The cemetery at Barnet Center is on land which was granted by the charter of the town to the first settled minister. Rev. David Goodwillie, as possessor of this right, gave to the Presbyterian Society two acres of land which had been cleared before he came here. This piece of ground is occupied by the church and the cemetery, and most of the early residents of that part of Barnet were buried here.
The first recorded action by the town regarding its cemeteries was in April, l806, when a petition signed by several residents was presented, in which permission was asked that the petitioners might have leave to enclose a part of the cemetery "for the purpose of accommodating themselves in family burial." No action is recorded, but we infer from this that before that time people had buried their dead where they pleased, and this appears to be a request to have a part of the ground laid out in lots.
At a town meeting held June 17, 1833, it was resolved to have a good stone wall built around the burying ground at the Center, the east and south sides and west end to be of good common wall stone and the front or north side to be of good stone wall, well faced on both sides. Said wall to be 3½ feet wide at the bottom and 1½ feet wide at the top and 5 feet high. This wall was accordingly built. This wall stood till 1915, when it was removed, and a good substantial wooden fence erected in its place.
On the 19th of January, 1883, on petition of persons interested, a meeting was held, at which a Cemetery Association was formed, agreeable to the laws of the State. A permanent organization and a committee to solicit funds for the benefit of the association were formed. The trustees purchased adjoining land, adding it to the cemetery, laying it off into lots and enclosing it with a new fence. The formation of the association was the result of a general feeling that the neglected condition of the grounds was disgraceful. In 1892 perpetual trust funds began to come into the treasury for the perpetual care of the lots and the general uses of the association. A subscription was taken by Lucius C. Brock to meet the expense of a water supply for the cemetery, which was installed in 1909, which has greatly aided in beautifying the grounds. Funds to the amount of $232 were collected and paid into the treasury for that purpose. In 1904, a "Burial Register" was purchased and in it the name, age, and date of death and the location of the grave of each person buried there, as far as such could be ascertained, was entered. In 1915, a house was built for the storage of tools used in the care of the cemetery. After the association was formed the trustees did the most of the work about the cemetery until 1906, when Mr. Martin D. Gibson assumed the care, as sexton, and has had charge of all things relating to it. History of Barnet, Vermont from the Outbreak of the French and Indian Wars to Present Time, [1754-1923], with Genealogical Records of Many Families, Frederic Palmer Wells; Burlington, Vt.: Free Press Printing Company, 1923; p.188