To have photo requests fulfilled successfully, the plot information is required. The cemetery office will not provide this information to photo volunteers. Please contact the cemetery office and obtain the plot location and add it to the memorial.

This Roman Catholic Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States with some 3 million burials. The cemetery is 365 acres in size. The first 71 acres of land for the cemetery was purchased on 29 October 1845 with the cemetery consecration occurring in August 1848. The first burial occurred on 31 July 1848.

Calvary Cemetery is owned and managed by the Archdiocese of New York.

The cemetery is divided into four divisions. First Calvary is often called "Old Calvary" by long-time residents of the area. Second, Third and Fourth are all considered part of "New Calvary."

First Calvary Cemetery : Filled by 1867, located at 49-02 Laurel Hill Blvd. between the Long Island Expressway & Review Ave.
St. Calixtus Division (south side of Greenpoint Ave.)

Second Calvary Cemetery : Located on the west side of 58th St between Queens Blvd & the Brooklyn-Queens Espressway, land acquisition ended in 1888.
St. Agnes Division (south side of Laurel Hill Blvd.)

Third Calvary Cemetery: est. 1879, located on the west side of 58th St, between the LIE & the BQE.
St. Sebastian Division (north side of Laurel Hill Blvd.)

Fourth Calvary Cemetery: est. 1900, located on the west side of 58th St, between the LIE & 55th Ave.
St. Domitilla Division (south side of Second Calvary.)

In 1817, the Trustees of Old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mott Street, Manhattan, realized that their original cemetery on Mulberry Street was almost full. In 1847, faced with cholera epidemics and a shortage of burial grounds in Manhattan, the New York State Legislature passed the Rural Cemetery Act authorizing nonprofit corporations to operate commercial cemeteries. On October 29, 1845 Old St. Patrick's Cathedral trustees had purchased 71 acres of land from John McMenoy and John McNolte in Maspeth and this land was used to develop Calvary Cemetery. The cemetery was named after Mount Calvary, where Jesus Christ was crucified according to the New Testament.

The first Calvary Cemetery burial occurred on July 31, 1848. The name of the deceased was Esther Ennis, who reportedly "died of a broken heart." The cemetery was consecrated by Archbishop John Hughes in August 1848. By 1852 there were 50 burials a day, half of them poor Irish under seven years of age. In the early 20th century, influenza and tuberculosis epidemics caused a shortage of gravediggers, and people dug graves for their own loved ones. The entire number of interments from the cemetery's opening in August 1848 until January 1898, was 644,761. From January 1898 until 1907 there were about 200,000 interments, thus yielding roughly 850,000 interments at Calvary Cemetery by 1907.
Calvary was accessible by ferryboats crossing the East River from 23rd Street in Manhattan. It cost an adult seven dollars to be buried there. Burial of children under age seven cost three dollars; children aged seven to fourteen cost five dollars. As development in Manhattan's East Village expanded, bodies buried in that neighborhood were transferred to Queens. In 1854, ferry service opened by 10th Street and the East River.

The Cemetery continues to add plots and burial spaces can be purchased in advance.