 On October 16, 1850, the land of the cemetery was consecrated and Oakwood became the fourth rural cemetery founded in New York.The Association is made up of lot owners who are elected by fellow lot owners; the position is voluntary and receives no pay.Oakwood was designed by John C. Sidney, a Philadelphia engineer familiar with cemetery design, with the help of Garnet Douglass Baltimore, the first African American to earn a degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.