The 40-acre (16 ha) cemetery is located on the bank of the Androscoggin River which flows through Lewiston.

Part of the property included the Greenwood Cemetery which had been in use since the 1830s as well as farm land owned by the Whipple Family.

Various walking tours are featured highlighting the lives of those who call Riverside their final resting place.The earliest recorded burial was in 1834, Dean Frye, Esquire.

Designed as a rural cemetery similar to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA, the serpentine roads of the oldest part of Riverside's grounds curve among magnificent old oaks, maples, spruces, and pines overlooking the Androscoggin River.

Birdwatchers are particularly fond of the many species found there and the City of Lewiston's Androscoggin Riverside Trail which skirts the cemetery's perimeter is popular with walkers and runners.