Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Albany Rural Cemetery & The Civil War

I've spent quite a bit of time in the Albany Rural Cemetery in recent months. Partly to do research for a book about this wonderful Cemetery, partly for my companion blog about it, and partly because it's just a beautiful place that I love to explore.

There are hundreds of Civil War burials at the Rural Cemetery. At almost every turn, one can find a monument embellished with swords, carved flags, caps, and other such soldierly emblems.

Video editing is not my favorite task, but I wanted to share the photos I've taken so far of these monuments, including the Soldiers Lot. So I've put together a simple video of Civil War monuments.



Many of these monuments have stories to be shared in future blog posts, but for now, they are gathered together in this slideshow.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Bicentennial Plaque No. 4 - The Progenitor


The fourth of the surviving Bicentennial tablets is mounted on the wall of City Hall (to the right of the main entrance). It commemorates Killiaen Van Rensselaer, a diamond and pearl merchant who never actually set foot on his holdings in the New World, but was an instrumental figure in Albany history nonetheless.

Killiaen Van Rensselaer on Wikipedia
The Bicentennial Tablets
Bicentennial Plaque No. 1 - Fort Orange