On the 4th of July 1819 the Rev. Wm. Bell, the Presbyterian minister at Perth, recorded that he reported to a meeting of church members that the Government had granted his request for a non-denominational burial ground for the members of the Rideau Military Settlement. Though the deed for this 4 acre plot was not formalized until 1821 the site was used for burials as early as 1817. The earliest date of death on a monument is for George Gray who died on the 10th of March, 1817 and the earliest recorded burial by Rev. Bell is that of Duncan McNaughton on the 10th of February the same year. Anecdotal evidence from the Catholic Priest Abbe de La Mothe also supports that this site may have been used for burials in 1817 and possibly earlier.
The Cemetery is divided into 3 parts; the South half bordering Brock Street, for the Presbyterians; the middle 1/4 for the Anglicans and; the South 1/4 bordering Craig St. for the Catholics with a portion on the west part of the Catholic section purportedly used by the Anglicans but most of the monuments at this end are of members of the Catholic faith.
In 1843 the Methodists in Perth established their own burial grounds, The Old Methodist Burying Ground or, as it is now known, St. Paul's United Church Cemetery, a few blocks South on Robinson Street.
By 1869 this cemetery was getting crowded and the Town Council elected to close the cemetery to the sale of new lots but burials continued up to the 1990s.
In 1872 non-denominational Elmwood Cemetery opened North of town along the present-day Highway 7 and St. John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery opened East of this cemetery on the 8th Line of Drummond. After these two new cemeteries opened many of those interred in this and the Old Methodist Burying Ground were moved, with their monuments, to the new cemeteries as other family members passed.
All recorded burials from the start of records in 1823 until 1872 for the Catholic Parish in Perth have had memorials created here unless evidence of burial at a newer cemetery has been found. Likewise, as burials from the Presbyterian and Anglican Congregations up to 1872 are found they will have memorials created here.
The only records found for this cemetery itself are three Maps designated A, B and, C of plots for the Presbyterian Section and where possible the Map and Plot is recorded. The Plot references otherwise refer to the index entries from a 1993 transcription done by the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) that is now out of print. All existing monuments were photographed in the summer of 2016 and all but a few that are illegible have been included here.
GPS data is included for the photographs but due to the limitations in Adobe PhotoShop the actual memorial may be 10 to 20' distant.