First known as Quaboag Plantation, it was abandoned after a 1675 attack by Native Americans in King Philip's War, and resettlement only began early in the 18th century.

In that year local church members set aside the first plot of land for burials; this was confirmed by town officials after Brookfield was incorporated in 1720.

The large granite entrance gate was built in 1873, the gift of local residents William Banister and Otis Hayden Banister, and its Civil War memorial was dedicated in 1890.

[2] The easternmost part of the cemetery was developed beginning about 1920, and has been expanded several times, most recently in 1996.

Its layout reflects the aesthetics of the 20th Century Modern Cemetery movement.