The New Cemetery has a large African American section, an artifact of an era in which burials were often segregated by race.

It is distinct from the Old Dutch Parsonage Cemetery, located at Washington Place and South Middaugh Street, founded in 1751.

[1] Old Cemetery traces its founding to about 1813, when John Whitenack purchased 1 acre (4,000 m2) of land on Bridge Street for a burying ground on behalf of the First Dutch Church of Raritan.

Many of the earliest names belong to the Dutch settlers of the area: Frelinghuysen, Hardenburgh, and Voorhees.

[2] On August 20, 1879, a stock company, the Cemetery Association of Somerville (CAS), was formed.