Vale Cemetery

From The Daily Gazette of Schenectady (subscription required)

Sheep mow down the Dell at Vale Cemetery A trailer containing 23 sheep arrived at the cemetery Thursday to mow the overgrown land. Dr. Judy Saint Leger and her husband manage the flock.

The kousa dogwoods are blooming along the edge of The Dell

If you attended the annual Caring For Your Cemetery Day earlier this spring, here's a progress report on two of the headstones from the cleaning demonstration.

These two upright marble grave markers in Section I-2 belong to Elizabeth (larger stone on the left) and Margaret (smaller stone on the right) Vrooman. They were moved here along with other members of the Van Slyck, Van Guysling, and Vrooman families from a small burial ground on Van Slyck Island. The stones in this plot date from 1695 to 1884. This pair, with the stylized urns and willows, date from 1817 and 1823 respectively and are typical of their era.

The stones were both treated with Endurance Gravestone Cleaner. The larger stone was sprayed, gently scrubbed, rinsed with water, and resprayed. The smaller stone was simply treated by spraying. Both will continue to lighten as the sun and rain reactive the cleaning solution.

Detail of the beautiful bronze ornamentation on the Furman monument, one of the largest at Vale.