Not 40,000

It’s often reported that 40,000 graves were removed from the State Street Burying Grounds to the Church Grounds at Albany Rural.

A recent find in the Albany Institute of History & Library sets the record straight.

How many graves in Washington Park

Rediscovering Sibbie

A notation on a burial card for Section 98 leads to the final resting place of the last documented slave at the Schuyler Flatts.

Rediscovering Sibbie

 

The Project is expanding

For the past several years, I’ve been casually documenting the Church Grounds at the Albany Rural Cemetery on the blog and, more seriously, as part of a book on the history of the Cemetery.  As the book nears completion, it has become clear that the history Church Grounds and the State Street Burying Grounds is a stand-alone project.  It is in an often-overlooked part of Albany’s past and one of the few remaining tangible connections to our 18th and early 19th century history.  The goal now is to research the State Street Burying Grounds (as well as related early graveyards such as the original Dutch Reformed churchyard and smaller burial places such as the Hallenbeek burial ground) with the ultimate goal of a published history.

If you would like to support this project, please click the link below.

The Albany Church Grounds Project on GoFundMe