While exploring the Cemetery yesterday, I came across a recumbent gravestone which (in addition to the usual names and dates) had a small line of carved text near the bottom edge. The small inscription was upside down and on the portion of the stone which would have been covered by earth when the stone was in its original upright position. It may identify the manufacturer of the gravestone. While researching local stone cutters and monument supplier contemporary to this gravestone, I came across two fascinating old advertisements in an 1853 city directory published by Joel Munsell.
Neither of these businesses - or the buildings in which they operated - exist now. But it is very probable that much of their goods were destined for use at the Rural Cemetery which, by then, had almost completely replaced the State Street Burying Grounds as the primary resting place for Albany's departed.
As for that little line of upside down text, I didn't find a match for it and the research continues.
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