We've always been proud of our commitment to Green Burials and are one of the few cemeteries in the region accepted to the Green Burial Council.
The Dell at Vale Cemetery offers an environmentally friendly option for those who chose to be interred without the accoutrements of chemical embalming or complicated caskets. Additionally, neither insecticides or herbicides are used and mowing is kept to a minimum.A project of the late Dr. McEvoy, in cooperation with SUNY Cobleskill Agricultural and Technology College, was to use goats to reduce brush and "mow". After a brief hiatus following Dr. McEvoy's passing, the goats are back!
The death and retirement, respectively, of Bernie and Barbara McEvoy necessitates a rebirth of Vale Cemetery Preservation, Inc. Vale Cemetery Association has established a Preservation Committee to assist in that effort and, during the transition, continue the programs set up by Bernie and Barbara during their tenure. Since this is a new and evolving committee, we ask that everyone please be patient when either emailing or calling with requests. We promise to get back to you as soon as possible.
One of the first tasks of this Committee is to restore the Caretaker’s House, specifically, the portico area which has suffered some damage over the years. Another project is cleaning up and better identifying the headstones on graves in the First Reformed Plot. There are numerous Revolutionary War veterans buried in this plot and it would entail tracking down the inscriptions and then matching them with the stones. We are hoping to have this done for the American Revolution 250 in 2026.
The Spring 2024 "Voice of Vale" newsletter is available for download or viewing (2M PDF).
Find out how Vale is helping New York City during the Covid pandemic,
read about Vales receiving the prestigious ACE award along with a
special message from Vale's President.
On December 31st, 2023, Vale Cemetery and the greater community at large lost a beloved friend, Dr. Bernard “Bernie” McEvoy. Dr. McEvoy and his wife Barbara worked tirelessly for Vale Cemetery for over 20 years.
Their efforts saved the caretaker’s house from demolition and worked to achieve financial stability for the cemetery. He obtained grant funding from various institutions including the Wright, Carlilian, Broughton and Schenectady Foundations as well as the New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, Preservation League of New York and the Schenectady County Initiative. These grants helped to fund projects such as the paving of roads, the installation of brick pillars and wrought iron fencing, video surveillance, the placement of kiosks throughout the cemetery, a historic landscape study and the expansion of the crematory.
The Winter 2020 "Voice of Vale" newsletter is available for download or viewing (5M PDF).
Find out how Vale is helping New York City during the Covid pandemic, read about Vales receiving the prestigious ACE award along with a special message from Vale's President.
Shortly after the Pandemic began in March, Vale Superintendent Clark Adams received a phone call from an area funeral director. He told Clark that the funeral home where he interred had a crisis situation where the crematory in New York City that they usually used was backed up causing a 7-day delay for cremations. Because of the delay the funeral home was storing bodies in a refrigerated trailer on their premises. He wanted to know if Vale could help rectify the situation.
Clark told them he could accommodate 8 bodies if they could be at Vale by 8 A.M. A few days later a Long Island funeral asked if Vale could help with their cremation backlog.
Vale Cemetery is proud to announce its selection as the 2020 Cemetery of Excellence by the American Cemetery & Cremation magazine (ACCM).
The ACCM chose Vale for this prestigious award for its perseverance as an inner city historic cemetery and for its numerous and diverse programs. It acknowledges Vale as a vital social, historical and environmental resource and for its fiscal stability in trying times.
Vale featured in American Cemetery and Cremation.
The lavishly illustrated book, “A History of the Vale – Schenectady’s Historic Cemetery” by Don Rittner is still available. For many years, Don was the Schenectady City and County historian.
In the book, he discusses the Rural Cemetery Movement of the mid 1800’s and the development of special areas in Vale Cemetery (Potter’s Field, African American Ancestral Burial Ground, Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery, Millionaires’ Row, the Urban Farm and the Ahmadiya Muslim Cemetery). Each is described and their history explained.
“A History of the Vale – Schenectady’s Historic Cemetery” by Don Rittner
The Schenectady Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution continue work on their project to update the cemetery database. One of the objectives of the DAR is historic preservation, and Vale Cemetery records contain a wealth of information that should be preserved.
Late last fall, a stone was located that did not appear in the cemetery records. Further investigation of the area led to the discovery of 16 additional tombstones that also were not in the records. With permission, these stones were carefully uncovered, many buried deep under the sod.