By the late 1840s Fairhaven's old burial ground, established in 1771 and later known as the Railroad Cemetery, could no longer accommodate the increasing population of the town which had become a center for shipping and the whale industry.

In addition, the Fairhaven Branch Railroad was being planned which would require closing part of the old burial ground.

Warren Delano II purchased 14 acres of farm land in 1847 which was destined for the building of a new cemetery and gifted it to the town of Fairhaven.

It is run as a charitable corporation and has also incorporated Naskatucket Cemetery, another 18th century burial ground in Fairhaven.

[2] A monument designed by George F. Meacham to commemorate the soldiers and sailors from Fairhaven who had died in the Civil War was erected in the cemetery in 1868.