Cemetery Lane, 1907

A rather clever postcard was printed to look like birch bark that was peeled back to reveal an image of Cemetery Lane (now Cemetery Avenue).  It is, of course, the approach to the Albany Rural Cemetery (and St. Agnes Cemetery) from the main gate on Broadway. 

Postmarked 1907, it shows the Avenue before the installation of the current fence which lines both sides and before disease wiped out the rows of elm trees.

The card was mailed from Albany on July 2 and address to a Miss Lila C. Ritter in Alder Creek, Oneida County.  A little research shows that Miss Ritter graduated from Boonville High School two years later and became a teacher until she married Loren Yerdon in 1915  The Yerdons lived on a farm in Steuben County, but later moved back to Alder Creek.  She passed away on September 10, 1971 at the age of 82.

There is no note on the card and the sender didn't sign his or her name, though there are two sets of initials inked on the lower edge and "Cemetery Lane, Albany" is written in pencil on the reverse. 

Cemetery Avenue

A Throwback Thursday showing Cemetery Avenue ca. 1900.  This is, of course, the road that runs from the main gate on Route 32 (Broadway) in Menands to St. Agnes Roman Catholic Cemetery and the Rural Cemetery's main offices.  A few years after this photo was taken, the wooden fence lining the road was replace with the iron one which still stands.  The lovely elm trees which shade the road in this photo are long gone, though; they were probably victims of the Dutch Elm Disease epidemic that destroyed many trees in the 1900s.