It was set up on four acres of land adjacent to the City of Raleigh. The cemetery has grown from the original four acres outside the city limits to a little over seven acres in the heart of downtown Raleigh.
Few burials take place there now.
The section reserved for blacks according to tradition is full, but tombstones are sparse. Records of the cemetery were destroyed by fire in the 1890 s and again in the early 1930 s. The only records extant are those made by each Superintendent from the standing tombstones. The earliest records were made by L. C. Mulligan in 1934. In his handwritten notebook are two pages entitled, People Buried in the Colored Part of the Cemetery.