The Willett Stone

This boulder at the corner of Willett and State Streets honors the namesake of the former, General Marinus Willett.

The plaque features a profile of Willett and the following inscription:

In Grateful Memory of General Marinus Willett
1740 - 1836
For His Gallant and Patriotic Services In
Defense of Albany And The People of
The Mohawk Valley Against Tory And Indian
Foes During The Years of The War For
Independence, This Stone, Brought From The
Scenes of Conflict And Typical of His Rugged Character,
Has Been Placed Here Under The Auspices of The
Sons of The Revolution
In The State of New York

By The Philip Livingston Chapter
A.D. 1907

This memorial was originally located a few yards deeper in the park, but was moved to its present location several years ago as it was struck several times by cars missing a sharp turn.

It's interesting to note that the Willett Street might not have been named for the General in the first place. It was originally Willet Street and probably followed the pattern of naming the north-south streets in this area after birds - Eagle, Swan, Dove, Lark, Willet, and Snipe (the last of these no longer exists). At some point, the extra "t" was added and the association with General Willett began, making it a logical place for his memorial.

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.

Albany Rural Cemetery - Elsie's Grave

The Albany Rural Cemetery is filled with monuments to young children. 19th-century infant and child mortality rates were high and, even among affluent families, it wasn't uncommon for children to die of illness well before adolescence. Their monuments are usually small and often decorated with lambs or doves or likenesses of sleeping infants.

This poignant monument, which bears the name Elsie, stands on a hill not far from the Cemetery's main entrance on Broadway and features a little girl's boots and a straw hat complete with carved ribbons. The hat is propped at the base of a branchless tree trunk, a popular Victorian symbol of a youth cut short by death.