About
The Friends of the Albany Rural Cemetery is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization established to support the Cemetery. The Mission Statement of the Friends of the Albany Rural Cemetery is:
To foster the appreciation, preservation, and advancement of our historically significant cemetery, honoring its past while helping to ensure its future.
The Friends organizes and delivers a wide variety of historical events, such as tours and historical presentations throughout the year. The Friends is also engaged in providing historical informational resources such as interpretive signs, and publications, including the quarterly Friends Newsletter Elegy that all Friends members receive as a part of their membership dues.
The Elegy Newsletter helps to keep members informed about current happenings in the Cemetery, as well as to provide historical information about the many interesting and famous people buried in ARC.
Funds to support the activities of the Friends are raised through annual Friends membership dues (March) to (April), as well as special historic tours and lectures. The Friends’ Board of Directors collaborates with various local historical organizations, such as the Historic Albany Foundation, Discover Albany, Underground Railroad of the Capital District, New Netherlands Institute, Dutch Settlers Society and the Albany Institute of History and Art.
The Friends is also receptive to special donations to preserve the history and beauty of the Cemetery.
The Friends is staffed by a Board of Directors, a group of volunteers who work with the Friends membership and the wider Capital District Community to plan programs and to develop information materials.
Join the Friends to receive the quarterly newsletter and to keep abreast of scheduled tours, Chapel lectures, gravestone dedications and other events held at the cemetery, such as the President Chester A. Arthur wreath laying ceremony every October 5th.
