Epic Stories Await At These Historic Upstate New York Cemeteries!

I will admit it. I love a cemetery!

I have been fascinated with them since I was a kid. I've always had a bent toward history and storytelling, and a cemetery always seemed such a rich place to explore and uncover stories from the past. Sometimes, in the way way back past!

A few years ago I took this "hobby" of mine and turned it into a very successful book titled "Graves of Upstate New York: A Guide to 100 Notable Resting Places." (Syracuse University Press). It became a popular book and actually is now in its second edition. I visited 100 graves all over the greater Upstate New York region, researching photographing, and investigating some pretty amazing stories.

And that is what led to this gallery. Here I highlight 17 fantastic cemeteries across the region. In each mention, I also give you a tidbit of some famous person or people who are buried within them. I have visited each of these cemeteries (and for several of them I visited more than once). They are the arks which hold our nation's history, and they are always in a beautiful location within the urban center of a town, village, or city, or located in a remote rural area. All are worth a walk through. Just amazing!

I love all of these cemeteries. They are historic. And for someone like me who is very comfortable spending some time wandering the paths of a rural cemetery, when you get to it you will see what I identify as "my favorite cemetery." It is incredible and anyone could spend hours visiting it and marveling at the statues, monuments, tombs, and stories in this epic Hudson Valley cemetery.

17 Amazing, Beautiful, and Historic Upstate New York Cemeteries

In the mid to late 1800s, cemeteries were first built far outside a community, rather than the traditional intimate churchyard settings of previous cemeteries. Upstate New York has hundreds of these cemeteries and they are beautiful places.

As a writer, one of my travel guides is a book about the cemeteries of Upstate New York, and focuses on 100 notable graves that I have visited all over the region. Here is a list of a 17 of the most historic and beautiful this writer has seen. Most are in large cities, like Buffalo and Syracuse, but there are some in smaller places. And those lesser known ones are equally as beautiful and historic.

For each entry on this list we have provided a short note telling of an "amazing graves" found in each cemeteries. The stories are very interesting!

Gallery Credit: Chuck D'Imperio

10 Not-to-be Missed Places in Old Forge, NY

Old Forge, deep in the Adirondack Mountains, is a mecca for fun seekers, vacationers, water park aficionados, campers, skiers, and just those seeking a slice of Americana like it once was. A massive old time hardware store, a "Mayberry-type" Main Street diner, a 100-year-old Art Deco movie theatre, a kid's amusement park, and so much more. Here is a quick list of 10 places to visit the next time you come to the mountains and come to beautiful Old Forge, NY.

Gallery Credit: Chuck D'Imperio

Source: Epic Stories Await At These Historic Upstate New York Cemeteries!

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