Old City Cemetery operated as a cemetery prior to 1848 after Joseph K. Klepper obtained his Peters Colony land grant and designated a portion of the property as a cemetery. Klepper gave the early plots to family, or those in need, but he later sold plots after 1882 but later discontinued the practice.
The earliest death date recorded on any tombstone in the cemetery is 1881. Despite its state of decline, this cemetery is the final resting place for five members of the Peters Colony, which include Samuel A. Peters, William J. Young, A. J. Barron, Sarah E. Barron, George T. Wright, Edna Byers, and many descendants. The Rev. John Beverly, a Methodist minister and early settler was buried in the cemetery in 1887, as was William Beverly and other prominent pioneers, physicians, a mayor and a council member, and many African American Community Leaders and their relatives.