served as Mayor of Albany for 41 years, he died in 1983. (Lot 2 Section-31)

The Peckham family plot includes Rufus Wheeler Peckham, an U.S. Supreme Court, and his brother, Wheeler Hazard Peckham, a prominent New York City lawyer and a failed nominee to the Supreme Court. The plot also includes a cenotaph to their father, New York Court of Appeals judge and U.S. congressman Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1809-1873), who was lost at sea. (Lot 19, Section 11)

The Spencer family plot includes John Canfield Spencer, Secretary of War and Secretary of the Treasury under President John Tyler and a failed nominee to the Supreme Court. His father, Ambrose Spencer, a prominent New York lawyer, judge and politician, is also buried near by.

Gallery

External links

* [http://www.albanyruralcemetery.org/albrurcem/index.html Albany Rural Cemetery official site]
* [http://www.albanyruralcemetery.org/albrurcem/Public_Officials.htm List of public officials buried at Albany Rural Cemetery]
* [http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/dead.html Burying the Dead in Early Albany]