The first burying ground in Dorchester contains an important collection of funerary art from the 1640s until the late nineteenth century. The rectangular plot was extended several times through 1820, reaching its current dimensions of 3.27 acres. The regular organization of the burying ground, unusual for the seventeenth century, was divided into twenty-four sections when paths were laid out in 1834. In that same year, Samuel Downer planted shade trees, signaling the influence of landscape cemetery innovations at Mount Auburn Cemetery (NC1) in Cambridge on burying grounds throughout the region. The handsome cast-stone Egyptian Revival gates were erected in 1912 and heavily restored in 1986.