This cemetery was originally situated in the rear of residence lots on Garden, High and Mansion Streets in the City of Poughkeepsie. In 1927, the remaining gravestones were relocated to the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery.

Articles in the December 23rd and 25th, 1911 editions of the Poughkeepsie Eagle News described the deplorable condition of this cemetery, which at that time consisted of 181 stones in 230 square feet owned by the Baptist Church.

The inscriptions on these 181 stones had been copied and were published in two parts in the Dec. 23rd and 25th articles. The inscriptions were also published in 1924 in the booklet "Old Gravestones of Dutchess County, New York." The oldest stone was dated Oct. 1807 and the latest was Aug. 1871. Surnames included Booth, Vassar, Van Kleeck, Power, Rust, Hyde, Tracy, Underwood, Valentine, and many more.

A September 9, 1927 article in the Poughkeepsie Eagle News described how the City had purchased this land from the Baptist Church and had relocated the remaining gravestones to the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery. It was noted that only about 100 gravestones remained, and that about 85 headstones had been destroyed since the inscriptions were compiled in 1911.

This was one of several old cemeteries in Poughkeepsie where the gravestones were relocated. The 101 gravestones from the Old Baptist Church graveyard are clustered together, back to back, in 3 rows in Section W of the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery.