[5] The site for First Shearith Israel Graveyard was originally on a hill overlooking the East River in an open area at the northern periphery of the British-Dutch colonial settlement.

[6][7][3][8] In a letter in 1776, a staff officer of General George Washington recommended emplacing an artillery battery "at the foot of the Jews' burying ground" to help secure Long Island Sound.

[3][11] Encroaching development and erosion necessitated several instances over the years in which the congregation was forced to reduce the size of the Chatham Square Cemetery and disinter bodies, which were moved to their three other graveyards.

In 1851, city public health officials prohibited burial south of 86th Street and in partnership with other synagogues, the congregation purchased a large plot of land in Ridgewood, Queens as a fourth cemetery.

Among the notable burials (which may include those whose bodies were later removed) were: Media related to First Cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue Shearith Israel at Wikimedia Commons