CEDAR GROVE CEMETERY was organized three years after the end of the Civil War when Dorchester was still an independent town. The land granted for burials was in the southernmost area of the town, bordering on the Neponset River and downstream from the Milton lower falls. It was blanketed with cedar trees and rose gently over a puddingstone ledge. There was a small pond, filled in many years ago, near today’s main entrance. The area was home to a variety of bird life and small animals, remote in a rural setting.

Now, more than 150 years later, the twenty-first century has burgeoned around this peaceful spot. Still, the Cemetery has managed to preserve its identity as a green patch of nature, a place for quiet contemplation amidst the surrounding bustle and tumult.

It is no accident that Cedar Grove Cemetery enjoys this distinction. Its Trustees, now and in the past, have made it a policy to maintain the natural beauty and protect its unique ecology while providing the community with those services for which it was organized. Today, in the early years of the twenty-first century, the Cemetery is, and will continue to be, committed to this policy.

Cedar Grove Cemetery takes pride in its natural beauty and formal gardens. The Cemetery is non-sectarian, and is managed by a Board of Trustees as a non-profit organization. As a wildlife sanctuary, we have sightings of deer, geese, turkeys, pheasants, groundhogs, rabbits, hawks, and raccoons. 

We cordially invite you to visit us, inquire about space, have a tour, or just enjoy our beautiful grounds.