Established in 1850, it is good example of a rural cemetery and is the resting ground of many prominent Pittsfield residents with a number of architecturally significant elements.

It also houses a number of Pittsfield's earliest burials which were relocated here from a cemetery near the city center.

[2] The cemetery was initially laid out in 1850 prompted by the city's growing population and because Pittsield's principal burying ground at North and East Streets was full.

Although the cemetery started without much fanfare or styling in 1850, over the next 100 years it acquired a number of interesting elements.

A memorial to Allen elsewhere in the cemetery is believed to be the largest piece of red granite in the world.