AIHA OFFSITE: Remembered in Stone: The Legacy of Erastus Dow Palmer - Tour in Albany Rural Cemetery

AIHA OFFSITE: Remembered in Stone: The Legacy of Erastus Dow Palmer — Tour in Albany Rural Cemetery

August 16, 2026 | 1:00pm–3:00pm

Please note: this event takes place offsite at Albany Rural Cemetery. This program is organized in conjunction with the exhibition You Friend, Frederic E. Church, on view June 6 – October 12, 2026.

Register online via Albany Rural Cemetery

• $16 AIHA Members* / Friends of Albany Rural Cemetery
• $20 non-members

*Email Megan Brown to receive the AIHA member discount code.

Step into Albany Rural Cemetery, an open-air museum of Victorian funerary art including twelve works by the nineteenth-century sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer. Among these is one of his most renowned masterpieces, Angel of the Sepulchre; a full-sized plaster cast of it is prominently displayed in the rotunda of the Albany Institute of History & Art.

The tour highlights memorials for a range of individuals—infants, a young daughter, a young mother, as well as politicians, businessmen, and other professionals. Dr. Lynn Radlick will also guide you to Palmer’s final resting place, marked by a monument designed by Marcus T. Reynolds with input from Palmer’s son and Impressionist painter, Walter Launt Palmer. The monument is adorned with reproductions of two of Palmer’s popular works from the 1850s.

This is a combination walking/driving tour. It will involve carpooling between sites and walking to Palmer’s monuments. The program will last approximately two hours and includes multiple stops, with a total walking distance of about one mile. Most travel will be along relatively flat roadways and grassy areas; however, the ground off roadways and around the monuments may be uneven.

Please wear comfortable walking shoes and bring insect repellent and sunscreen. There are no bathroom facilities in the cemetery.

Meeting point and directions:

• The tour group will begin at Cypress Pond. There will be signs to help direct you.
• Check the cemetery website to access a map: www.albanyruralcemetery.org.
• There are two entrances: the main gate off Broadway in Menands and the south gate entrance off Rte. 378 (Menand Rd. at Van Rensselaer Blvd/Rte. 377). The easiest and more direct route to Cypress Pond is from the south gate entrance.

Related programs: This is one of two tours Dr. Lynn Radlick will lead in Albany Rural Cemetery:

• Sunday, August 16 | 1–3PM
• Saturday, September 19 | 1–3PM

About the guide:

Dr. Lynn Radlick has been involved with Albany Rural Cemetery for over 35 years. She is the author of Erastus Dow Palmer, Sculptor of this City, the foundation for this tour. Over the years she has given numerous lectures and led walking tours of the Cemetery. Dr. Radlick received her Ph.D. from RPI and was a professor at Siena College and then at RPI; the Albany Rural Cemetery has been the focus of her interest since retirement.