The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has officially dedicated a new columbarium-only cemetery in St. Albans, enhancing burial options for veterans and their families in the New York City area.
On Saturday, Nov. 9, VA Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher, Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Ronald Walters, and New York State Department of Veterans’ Services Commissioner Viviana DeCohen gathered to dedicate this new facility, which will serve nearly 600,000 veterans within a 60-mile radius of the site once fully operational.
Known as St. Albans National Cemetery, the columbarium-only facility is the third established by the VA’s National Cemetery Administration under its Urban Initiative program and the 156th cemetery managed nationwide. The Urban Initiative aims to provide more accessible burial benefits to veterans in densely populated areas.
“This magnificent new cemetery expands access to lasting resting places for New York veterans closer to home,” said VA Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher during the dedication. “Here, generations of families will visit and remember their loved ones, and find a place for spiritual comfort and healing. We show our loyalty to the ideals veterans served, fought, and died for, and we will never forget their sacrifices.”
Adjacent to the St. Albans VA Medical Center on 177-33 Baisley Boulevard, the facility’s first phase includes 3,760 columbarium niches, with future plans to add space for 36,750 niches. A memorial wall with a capacity for 560 markers is also part of the initial construction, which was funded at $16.7 million. Interments for veterans and eligible family members are expected to begin in late winter or early spring 2025, following construction oversight by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“The dedication of the St. Albans columbarium represents a significant commitment by the VA to ensure that veterans in New York City have a place of dignity and honor in which to rest,” said VA Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Ronald Walters. “With this new facility, we’re not only creating a place of remembrance but ensuring our veterans are never forgotten.”
The St. Albans Columbarium joins other Urban Initiative locations at Los Angeles National Cemetery, which opened in 2019, and Crown Hill, Indiana, which opened in 2022. Additional columbarium-only cemeteries are planned for metropolitan areas such as Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Veterans in the New York City metro area who prefer a casketed burial or in-ground cremation burial may opt for interment at Long Island National Cemetery or Calverton National Cemetery, both located more than 75 miles away. Previously serving veterans in the city, Cypress Hill National Cemetery in Brooklyn is now at capacity and closed to new interments.
For more information on VA burial benefits, veterans and their families may contact St. Albans National Cemetery Director Jeffrey Taveras at 631-454-4949 or visit the VA’s National Cemetery Administration website.
