Cemetery Articles in the Rensselaer County Advertiser

Just checked the mail and received the weekly Rensselaer County Advertiser newspaper and found two articles regarding cemeteries. One good, one bad. The good article posts:

Castleton Public Library Events

• Cemetery Headstone Cleaning, Tuesday, 25 July, 12 - 1 pm, Meet at flagpole at Mountain View Cemetery (Scott Avenue). An adult must accompany kids under 11.

Castleton Public Library

85 South Main Street, Castleton, NY 12033

518.732.0879

www.castletonpubliclibrary.org

Now, the unhappy article which is a letter to the Editor. It reads:

A Plea to Have Stolen Cemetery Floral Piece Returned

Recently for Mom's Day, I bought a beautiful cemetery floral piece for my parent's headstone at Bloomingrove Cemetery. Because I don't have my parents any longer, I still like to remeber them on Mother's Day and Father's Day. I placed the floral arrangement (an artificial one) on the headstone on Mother's Day.

I Went to the cemetery on Father's Day to pay my respect to my Dad. The arrangement was gone! I know it didn't blow away, because it fit rather securely to the headstone.

Anyone who would take a floral piece from a grave site is dspicable! If they wanted it for someone they knew who had died, they are not honoring them by putting a stolen arrangement on their grave site.

I won't replace it to be stolen again. At least I know I did the right thing. My conscience is clear. I'm sure whoever took it doesn't have a conscience. If you have any sense of right and wrong, you will put it back where it belongs.

Xx Xx, Rensselaer

Vandalized Jewish Cemetery in Philly Being Restored

Recently a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia was targeted by vandals numerous times. A plan is underway to restore the 175 gravestones that were toppled. Joe Ferrannini of Grave Stone Matters will be leading the project. A link for an article on this venture is here.

Mount Ida Cemetery Vandalism Follow-Up

A few weeks back I posted that recently numerous tires were illegally dumped in the Mount Ida Cemetery on Pawling Avenue in Troy. Troy police and other city officials were notified of the dumping. After volunteering my efforts to help clean the mess, I was told that the police did not even realize that the property is city owned. Immediately an attempt to "pass the buck" was made. However due to persistent and persuasive individuals living in the vicinity of the cemetery, I am told that the tires were removed by the city and that now the gates to enter the cemetery at the care takers building are now chained and locked. This appears to be what it takes to stop fools from desecrating burial grounds. Hopefully the public will be able to enter the cemetery grounds when Spring arrives.

Thievery at the Cemetery?

About four hours ago I took a ride to Our Lady Help of Christians Cemetery in Glenmont to check how my ancestor's graves held up over the Winter and to note whether I had any upcoming projects to attend to there. While at the cemetery I took a look at a grave site where there was an old cast iron bench at an unrelated grave site. Years ago this cemetery had quite a few of these benches within it. I remember seeing them as a kid when I visited the cemetery with my grandparents.

As of March of 2013 there was only one remaining bench left in the cemetery. All of them had disappeared one way or another. Today I checked for the bench because numerous times in the past when my kids were at the cemetery with me, we would photograph them sitting on the bench. The last time I did this was in 2013 and I will no longer be able to do the same in the future because today it is missing, gone, not there.  Below is the first picture we took of my kids at the bench. It was taken in 2003.

Summer 2003

Summer2008

The next photo below was taken in March 2012. In order to keep the peace within the family and not start WWIII with the girls; their faces have been whited out. "Are you happy girls?" The bench can clearly be seen between two grave stones.

March 2012

The photo below is of the same spot taken today. The cast iron bench is gone. In the top photo, the bench was wired together. Obviously it was damaged at some point. The question here is: did the cemetery workers remove the bench because of the damage or was it removed by thieves?

30 March 2015

It is very aggravating that this happens and I am sure that it happens all the time. Another item that is no longer found here are the old GAR medallions that hold flags. This cemetery had numerous ones again when I was a youngster. I hope that these small relics from the past are not disappearing for ease of up keeping of the grounds. This will be looked into further.

Vandalism at Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, NY

This is not a story that I like to report but it is one that needs attention.  Recently cemetery workers at the historic Oakwood Cemetery in Troy noticed that numerous headstones were knocked over.  108 stones in fact were vandalized.  The Times Union reports that this act may be some sort of revenge act because this section of the cemetery had approximately 1000 stones uprighted and reset last year.  I am attaching links to various news sites for the report. 

From the Times Union

From CBS 6 News

From FOX23 News