New York has one of the oldest and most varied burial landscapes in the country. Our directory holds 752 cemetery listings, running from Manhattan offices to Southern Tier town plots. They include historic garden cemeteries, parish grounds, congregation-owned Jewish cemeteries, veterans' cemeteries and small village burial grounds. This page explains how those pieces fit together, so you can reach the right office on the first call.

How Cemeteries Are Organized in New York State

No single agency runs burial grounds in New York. Ownership is split among several kinds of operators. The type of operator decides whom you call, what you pay and which rules apply to a burial or a monument.

Check which category a site falls into before you call. A parish cemetery will send you to the parish or diocese. A corporation cemetery will have its own office, a sexton and written rules for lots, markers and visiting hours.

Who Oversees Cemeteries in New York: The Cemetery Board and Local Offices

At the state level, cemetery corporations are overseen by the Cemetery Board and the Division of Cemeteries, which sit within the New York State Department of State. Our database lists the Cemetery Board New York State at 123 William Street in Manhattan, phone 212-417-5713. The rules behind it grow out of the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law. That law governs how cemetery corporations sell lots, keep records and set aside money for upkeep.

That oversight is aimed mainly at not-for-profit cemetery corporations. Religious and municipal cemeteries are generally handled differently and answer first to their own governing bodies. If your problem involves a corporation cemetery's maintenance, a lot sale or a records dispute, the Cemetery Board is a sensible place to start. For a parish cemetery, begin with the pastor or the diocesan cemetery office.

Other offices touch the process too. The State Department of Health licenses funeral directors. The local registrar of vital records, who may be a town, village or city clerk, issues the burial permit. In the five boroughs the city health department fills that role. Town and county historians often hold old cemetery records that no cemetery office ever kept.

Cemeteries in New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley

Geography shaped the metro cemetery map. In 1851 the city barred new burials below 86th Street in Manhattan, and the large burial grounds moved across the East River to Brooklyn and Queens. That history explains why Flushing, Cypress Hills and Middle Village carry so many cemetery records. Flushing Cedar Grove Cemetery sits on the Horace Harding Expressway (718-939-2041), and Middle Village Catholic Cemeteries operates from Metropolitan Avenue (718-326-1235). Queens County is the place to browse for that cluster. Manhattan's New York County listings include administrative offices such as the Cemetery Board itself.

On Long Island, Nassau and Suffolk counties hold some of the largest listing totals in the state. Farmingdale appears with the Catholic Cemeteries office at 1 Conklin Street (631-249-6096), which is the number to try for Catholic burial questions in that part of the island. North of the city, Westchester County offers a deep mix. It includes Hartsdale Canine Cemetery at 75 North Central Avenue, Temple Israel Cemetery on the Saw Mill River Road in Hastings-on-Hudson, Cortlandt Manor Hillside Cemetery on Oregon Road and the monument dealer in Hawthorne.

In the dense metro area, grave space is scarce and costly. Mausoleum crypts, columbarium niches and cremation gardens are therefore common. Ask early about availability, because a family plot may be full or reserved for existing owners. Dutchess County, further up the Hudson, has 21 listings and generally more open ground, with a slower pace at most offices.

Upstate New York: City Cemeteries, Parish Grounds and Town Plots

Outside the metro area, listings follow the old industrial cities along the Erie Canal and the Thruway. Syracuse includes Assumption Cemetery on Court Street (315-454-3841). Buffalo's Mt Olivet Cemetery is on Elmwood Avenue (716-873-6500). Erie County adds Hamburg Prospect Lawn Cemetery on Gowanda State Road and the Buffalo Catholic Cemeteries Diocese office on Harlem Road in Cheektowaga.

In the Capital Region, three neighboring cities each have their own anchor. Schenectady has Evergreen Memorial Park & Garden Mausoleum Cemetery on Central Avenue, Troy has Elmwood Hill Cemetery on Belle Avenue, and Albany has Albany Rural Cemetery. Albany Rural dates to the 1840s and is the resting place of President Chester A. Arthur, so it draws visitors as well as families. Utica's St Agnes Cemetery on Arthur Street anchors Oneida County.

Further west and south, Monroe County listings include Grove Place Cemetery on Chili Avenue in Rochester and Brockport Mt Olivet Cemetery on East Canal Road. In Broome County, Chenango Valley Cemetery Association in Binghamton and Endicott Riverside Cemetery on Vestal Avenue are the main names. Endicott Riverside has no phone number in our records, so expect to work through the village or a funeral home. Ithaca Calvary Cemetery, Soule Cemetery in Auburn and Cold Spring Cemetery in Lockport show the small-town pattern of modest offices with limited hours. Winter matters upstate, since some cemeteries hold remains in a receiving vault until the ground thaws.

Practical Steps for Finding and Using a Cemetery Office in New York

A few habits save time wherever in the state you are searching.

Use the county links on this page to narrow listings near you, and confirm details by phone, since hours and contacts can change.

Government cemeteries in New York include facilities administered by the VA's National Cemetery Administration, state veterans cemeteries funded through state and federal partnerships, and local municipal and county cemeteries operated by city and county governments throughout the state.

Cemetery locations are available in 387 cities across New York. They are spread across 60 counties.

Cities with the highest concentration include New York, Flushing, Syracuse, where established municipal cemeteries have served their communities for generations and maintain extensive historical burial records.

Veterans in New York may be eligible for burial in a state veterans cemetery at little or no cost. Contact the New York Department of Veterans Affairs or Veterans Services to confirm eligibility requirements and available state-operated facilities.

Cemetery by Counties

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
W
Y

Families and genealogists in New York can often request burial records from municipal cemetery offices or search online databases maintained by state archives and historical societies. Many New York counties have digitized older cemetery records that are available through county clerk or public library genealogy collections.

Browse Cemetery by county across New York to find the nearest location.

Records, Genealogy and Veterans' Burial in New York

Cemetery work in New York is often about records as much as plots. Many burial grounds date to the 1800s, and older registers may be held by the cemetery, a church, a town historian or a county clerk. Start with the cemetery office, then widen the search if it has no entry. Albany Rural Cemetery, Elmwood Hill Cemetery of Troy and Syracuse Assumption Cemetery are long-established grounds where a call to the office is the best first step for family history questions.

Veterans have a separate path. The Department of Veterans Affairs runs national cemeteries, and the Woodlawn listing in Elmira, Chemung County, includes a national cemetery section. Eligibility depends on military service and discharge status, and families usually need the DD-214. Call the VA before assuming a particular cemetery has space.

Pick your county for local detail. Suffolk County has the most listings of any county in our records, which reflects Long Island's size. Onondaga County centers on Syracuse and its surrounding towns. Confirm hours by phone, because small offices often keep limited schedules.

Monuments follow their own rules. Most cemeteries regulate marker size, material and foundations, so talk to the cemetery before ordering from a dealer such as Cemetery Monuments And Lettering in Hawthorne (914-769-6666) or Carbone Memorials in Cypress Hills (718-455-6122).

Frequently Asked Questions About Cemeteries in New York

Not-for-profit cemetery corporations are overseen by the Cemetery Board and the Division of Cemeteries within the New York State Department of State. Our database lists the Cemetery Board New York State at 123 William Street in Manhattan, phone 212-417-5713. The Not-for-Profit Corporation Law sets many of the rules on lot sales, record keeping and maintenance funds. Religious and municipal cemeteries generally answer to their own governing bodies, so a complaint about a parish cemetery should start with the pastor or diocese. When in doubt, ask the cemetery who owns it, then contact the matching office.

In most cases the funeral director handles it. After the death certificate is filed, the local registrar of vital records issues a burial permit, and the funeral director delivers it to the cemetery. Outside New York City the registrar is often a town, village or city clerk. Inside the five boroughs the permit comes through the city health department. If you are not using a funeral home, call the registrar where the death occurred before you contact the cemetery. The cemetery will usually want the permit in hand before it schedules the interment.

Veterans with qualifying service and a discharge that meets VA rules can usually be buried in a national cemetery at no charge for the grave, and the VA provides a headstone or marker. New York has several, including Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira, Calverton National Cemetery on Long Island, Bath National Cemetery and Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery. Some older ones, such as Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn, may accept only limited new burials, so call the VA first. Have the DD-214 ready. Veterans who choose a private cemetery can still request a government marker.

First work out which cemetery holds the burial, using a death certificate, an obituary or church records. Then call the cemetery office and ask for the section, lot and grave number. Diocesan offices, such as Buffalo Catholic Cemeteries Diocese in Cheektowaga (716-892-3063), can often point you toward Catholic records. If a cemetery has closed or lost its books, try the town or county historian and the local library. Many upstate towns have small family plots that were never formally recorded, so a historian's local knowledge can be as useful as a ledger.

Pet burial is usually handled by dedicated pet cemeteries. Our directory lists Hartsdale Canine Cemetery at 75 North Central Avenue in Hartsdale, Westchester County, phone 914-428-6553. It is one of the oldest pet cemeteries in the United States. Human cemeteries set their own policies on pet remains, and many do not accept them, so ask before making plans. If you hope to bury a pet's ashes with a family member, get the cemetery's answer in writing and ask whether any exceptions apply to cremated remains.

Prices vary widely by location, and the New York City metro area is generally more expensive than upstate because land is scarce. Ask for a written price list covering the plot or crypt, the opening and closing fee, any vault or liner the cemetery requires, the marker foundation and any perpetual care charge. Vault and liner requirements are often set by the cemetery's own rules rather than by state law. Compare at least two options if you can, and ask whether the cemetery is a not-for-profit corporation overseen by the Cemetery Board.

They can be. In colder areas such as Onondaga, Oneida and Broome counties, frozen ground makes digging difficult, and some cemeteries hold remains in a receiving vault or mausoleum until spring. Others use equipment to open graves through the winter, so practice differs from one cemetery to the next. Ask the cemetery office and your funeral director what the timeline will be, and plan any graveside gathering accordingly. A memorial service can be held right away even when the interment has to wait for warmer weather.