Forest City Cemetery

Forest City Cemetery is a 97-acre (39 ha) cemetery in South Portland, Maine, owned and operated by the adjacent city of Portland. There are approximately 30,000 burials in the cemetery. Forest City's burial records are kept at Evergreen Cemetery in Portland.^[1]

When the land was purchased in 1858, it cost the city $50,000. The first plot was established later that year. However, the oldest grave found in Forest city cemetery is that of Mrs. Sara Strout who died in 1810, her grave is the only lasting grave that is legible amongst the slate graves in the tree line.^[2]

As of 1870, the cemetery had 24 burials of American Civil War veterans.^[3] It also contains one Commonwealth war grave, of a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve seaman of World War I.^[4]

In April 2016, the cemetery was vandalized. Four headstones were overturned and a number of other damaged.^[5]

References

1. Forest City Cemetery City of Portland
2. The history of the City of Portland, 1632–1864 by William Willis via GoogleBooks
3. American Military Cemeteries p. 330
4. CWGC Casualty record.
5. Highfield, Courtney (April 17, 2016). "Vandals break headstones, lights in South Portland cemetery". Retrieved 18 April 2016.

• "Forest City Cemetery". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. 30 September 1980. Retrieved 2010-11-04.

Coordinates: 43°37′59″N 70°16′48″W / 43.633°N 70.280°W