Albuquerque, NM (KKOB) — Over the past nine months, with funding from Bernalillo County, the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services (NMDVS) facilitated a restoration project of two veterans’ burial areas in Albuquerque’s Historic Fairview Cemetery. On Tuesday, April 2 at 10:30 a.m., representatives from Bernalillo County, NMDVS, Pluma Construction, Historic Fairview Cemetery, and others will gather to celebrate the completion of Phase One of the project.
The cemetery, started in 1881, has two American Legion burial areas that are the final resting place for 299 veterans going back to the Spanish American War. American Legion 1 has 94 veterans buried there from 1926 to 1941. That area also features the Monument to the Unknown Dead, now restored to its full glory with a bell and eagle on the top of the column. American Legion 2 has 205 veteran burials from 1941 to 1988.
The Bernalillo County Manager requested and Commissioners voted to provide $300,000 in funding to improve these burial areas to properly honor our fallen heroes. The funds were used to re-set the headstones in alignment, xeriscape the two areas with gravel enclosed by raised edging, install a new flagpole with solar lighting, and a small plaza area on which to hold observances.
There are approximately 250 other veterans buried in plots throughout the cemetery. Ongoing efforts to raise funds to upgrade those burial plots include a Victorian Tea Party in the cemetery on Sunday, April 28, 2024.
Historic Fairview Cemetery is located at 700 Yale Blvd. SE. Enter through the gates of Fairview Memorial Park, turn left at the second road that leads north into the historic cemetery area. The event will take place near the flagpole at the American Legion 2 area.
