One of our neighborhood’s most beautiful landmarks is nearing a milestone celebration. Cedar Grove Cemetery, that bucolic swath of land nestled on the Neponset River near Lower Mills, will begin to observe its 150th year later this decade.

Organized as a town burial place by a committee of Town Meeting members on April 1, 1867, Cedar Grove was planned as a municipal burial ground in the months before the town of Dorchester was annexed and became part of the City of Boston. On January 19, 1869, the name Cedar Grove Cemetery was officially adopted, drawing its name from the groves of cedar trees that thrived in the fields along the river. By the end of 1869, nearly forty acres of land had been accumulated, bordering on Milton Street, Adams Street, Granite Avenue and the Neponset River. The first burial took place on February 24, 1870.

That year Cedar Grove became a private cemetery by an act of the Legislature and the City of Boston relinquished its jurisdiction. The townspeople who served as commissioners became the cemetery’s first trustees, among them names familiar even today: Nathan Carruth, Henry L. Pierce, William Pope and W.H. Swan.

Incorporated in 1887 as “The Proprietors of Cedar Grove Cemetery,” the by laws state: “Its purpose shall be to provide interment and memorial space for deceased persons on a non-sectarian basis, not for profit, to be maintained in perpetuity in a manner consistent with usual standards of an arboretum and wildlife sanctuary.”

The cemetery’s philosophy of operation then, as now, is to provide and maintain for this community a dignified and peaceful burial ground for its people on a non-sectarian and non-profit basis.

From its founding, the Cedar Grove campus has almost doubled in size, to now more more than 70 acres, overseen by nine trustees and a dedicated, hard-working staff led by business manager Gina McLaughlin and foreman Harland “Rusty” White. Cedar Grove Cemetery is counted among the most valued historical treasures of our community.

With a plan to celebrate the 150th anniversary years, the trustees have organized a “Sesquicentennial Committee,” an effort to recruit persons to help plan a series of observances to mark Cedar Grove’s 150 years of history in our neighborhood. Among our objectives are: To establish an endowment for the preservation of Cemetery; commissioning a book on the cemetery’s history, drawing from extensive research by Robert Severy; and planning a series of events highlighting the beautiful space and the stories of the many historical people and families who have found their final rest at Cedar Grove.

Interested persons can contact the planning committee by email to the cemetery office, edforry67@gmail.com.

Ed Forry is the founder and associate publisher of the Reporter Newspapers and a longtime trustee of Cedar Grove Cemetery. He will chair the Sesquicentennial committee.