Log Cabin Cemetery - Hurstville

This Spring the gravestone of Jacob Cappallo and his wife Mary Schaeffer Cappallo was uprighted at the Evangelical Protestant Church Cemetery. See the photo below. While doing research on another individual, the death notice for Jacob Cappallo was discovered and a new discovery came to light. The Evangelical Protestant Church Cemetery, also known as the Hurstville Cemetery, also had another name, the Log Cabin Cemetery.

Gravestone of Jacob & Mary Cappallo

Times Union 17 March 1897 5:6

Cappallo- March 16th, at the residence of his son, 613 Clinton avenue, Jacob Cappallo, aged 67 years and 3 days. Funeral Thursday afternoon at 2:30.

Brief information on the life of Jacob Cappallo was found in various Albany newspapers. Including the snipet below.

Times Union 17 March 1897 5:5

- Mr. Jacob Cappallo, one of the best known residents of the West End, died yesterday at the residence of his son, 613 Clinton avenue. He was the proprietor of Cappallo hall, the meeting place of Division 5, A.O.H. and several other societies.

The interesting part of this story is below from a notice in the Times Union newspaper where he is listed as being buried in the Log Cabin Cemetery.

Times Union 19 March 1897 6:4

The funeral of Jacob Cappallo took place yesterday afternoon from the residence of his son, Frederick, 613 Clinton avenue. The rev. Mr. Reller of the German Evangelical Protestant church officiated. The bearers were Coroner George Held, William Smith, Ernest Gau, and Goetleif (sp) Klinger. Interment was at the Log cabin cemetery, Hurstville. Mr. Plantz had charge.

Hurstville was in the local newspapers many times over the years. Hurstville, once located in the Town of Bethlehem until residents of the hamlet petitioned the town to allow Albany annex the area. This was over an inadequate water supply to the area. Proceedings for this action began in 1964 and in 1967 the area was annexed to Albany.

Times Union columnist Edgar S. van Olinda wrote snippets on local history of Albany for years. Once such story was printed in the Times Union on July 29, 1943, 1:1 stating, Hurstville, a section of Albany, better, better known by that name a quarter of a century ago than it is today was once known as Log Cabin. In after years, there were several hotels along this turnpike, such as Hurst's, Johnnie Hoy's, the Home Lawn and the Adams House.

Five years earlier "Looking Back" columnist Nancy van Dyck wrote in the Times Union on October 30, 1938, C3:1 that Driving along New Scotland avenue, near the Buckingham Garden development, the other day, there came to mind the days when New Scotland avenue, a "plank road" and the Hurstville Hotel and picnic grounds, which were located at about the intersection of the Whitehall road and New Scotland avenue, were the mecca of many of the younger set. A trip to Hurstville in those "Horse and Buggy Days" was an event of much importance. All day journey, it took an hour or more to get there and to get home again, so that the younger set of those days invariably started out early in order to enjoy a days outing, in what was then the heart of the countryside.

Newspaper reporters reminiscencesed about the old days as early as 1928 when Times Union columnist DeWitt Schuyler wrote in his Albany Day Day column on June 26, 1928, 1:1, Do you Remember- When there was a race track at Hurst's hotel and Hurstville?

Readers thinking about that question would be very old considering this news story from the Saturday August 28, 1869 Albany Morning Express that reported The Turf,- The attendance at the track- Hurstbille- yesterday was quite large, and the sport was good. In the first race Hill's "Capt. Jenks" was the winner, and in the last Greenman's "Sir William."

The story of Hurstville revolves around William Hurst who owned many acres of land including the trotting park where the horse racing occurred. See the following link for a detailed Knickerbocker News article from 1952 about the former hamlet of Hurstville.

William Hurst II

Hurstville Hotel