Development of the 5.7-acre (2.3 ha) cemetery was one of the first civic projects of the town of Nahant after its separation from adjacent Lynn in 1853.

[1] The town of Nahant occupies a narrow peninsula that juts south of Cape Ann from the city of Lynn, to which it is connected by a natural sand causeway.

It is bordered on the road by a stone wall, with the Francis H. Johnson Gate at its center providing the principal access.

[2] Nahant was originally settled as part of Lynn, and was largely agrarian until the mid-19th century, when summer resort development began to take place in its eastern half.

By 1918 further land acquisitions had given the cemetery most of its present configuration, and Ellingwood Chapel was built in 1920, to a design by the architectural firm of Cram and Ferguson.