The volunteer nonprofit group Spirits Alive, founded in 2006, is dedicated to the protection and preservation of the cemetery through conservation and education.

[5] Eastern Cemetery is located on the northeastern part of the Portland peninsula, at the base of Munjoy Hill.

Its street-facing sides are ringed by iron fencing, with the main entrance gates on Congress Street.

[6] The only building in the cemetery is the Dead House, a small shed that stands immediately inside the front gate.

[7] The size of the cemetery was approximately doubled in 1795, when the city purchased a plot of land along Congress Street from the Reverend Thomas Smith.

As the cemetery expanded in the late 18th century, graves of Black residents were segregated in Section L, in what was then the back edge of the property.

[3] The iron and granite fence along Congress Street was erected in 1916, having been moved from Portland High School.

The grave marker with the earliest death date belongs to Mistress Mary Green, who died on May 23, 1717, at the age of 54.

A third grave was placed next to the captains two years later after Lt. Kervin Waters, a young American officer mortally wounded in the battle, succumbed to his injuries.