It was founded in 1840 and currently sits on 26 acres bounded by Jermain Ave to the north, Suffolk St to the east, and Joels Ln to the west.

It is the permanent resting place of over 4,000 people, including more 18th and 19th century sea captains than in any other Long Island cemetery.

One-hundred-thirty-nine graves from the Old Burial Ground were moved to Oakland Cemetery, including Ebenezer Sage and Captain David Hand and his five wives.

A final attempt to operate a business on the site was made in 1880 when Edward Chapman Rogers opened the Oakland Hat Manufactory.

[13] In October 1903 the Ladies Village Improvement Society unveiled a new memorial gate[14] The Broken Mast Monument in Oakland Cemetery, sculpted by Robert Eberhard Launitz,[15] commemorates those "Who periled their lives in a daring profession and perished in actual encounter with the monsters of the deep."