Memorial Garden Cemetery

Memorial Garden Cemetery came into existence in 1940 when three men – Magnus E. Edwards, Arnold Wyatt, and Harry G. Williams – and two women – Edna B. Wyatt and Roehel G. Edwards – envisioned a memorial park providing dignified and beautiful resting places for the residents of Colonie and the surrounding communities. The vision was for the memorial park to take advantage of the rolling hills in the then-rural Colonie, just west of the Albany Airport and adjacent to the Shaker Historic Site. Today, Memory Gardens consists of 24 landscaped gardens covering 100 developed acres with 80,000 individual burial spaces. Memory Gardens plans to continue to expand and owns 100 undeveloped acres that will accommodate 100,000 more burial spaces. To realize the potential of Memory Gardens’ pastoral setting, enhancements – including sandstone features depicting the Last Supper and Good Shepherd – were added over the years. Two fountains added: one at the entrance that has recently replaced and a much larger one just inside the park’s stately gates. Memory Gardens is graced by two ponds that attract a variety of wildlife, including geese, ducks, and deer. In 1970, a beautiful stone chapel built thanks to contributions from lot owners. In 1978, the Schulmerich Carillon Bells and Tower were erected, and still ring out over the park daily.