Public tours of Vale Cemetery and Park are on the 1st Sunday of the month from May-October.
Tours start at 2 p.m. from the Caretaker's Cottage adjacent to the main entrance on State Street.
There is ample parking available and due to the size of the cemetery/park a shuttle bus is used. There is a $7 donation requested with children under 12 free.
Led by Chris Hunter, Vice-President of exhibits and collections at the Museum of Innovation and Science. The tour visits the grave sites of scientists, inventors, industrialists and visionaries, who made Schenectady “The city that lights and hauls the world,”.
Donations: $7 per person, children under 12 free, handicap accessible. Please call (518) 346-0423 for further information. Rain or shine.
As per state guidelines we ask that anyone who is unvaccinated wear a mask.
The opening ceremony of Juneteenth will be held on Fri., June 17th at 6:30 PM. at the African American Ancestral Burial Ground of Vale Cemetery. Juneteenth commemorates the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in the U.S.
Vale Cemetery is the final resting place of Moses Viney, a former slave who fled Maryland with the help of the Underground Railroad. Befriended by Eliphalet Nott, the President of Union College, Viney became a well known revered Union College figure. Buying the college coaches and horses he became a prosperous businessman. Also in the African American Burial Ground are a number of graves of members of the U.S. Colored troops of the Union Army.
The Juneteenth ceremony will include music, dances and oratory. This year the theme is "Kwanza in June", the 7 principles for community success.
The ceremony will be followed by an ice cream social!
Vale Cemetery Preservation, Inc. is a 501(c)(13) non-profit and tax-deductible organization.
All content © Vale Cemetery Association, 2006-2022