Mount Albion Cemetery earns arboretum accreditation

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 September 2022 at 2:24 pm

1,100 trees stand at historic cemetery on Route 31

Photo by Tom Rivers: Mount Albion Cemetery is shown on Oct. 29, 2019 at the peak of the fall foliage season.

ALBION – Mount Albion Cemetery, one of the area’s most striking sites with its rolling hills and towering trees, has been accredited as an arboretum.

Tim Archer, a seventh-grade teacher at Albion, pursued the designation for the cemetery through ArbNet and The Morton Arboretum.

“It’s a treasure we have here,” Archer said about the cemetery during Wednesday’s Village Board meeting. He presented the accreditation certificate to board.

The cemetery covers about 100 acres and is home to more than 1,100 trees and an array of flowers and bushes.

There are 65 varieties of trees, ranging from alder to beech, butternut to basswood, oak to spruce, hemlock to dogwood, pine to cedar and chestnut, according to the listing by ArbNet and The Morton Arboretum. Click here to see the listing.

“But what dominates the landscape is New York State’s official tree – the Sugar Maple,” the group stated. “It’s brilliant fall colors dance across the landscape like a kaleidoscope of calm.”

Archer and his students are working on a 50-page book about the cemetery. The booklets will be distributed in the spring to local libraries, schools and government offices. He said the local DAR chapter is paying for the cost of printing.

Anna Gillette, one of the seventh-grade students, said the class also would like to identify and label some of the trees on the main walking trails.

Archer and the students thanked Jason Zicari, the cemetery superintendent, and the other cemetery employees for their care and work at Mount Albion.

Provided photo: Two Albion students – Omer Fugate and Anna Gillette – are pictured with Albion Village board members on Wednesday evening when the students presented the board with a certificate showing the arboretum accreditation for Mount Albion Cemetery. Pictured from left include village trustees Chris Barry and Joyce Riley, Omer Fugate, Anna Gillette, Mayor Angel Javier Jr., and trustees Zack Burgess and Tim McMurray.