The cemetery is owned by the Evangelical Lutheran parish church of Niendorf, Hamburg.

The old cemetery was established in 1840 as a parish burial ground for the baroque church of Niendorf which was built in 1770.

The cemetery has a size of approximately 4.5 hectares, on which there are 2,350 graves, where 6,500 people are buried.

It contains a high number of large family tombs and mausoleums.

Notable people buried here include many members of the Hanseatic families of Hamburg, such as