Ballston Spa Village Cemetery cuts ribbon for new columbarium
BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. » The Ballston Spa Village Cemetery has a new feature that gives families a new option for the fi-nal arrangements for loved ones. The Columbarium is one of the area's first cremation intern-ment facilities.
The new structure has prom-inent placement in the cem-etery, on the main path from the entrance on Garrett Road. It's made of solid granite and weighs about 22,000 pounds. It was the intention of The Ballston Spa Cemetery Associ-ation (BSCA) that the Colum-barium be built to last, able to withstand centuries of weather and wear.
The Columbarium is a 60-niche structure for housing cremation urns. Each niche can hold two urns. The construction and planning for it was a three-year project, which the BSCA, the nonprofit organization that owns and manages the ceme-tery, felt was a very important and needed addition to the cem-etery.
"It's a great need in the area. Cremations are on the rise, but there aren't a lot of local op-tions for placing the ashes," said BSCA board member Lor-raine McPherson. "This is a place where you can keep fam-ily members together, with a me-morial spot."
There is space and plans for three additional Columbariums to be built in the future, as the currently available niches fill up.
"This is a nice addition be-cause it allows families to be together in the same cemetery," said Kathi Leigh, a volunteer with the Ballston Spa Business and Professional Association.
The BSCA hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Columbarium on Saturday morning, attended by Associa-tion board members and com-munity representatives. The As-sociation was presented with a plaque commemorating the new structure. Board president Bill Curtiss gave a short speech thanking everyone who had supported the building of the Co-lumbarium. After the ceremony, the board members gathered on the lawn for their annual meet-ing.
'This cemetery is an impor-tant asset," said Ballston Spa Deputy Mayor Noah Shaw. "Not just for families of loved ones, but as a community space.”
The Ballston Spa Village Cemetery is indeed a valued space in the neighborhood. Village residents visit it daily to jog, stroll, and walk their dogs. A number of locally significant historical figures are buried there, including some Civil War soldiers.
The cemetery’s interred are all cataloged on its website, which allows someone searching for an individual plot or headstone to easily look it up before visiting. The website’s catalog
is also part of the international website findagrave. com, which allows people around the globe to find the burial sites of family members anywhere.
“The catalog of our cemetery actually increases tourism for the area,” said outgoing board member John Cromie. “It helps people find relatives, and they’ll
travel to come see where they’re buried.”
Bill Preston, one of the Association’s volunteers and board members, is responsible for doing much of the cataloging of the cemetery’s thousands of headstones. The cemetery’s history is something he’s been passionate about since the day he first came there,
looking for the headstone of a relative.
“I kept coming back. I bumped into Bill (Curtiss) one day, we really hit it off, and next thing I knew I was on the board,” said Preston.
In addition to cataloging the headstones, Preston also does a lot of work keeping the cemetery beautiful, including landscaping
and cleaning up the stones. Preston uses a biological agent called D/2, which is used by national cemeteries for headstone cleaning and preservation.
Preston says he loves the work because it gives him a chance to research the long and varied histories held within the cemetery.
“I love to research,” he
said. “I try to find the stories that go with the names and dates. There’s a tremendous amount of history in here. It’s a lot of fun.”
More information about the Ballston Spa Village Cemetery and the Ballston Spa Cemetery Association can be found at www.ballstonspacemetery.org.