Vale Cemetery

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Vale Cemetery Vale is an active and historic nonprofit, nondenominational cemetery, located in the heart of Schenectady, New York.

Founded in 1857 and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Vale Cemetery, in downtown Schenectady, NY is a premier example of the rural cemetery movement. Filled with many famous and infamous people, Vale Cemetery continues to operate and is nondemoninational welcoming all.

The usual Sunday visiting of Vale Cemetery is fast lessening with the return of cooler weather. That resting place of t...
10/06/2026

The usual Sunday visiting of Vale Cemetery is fast lessening with the return of cooler weather. That resting place of the city dead is gradually being clothed in the beauties of the changing, varied foliage of autumn - typical of the brief duration of human life.

The Schenectady Reflector, October 10, 1878

A variety of mushrooms appearing after rye recent rains.
10/05/2026

A variety of mushrooms appearing after rye recent rains.

A beautiful afternoon to plan for a fall volunteer clean-up day; watch for details soon!
10/03/2026

A beautiful afternoon to plan for a fall volunteer clean-up day; watch for details soon!

From the City Council minutes as reported in The Schenectady Reflector newspaper on October 2, 1857Resolved, That the Ce...
10/02/2026

From the City Council minutes as reported in The Schenectady Reflector newspaper on October 2, 1857

Resolved, That the Cemetery Committee be empowered to make the necessary arrangements for a proper dedication of the new Cemetery ground at as early a day as possible.

Resolved, That the new Cemetery be hereafter known and designated by the name of the “Vale Cemetery”

Please note that both of this weekend's events - Saturday's Gravestone Cleaning Class and the Notable Women Tour - have ...
10/02/2026

Please note that both of this weekend's events - Saturday's Gravestone Cleaning Class and the Notable Women Tour - have been canceled due to illness/injury.

For Willow Wednesday, a pair of white marble headstones in the Reformed Church plot.The stone of Elisha Groot, relict (w...
09/30/2026

For Willow Wednesday, a pair of white marble headstones in the Reformed Church plot.

The stone of Elisha Groot, relict (widow) of Abraham C. Groot who died in 1833 feeatures a very stylized willow tree with a sinously curved trunk framed by a pair of classical urns. Urns in cemetery iconography symblize the mortal body with the flames which rise from them representing the immortal soul. Shown as a pair here, they may represent Elisha and her husband.

The smaller adjacent stone also features a very simple and graceful willow. The willow itself became a popular emblem of mourning in the late 18th century through the mid-19th centrury. This stone dates from 1818 and marks the grave of Elsha's doaughter, Jamina Groot Ryneck.

The stones are likely the work of the same workshop though any signatures would be located on the lower portion of the stone below the ground.

The Amsterdam Recorder, in alluding to the Vale Cemetery, concludes as follows: "The location of the Cemetery is admira...
09/29/2026

The Amsterdam Recorder, in alluding to the Vale Cemetery, concludes as follows: "The location of the Cemetery is admirable; and yet whole the ground has long been the property of the city, and they have been looking about for suitable grounds, they have never till within the last year discovered the appropriateness of this location....There are trees enough to shade sufficiently, and they are mostlly pines. These, with their dirge-like music, will with every wind, sing funeral anthems, retaining theirn green-ness through the winter, will be lively emblems of the life beyond the tomb.

from The Schnectady Reflector newspaper, October 30, 1857.

Makers MarkLook on the bases of this tall, simple obelisk in Section G near the Vale Crematorium to find the mark of its...
09/28/2026

Makers Mark

Look on the bases of this tall, simple obelisk in Section G near the Vale Crematorium to find the mark of its makers; the firm of Carpenter & Raymond, Builders.

Located in Dayton, Ohio, their offerings included monuments like this, as well as public memorials.

While it’s not unusual to see monuments signed by the stone carvers, markings like this are less common here.

Address

907 State St
Schenectady, NY
12307

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

(518) 346-0423

Website

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