With very few exceptions, almost all of the stones in the Church Grounds are flat slab-style headstones laid directly on the ground. There are a few variations, such as the vault covers of Captain Winne and Reverend Ellison, and a couple of obelisks like the one shown here.
The obelisk was a very popular style of gravestone in the early to mid-1800s and the rest of the Albany Rural Cemetery is filled with examples, ranging from small and slender to very large ones which tower over the surrounding memorials. Tiny obelisks were even carved beneath the stylized willows on early 19th-century stones such as A number of the older, smaller obelisks in the Cemetery predate its 1844 consecration and were moved from the State Street Burying Grounds. The weathered Charles Webster gravestone on the South Ridge is typical of these relocated obelisks, most of which were relocated to private family plots newly purchased in the Cemetery when the State Street site was closed in the late 1860s. This particular obelisk of white marble was brought to the Church Grounds from the Episcopal lot at the State Street Burying Grounds, undoubtedly because the deceased had no descendants or other kin in the area to take charge of moving the grave in advance of the mass transfer of graves by the Albany Common Council. Continue reading