Tour guide brings life to local cemetery

Jackson Reeves Guest Writer

“There’s no in-between about cemeteries; people either love them or hate them,” said Virginia Buechele, a Poughkeepsie geneologist, as she led a tour through the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery. This cemetery is the final resting place of Matthew Vassar and his family. The meticulously cared for autumn flowers brightened an environment that could have seemed dreary, especially with the approach of Halloween. But the cemetery has never seemed dreary to Buechele, who began giving formal tours of the ground this past year. For the Dutchess County native, the cemetery has the unique sanctuary-like ability to help one “get away from the madness” of traffic and city life.

The Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery was established in 1853 by a committee headed by Matthew Vassar; in addition, 60 Poughkeepsie citizens provided investments for funding, and Howard Daniels designed the landscape architecture. Now, more than 150 years later, the cemetery has physically expanded, and by following this growth one can trace the history of the Poughkeepsie community.

For historical enthusiasts like Buechele, a cemetery symbolizes not just the meeting point between life and death, but the continuing connection between the past and present. “History is based on peoples’ lives,” said Buechele, and noted that as such, the connections between the deceased illuminate the life of historical Poughkeepsie.
For example, James Collingwood, who established what is now the Bardavon Theater, rests near George Whitfield Millard, who married two of Collingwood’s daughters. Also, George Nacencast, a major businessman from the turn of the century who volunteered for more than 33 years at the fire department, lies quite a distance from the tall Firemen’s Monument, which was designed and carved out of marble by George Bissell in 1873. George Bissell designed many other markers in the cemetery, including Alexander Hamilton’s grandson’s marker and the Eastman marker, and his grave rests somewhat appropriately in the center of the cemetery.

I first learned of Buechele at a Poughkeepsie Town Board meeting in September, where she was up to receive a formal apology from the board for having been abruptly rejected for a seat on the Poughkeepsie Historic Preservation Committee. Her work at the cemetery and her passion for both geneology and the preservation of historic sites had led to her recommendation for a seat by the commission’s president, Jean Murphy.

Buechele inherited a fascination with the cemetery from her maternal grandfather, who was the groundskeeper of the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery in the 1920s. Years ago, she began to visit the cemetery looking for information about her grandfather and her family, and also began clearing out her mother’s old house, discovering some pictures and letters detailing previously unknown parts of her family history.

Before she began giving tours, Buechele helped the cemetery by compiling articles, obituaries, and general information on those buried there. Although she receives a nominal fee for her work, Buechele donates half of it back to the cemetery.

“Everything I touch seems to connect these families together,” Buechele said, as the tour passed by the monument built for the Adriance family.

To Buechele, “telling the story of their lives” is what it’s all about. With every tour she gives, she hopes to provide “a living reminder” through the tangible reminders of a history long since past. This attitude keeps Buechele passionate about her work with the cemetery and the people buried there.

Murphy, and the tour groups that look to Buechele as an authority on the cemetery’s history, recognize in her what others have not. Her lack of formal training in the field of historical investigation has led many historians to look down on her. But Buechele just brushes them off, and says that she considers herself equal with academics based on their shared undertanding of the cemetery’s historical significance.

“Historians view me as a lesser breed,” said Buechele. “I don’t have a degree in history or genealogy, but I know you can’t have one without the other, since you can’t have history without the people.”