There are four operating cemeteries under the jurisdiction of the City of New Bedford, they are:

1. Rural Cemetery -- 149 Dartmouth Street
2. Oak Grove Cemetery -- 185 Parker Street
3. Pine Grove Cemetery -- 1100 Ashley Blvd
4. Peckham West Cemetery -- Mt. Pleasant Street*

There are also several cemeteries/and or buriel grounds under our jurisdiction that are closed, however, they are still maintained by our department personnel, they are:

1. Griffin Street Cemetery
2. Point Road Cemetery
3. Tobey Family Burying Ground
4. Reynolds Family (Braley Road) Cemetery
5. Congregational Church Cemetery
6. Friends Cemetery

Please note that records of all buriels under our jurisdiction are maintained in our Main Office of the Cemetery Board at 149 Dartmouth Street.

*- this cemetery and some of its records were turned over to the City of New Bedford by the City Council in 1948, that is, the unsold portions and the avenues. We do not sell any lots in this cemetery and the lots that are owned are registered by deed in the Registry of Deeds Office in New Bedford.

(Lots sold in our three operating cemeteries are owned by certificate--copy of which is recorded in the book of the City Clerk, but held in our office.)

The Cemetery Board is comprised of five members, appointed by the Mayor and approved by the City Council, for a three year term. It has monthly meetings to oversee spending of monies collected from Perpetual Care and sale of lots. They also vote on and establish rules and regulations pertaining to city cemeteries.

We have a perpetual care portfolio (stocks, bonds, treasury notes, GNMA's, CMO's) totaling nearly 1.8 million dollars, of which only the income is used to pay for care on lots held in perptual care with the City of New Bedford.

We also provide planting of flowers (geraniums and/or border plants) for Memorial Day, for those individuals who have established a perpetual care flower fund account. The plants are grown in our greenhouses at the Pine Grove Cemetery.