The cemetery encompasses 113 acres (46 hectares) and is the property of the local Moravian Church congregation of Staten Island.

[2] A monument to Robert Gould Shaw, a Union soldier who led the first all-black regiment in the American Civil War and died in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, was erected here by his family.

[3] The Moravian Cemetery is the burial place for a number of famous Staten Islanders, including members of the Vanderbilt family.

Later, his son William Henry Vanderbilt gave a further 4 acres (1.6 ha) and constructed the residence for the cemetery's superintendent.

This is due to the efforts of Father Ettore Barletta, who was in charge of the Italian Mission congregation at the nearby Moravian Church in the early 1900s.