The first recorded burial was a white man named Graham Branscomb, a 24-year-old Englishman who died on July 20, 1897, from consumption.

[citation needed] Blacks provided the primary labor force for building of Miami but were confined by clauses in land deeds to the north west section of Miami now known as Overtown.

Two other prominent sections are the circles: the first to Julia Tuttle, the "Mother of Miami," buried in 1898; the second, a memorial to Civil War veterans erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Approximately 1,000 open plots remain within the cemetery, but there are strict criteria for burial.

In 1997 Enid Pinkney and Penny Lambeth began a restoration project of the cemetery.