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The State Veterans Cemetery — Three Years Old, and Almost Nobody Knows It Exists

New York spent decades as one of the last states without a state veterans cemetery. It has one now: 162 acres on Seneca Lake at Romulus, on the old Sampson naval training station, run by the state veterans department since 1 February 2023. A veteran discharged under other than dishonorable conditions, their legal spouse and eligible dependent children may be buried there.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

New York spent decades as one of the last states without a state veterans cemetery. It has one now: 162 acres on Seneca Lake at Romulus, on the old Sampson naval training station, run by the state veterans department since 1 February 2023. A veteran discharged under other than dishonorable conditions, their legal spouse and eligible dependent children may be buried there.

What it's worth: Interment at the state veterans cemetery at Romulus for a veteran, their legal spouse and eligible dependent children; the department publishes no fee for the veteran and directs families to ask the cemetery for the dependent burial fee

  • The department states the site is 162 acres in Romulus, Seneca County, along Seneca Lake, near Waterloo, on the former Sampson naval training station and air force base.
  • The site was selected in 2021 and the department took over operations on 1 February 2023.
  • Eligibility is stated as discharge from active duty under other than dishonorable conditions, with the veteran's legal spouse and eligible dependent children also eligible.
  • Twenty-four consecutive months of service is stated as the general service test, with exceptions for those killed in action and those discharged for disability or hardship.
  • Reservists eligible for retirement, and Guard and Reserve members meeting the stated requirements, are covered.
  • The department states a thirty-minute final committal service at a committal shelter, marble headstones ordered after the burial is complete, and cemetery personnel escorting the remains to the gravesite.
  • The department publishes no fee schedule and says instead to contact the cemetery for the dependent's burial fee.

Who is entitled to it

  • Your discharge is within the range this runs on.
  • Your home is in New York.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Ask the cemetery what a spouse or dependent interment costs, and ask now rather than at the time of death. The department does not publish the figure; it tells families to ring and ask. That is a number worth having in writing before it is needed.
  2. 2Pre-arrange. The department recommends it, and it is the step that converts a two-day scramble into a phone call.
  3. 3Have the discharge record ready along with the veteran's full name, rank, branch, character of discharge and dates of service. Those are the details the cemetery asks a funeral director for.
  4. 4Check the twenty-four month service test against your own record before assuming you are outside it. The exceptions for a death in service and for a discharge on disability or hardship are the ones people do not know to raise.
  5. 5Note that the headstone is ordered after the burial is complete. Families expecting a marked grave on the day are routinely surprised, and it is not a mistake by the cemetery.
  6. 6Plan for a thirty-minute committal at the shelter rather than a graveside service. That shapes travel and timing for family coming from a distance.
Form
Arrangements are made through a funeral home, which coordinates with the cemetery
File with
The state veterans department, at the cemetery at Romulus
Documents you will need
dd214 ny
No renewal needed
Worth knowingThis is new. A family that looked into state cemetery options before 2023 was correctly told there were none, and many have never looked again. If that describes you, the answer has changed.
CorrectionA state veterans cemetery is not a national cemetery, and eligibility is not automatically identical. Do not assume the federal rules you have read apply here without asking the cemetery.
Known gapNo fee schedule is published for a spouse or dependent interment, and no residency requirement is stated on the page read. Both should be confirmed with the cemetery before a plan is made around them.

Sources

Why only one source type: The department operates the cemetery and its own page states the site, the acreage, the handover date, the eligibility classes and the committal arrangements. The Executive Law article establishing the state cemetery programme could not be resolved on the legislature's site this session — the section pages returned 'the requested entry could not be found' — so no statute is cited rather than one taken second hand.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.