Oakwood Cemetery (Troy, New York)

The first rural cemetery in the United States—Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts—was developed in the 1830s. 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 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. On October 16, 1850, the land of the cemetery was consecrated and Oakwood became the fourth rural cemetery founded in New York. 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. 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==

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 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. 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. The sections are split by paved and gravel roads and pedestrian paths that total . 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. Oakwood is home to thousands of individual statues and sculptures as well as 24 private mausolea. 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. is the artist behind the Robert Ross Monument. 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. 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. 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. The deceased son was an early promoter of cremation 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. 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. The Troy Daily Times stated on November 7, 1889, that, "the chapel is a model of architectural and mechanical skill," 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. A tower was added in 1883, with great care placed on finding building material that matched the earlier structure. The Chapel contains stained glass windows above the altar designed by artist Robert Walter Weir. Former member of the United States House of Representatives Joseph Mabbett Warren (1813–1896) is interred in the chapel. Mausolea Oakwood is home to 24 mausolea and burial vaults exhibiting a wide range of architectural styles including Greek Revival, Egyptian Revival, Roman Revival, Gothic Revival, Romanesque, and Palladian. The Sage Mausoleum, built of Westerly granite, exhibits obvious Greek influences and is intentionally not marked. Russell Sage, the wealthy financier and member of the United States House of Representatives from Troy, is interred alone; his second wife Margaret decided to be buried with her parents in Syracuse. To the left of the memorial is a bench that contains a relief of Medusa on the center of the back, complete with snakes as hair. The Panorama The Panorama is an panoramic photograph created by local photographer Tom Wall and set in acrylic on a steel stand in the cemetery's northwestern section. It sits at the edge of a bluff directly overlooking the grounds of Lansingburgh High School and Knickerbacker Middle School. The photograph spans a view and contains labels and notes—referred to by the Troy Cemetery Association as "cliff notes"—about the history of objects shown in the photograph. From this point, one can view Albany and the Empire State Plaza (most notably the Corning Tower and Alfred E. Smith Building), the Helderberg Escarpment, South Troy, downtown Troy, Lansingburgh, Watervliet, Green Island, Cohoes, the Cohoes Falls, Waterford, the Hudson River, the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers, and the eastern terminus of the Erie Canal. The Troy Cemetery Association claims that the view offers the "most concentrated and complete overview of American history anywhere in America". It shows evidence of Paleolithic rocks, Native Americans, the Dutch, the British, the French and Indian Wars, the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and the "Way West" movement resulting in the creation of the Erie Canal and Champlain Canal. ==Notable interments==

, progenitor of Uncle Sam|alt=Close up of a grave stone (on the right) flanked by a red, white, and blue flower wreath (with ribbon and flag) on the left. Among other things, the stone reads "In Loving Memory of Uncle Sam" There are a number of historically prominent figures buried at Oakwood. At least fourteen members of the United States House of Representatives (all from New York) are buried there, including E. Harold Cluett, John Paine Cushman, John Dean Dickinson, William Henry Draper, Edward Whitford Greenman, Job Pierson, Russell Sage, Dean Park Taylor, John Richardson Thurman, George Tibbits, Martin Ingham Townsend, Henry Vail, Joseph Mabbett Warren (also the mayor of Troy), and Eliphalet Wickes. The cemetery also has its fair share of military men, such as Joseph Bradford Carr, a general during the Civil War; John Augustus Griswold, a promoter of ironclad ships and manufacturer of iron panels for the ; George Henry Thomas, a general during the American Civil War, nicknamed the "Rock of Chickamauga"; The founders of Troy and Lansingburgh, Jacob D. Vanderheyden and Abraham Jacob Lansing respectively, were both re-interred at Oakwood, having been moved there from downtown in 1869. Mary Warren, founder of America's first educational institution for "problem children"; Emma Willard, pioneer of women's education and founder of the Troy Female Seminary, which was later renamed Emma Willard School in her honor; John C. Baker, A U.S. Army major general who commanded the 42nd Infantry Division and served as Adjutant General of New York, is buried at Oakwood. Finally, Oakwood is also the final resting place of Samuel Wilson, the progenitor of America's national symbol, Uncle Sam. ==See also==