Oakwood Cemetery is a nonsectarian rural cemetery in northeastern Troy, New York, United States. It operates under the direction of the Troy Cemetery Association, a non-profit board of directors that deals strictly with the operation of the cemetery. It was established in 1848 in response to the growing rural cemetery movement in New England and went into service in 1850. The cemetery was designed by architect John C. Sidney and underwent its greatest development in the late 19th century under superintendent John Boetcher, who incorporated rare foliage and a clear landscape design strategy. Oakwood was the fourth rural cemetery opened in New York and its governing body was the first rural cemetery association created in the state.
It features four man-made lakes, two residential structures, a chapel, a crematorium, 24 mausolea, and about 60,000 graves, and has about of roads. It is known both for its dense foliage and rolling lawns, and has historically been used as a public park by Lansingburgh and Troy residents. Oakwood was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Prominent Americans such as Uncle Sam Wilson, Russell Sage, and Emma Willard, at least fourteen members of the United States House of Representatives, and the founders of both Troy and Lansingburgh are buried at Oakwood. The cemetery has been said to be "one of New York State's most distinguished and well-preserved nineteenth-century rural cemeteries." It also offers a panoramic view of the Hudson River Valley that is said to be the "most concentrated and complete overview of American history anywhere in America".
History The first rural cemetery in the United States—Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts—was developed in the 1830s.Harrison (1984), p. 9 Rural cemeteries are burial grounds typically located on the fringe of a city that offer a natural setting for interment of the dead. The development of rural cemeteries followed closely with the English garden movement of the early 19th century.
The Troy Cemetery Association was formed on September 9, 1848; John Paine, D. Thomas Vail, Isaac McConihe, George M. Tibbits, John B. Gale, and Stephen E. Warren were elected its trustees. It was the first rural cemetery association incorporated under an 1847 law authorizing the incorporation of such associations.Harrison (1984), p. 10 The trustees appointed a committee to report on an eligible location for a cemetery and on September 5, 1849, the first parcel of land was purchased. Weise (1886), p. 54 On October 16, 1850, the land of the cemetery was consecrated Weise (1886), p. 54 and Oakwood became the fourth rural cemetery founded in New York. The Association is made up of lot owners who are elected by fellow lot owners; the position is voluntary and receives no pay.
Oakwood was designed by John C. Sidney, a Philadelphia engineer familiar with cemetery design, with the help of Garnet Douglass Baltimore, the first African American to earn a degree from the nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The plan consisted of roads, man-made lakes, dense vegetation, and rolling hills, covering about , including the modern sections A through Q. Sidney also designed the original superintendent's house and receiving tomb, neither of which exist today. For all Sidney's extensive planning, the first plots were laid out in a seemingly haphazard manner by the first superintendent, Robert Fergusson.
Although Sidney was the architect of the cemetery, it was superintendent John Boetcher that gave Oakwood its charm. Boetcher became superintendent in 1871 and continued in the position until 1898. At the beginning of his tenure, Oakwood was said to be quite crude. During Boetcher's tenure Oakwood's most important icons were built: the Earl Chapel and Crematorium, the Warren Chapel Mortuary, the keeper's house, the office lodge, numerous mausolea, and both the 101st Street and 114th Street entrances (including a bridge over the Troy and Boston Railroad on Oakwood's western border to the 101st Street entrance). Boetcher incorporated exceptional landscape design techniques during his tenure; Oakwood developed shifting landscape scenery: some areas are dominated by flowing lawns while others comprise dense foliage. Boetcher brought in rare and foreign plants to help beautify the cemetery, including umbrella pines and Colorado blue spruce.
In 1869, the City of Troy bought the property of the Third Street Burying Ground for the site of a new city hall. This was the burial site for many of Troy's earliest inhabitants; the city had bought lot number 102 in Section N for re-interment of 146 graves. The Vanderheyden family and Jacob Lansing, founders of Troy and Lansingburgh respectively, were re-interred in Oakwood from private, family cemeteries. With these re-interments, the graves within Oakwood span the entire the history of Troy.
Although it was a cemetery by definition, Oakwood quickly became a place for recreation and was used in its early days as a public park. In response to its popularity, many memorials include benches in their design, aimed to invite visitors to rest while enjoying their visit. So popular was Oakwood that in 1908 the Association began a stage service between the Oakwood Avenue and 114th Street entrances.
A section of Oakwood was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places in August 1984Harrison (1984), p. 19 and was added to the Register on October 10, 1984. The cemetery originally owned about on the east side of Oakwood Avenue, but sold the land in two transactions in the 2000s (decade). The land deals were made to increase the Association's operating income. As of 2009, the cemetery contained roughly 60,000 graves and its numbers continue to grow. The Association expects to be able to accept interments until at least the early 23rd century.
Geography
Oakwood is built on an escarpment that rises east of the fluvial plain surrounding the Hudson River, opposite the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk. It is in eastern Lansingburgh, within the northeast section of the city of Troy. Its western edge is dominated by a steep, densely vegetated hill that descends to the city below while the central and eastern portions of the cemetery comprise rolling hills graced with trees and vegetation that include four man-made ponds created by damming local streams. The property is generally long and thin, running approximately north–south along Oakwood Avenue (New York Route 40).Harrison (1984), p. 25
The cemetery covers of which contribute to the listing on the National Register of Historic Places. In the east–west direction, the cemetery extends from Gurley Avenue and the bed of the old Troy and Boston Railroad on the west, to Oakwood Avenue on the east. The northern boundary is Farrell Road Extension and the southern boundary is a line that extends due east from a point just south of 101st Street, to Oakwood Avenue.Harrison (1984), p. 4
The cemetery is split into sections for ease of finding graves which, for the most part, follow an alphabetic (e.g., Section K) or alphanumeric (e.g., Section D-3) naming system, though there are some that follow a numeric scheme.Harrison (1984), p. 24 The sections are split by paved and gravel roads and pedestrian paths that total .
There are three operating entrances to the cemetery. The main entrance is on Oakwood Avenue at the southern tip of the property; it is flanked by the keeper's house. The 114th Street entrance is marked only by a gate and connects to Gurley Avenue.Harrison (1984), p. 5 The 101st Street entrance passes the office lodge.
Landmarks The large amount of space in rural cemeteries permits the use of sculpture in a way that the crowded churchyard never really allowed. Many rural cemeteries, including Oakwood, subsequently became virtual outdoor sculpture museums, displaying the works of well-known contemporary sculptors as memorials to the deceased.Harrison (1984), p. 11 Oakwood is home to thousands of individual statues and sculptures as well as 24 private mausolea. Because of its popularity as a public park, many memorials included benches to invite visitors to rest while visiting the large, hilly property.Harrison (1984), p. 13
Many historically important sculptors are represented on the grounds of Oakwood. Robert E. Launitz, creator of the memorial urn for A. J. Downing on the National Mall in Washington, D. C., sculpted the memorial for Major General George H. Thomas, which incorporates a white marble sarcophagus topped with a bald eagle. William Henry Rinehart's final work, a life-size sculpture of Julia Taylor Paine, resides in Oakwood. J. Massey Rhind, known for his statue of Crawford W. Long in the National Statuary Hall Collection, is the artist behind the Robert Ross Monument. The Ross Monument shows Ross defending a ballot box, honoring his martyrdom, which resulted from his active work against election corruption in Troy. Ross (1894), p. 70 Joseph Fuller's grave is marked by an elaborately carved Celtic Cross—one of the first in the cemetery—and is based on another monument that Fuller saw while visiting Ireland.
One of the most significant monuments is that to Major General John E. Wool. The monolithic obelisk which was a technological marvel in its day is constructed from granite quarried and shaped by the Bodwell Granite Company of Vinalhaven, Maine, and at 650 tons was believed to be the largest shaft quarried in the United States up to that time. It was transported to Troy by boat and brought to the cemetery on rollers. This and the many other obelisks in the cemetery exhibit the sentiment and taste of the Victorian and Edwardian eras.Harrison (1984), pp. 11–12
In 1862 the Troy Cemetery Association set aside an area in Section P, called the Soldiers' Plot, for deceased Army and Navy officers and soldiers from Rensselaer County.
Gardner Earl Memorial Chapel and Crematorium
The most significant building on the property is the Gardner Earl Memorial Chapel and Crematorium, a Richardsonian Romanesque structure built between 1887 and 1889, which sits near the edge of the escarpment about above the Hudson. The building was financed by William S. Earl, a successful Troy manufacturer, as a memorial to his son who became ill and died on a trip to Europe in March 1887.Bliss (1897), p. 398 The deceased son was an early promoter of cremation and was himself cremated in Buffalo. Cobb (1901), p. 93
The building consists of a bell tower with an square base on the south side, connected by a triple-arched loggia to a chapel and crematorium on the north side. The floor plan of the entire building measures . The exterior is covered by a pink-tinted Westerly granite and the foundation sits completely on bedrock. Cobb (1901), p. 94
The interior is noted for its sumptuous and intricate design. The original furnace room was transformed into an elaborately designed reception room in 1889, the furnaces having been moved into a separate room. This features significant use of marble, from Siena, Japan, and Africa, on its walls, floors, and molding. Cobb (1901), p. 96 The Troy Daily Times stated on November 7, 1889, that, "the chapel is a model of architectural and mechanical skill," and that the chapel's reception room "is certainly the equal, and possibly in respect to artistic detail and elaborateness of execution, the superior of any church interior in the land." Cobb (1901), pp. 94–95
The interior of the chapel is marked by quartered oak ceilings, bluestone floors, and five original Tiffany stained glass windows. The chancel contains an onyx altar and mosaic floor made of more than twenty colors of marble.
The Earl Crematorium was listed in its own right on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 and was designated a National Historic Landmark on March 5, 2012.
Warren Family Mortuary Chapel