A forgotten burial ground in the City of Rensselaer, formerly the Village of Greenbush: > BY virtue of an execution issued out of the supreme court of judicature of the state of New York, and to me directed and delivered against the goods and chattels, lands and tenements of David Terry, I have seized and taken all the right, title and interest which the said David Terry has in and to the following described lots of ground, lying and being in the village of Greenbush, lots numbers forty-two, forty-three and forty-four, forty-two feet front and rear, and two hundred feet deep, bounded on the north by Third street, east by lot number forty-five, south by an alley, and west by lot number forty-one; also two lots numbers eleven and twelve, fifty feet front and rear, and one hundred and twenty feet deep, and bounded on the south by Mechanic street, east by lot number thirteen, north by burying ground lot, west by lot number ten, which shall expose to public sale on the third day of February, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, at two o’clock in the afternoon, at th! e public house of Evert Wynckoop, in the village of Greenbush.—Dated Greenbush, December 19, 1837. > AUGUSTUS FILLEY, Sheriff. > By. L. RYSEDORPH, Deputy. Troy Daily Whig. December 19, 1837: 2 col 5. Mechanic Street, I was informed, was another name for part of Third Avenue in Rensselaer, as noted here: “the continuation of said Third avenue, or the part thereof that lies east of said railroads, is now known and called Mechanic street […] at a short distance from said railroad tracks the said Mechanic street divides itself into two country roads, running many miles back into the fertile agricultural country that adjoins said village on the east” "In the Matter of a Petition of Citizens of Greenbush, Rensselaer County, N.Y., to Compel the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company to Construct a Highway Bridge Over Their Tracks at Greenbush." March 17, 1885 https://books.google.com/books?id=c2Y2AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA269 The cemetery can be seen on an 1861 map http://www.loc.gov/item/2009583522/ (on the inset Greenbush map at the upper left) The driveway for it and just the word “Cem.” without boundaries marked in green like for other cemeteries is on an 1891 map http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~28472~1120876:33-Albany--Albany,-Rensselaer-count?qvq=q:%3D%22Rensselaer%2BCounty.%22;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=6&trs=10 With the cemetery having been there since at least 1837 to at least 1891, there had to have been a fair number of people buried there. I overlaid the 1861 map on a satellite image in Google Earth and determined the cemetery may have been about 200-220 feet square (depending on the accuracy of the 1861 map and of my overlay). It’s now the site of Plum Street and Plum Street Park, also called the Third Avenue Park or Third Avenue Playground. > Plum Street Park – located off of 3rd Avenue, this park is tucked behind a row of houses and, although it is within walking distance of many residents, it is often the forgotten park. The park contains a small ball field, a playground with picnic table and a basketball court. http://www.rensselaerny.gov/Libraries/Planning_Department/Comprehensive_Plan_2006.sflb.ashx https://www.google.com/maps/place/Plum+St,+Rensselaer,+NY+12144/@42.6376326,-73.7395744,17z The turning of cemeteries into playgrounds is a recurrent theme in the area (probably nationwide, if not worldwide?). > The plat of ground on which the on which the City Hall is built was conveyed, on May 10, 1796, by Jacob D. Van Der Heyden, to the trustees of the village, “to be used After Oakwood Cemetery was laid out, many of the remains in it were buried there. When the grave-yard was taken in 1875 for the site of the City Hall, the remains of 208 persons were exhumed and interred in Oakwood Cemetery. Beneath the sod of the unoccupied space between the City Hall and the Baptist Church is a number of graves covered with the marble slabs which once marked them. Among them is the grave of Platt Titus, who, at the time of his death, on Thursday, April 30, 1833, had been proprietor of the Troy House nearly 30 years. Weise, Arthur James. The City of Troy and Its Vicinity. Troy, NY: Edward Green, 1886. 54. Platt Titus’ House had served as Troy’s seat of government for many years. There’s a playground between Barker Park and the Church now. Whether Platt Titus was ever moved, I don’t know - but I fear not. The old Rensselaerwyck or Arbor Hill Burying Ground in Albany was (sort-of) removed and replaced by Hall Place and Van Rensselaer Park in the Historic TenBroeck Triangle, which is also the site of a playground. The bodies are, as far as anybody knows, still there. “the vigor and strength of a community may be rather nicely determined from the care and condition of its public records just as the cultural temperature can be read from the care of local cemeteries.” — New York State Historian Arthur Pound, 1940

City of Rensselaer Tax Map 143.76 (page 33 of 63) http://www.rensco.com/pdfs/maps/taxmaps/crens.pdf Given that it’s still identified as a cemetery on the tax map, the fact that it’s been turned into a park/playground is that much more… something. I guess it’s not as forgotten a cemetery as I’d thought. A batting cage and port-a-potty (yuck) seem to be on the cemetery itself (see Google Satellite or Street View). The basketball court might be mostly or entirely on the City of Rensselaer property directly east of it.