Although graves were there as early as 1803, the land was donated for the cemetery by local farmers Stephen Rowe and Nathaniel Granniss in 1808.
The site included land for a meeting house, a school, and parade grounds, as well as 1-acre (4,000 m2) for burial, holding 80 lots.
The area Cemetery Board declined to pursue the recommendations, but agreed to consider nominating the site for addition to the National Register of Historic Places.
[2] Many of the burials are early Fair Haven seamen; those engaged in clamming, oystering, and shipbuilding and repair.
The chapel on the site was built over the graves of the friendless using stone quarried from the red brick clay of Fair Haven Heights for $4,000.