On November 9, 1764, John Reister received a land patent for 3/4 of an acre which he named "Church Hill". Reister wished to establish the cemetery for the residents of Reisterstown, and thus avoid paying a burial tax to the Church of England. The earliest existing gravestone is that of Reister's young grandson, Jacob Reister, who died in 1774. On March 7, 1775, Reister deeded the land to designate
d trustees who "besought leave to erect and build a church or meeting house." A wall was built around the cemetery in 1854. The Reisterstown Community Cemetery is the final resting place of veterans from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War (both Union and Confederate), the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. In all, there are over 500 grave stones in the cemetery, and over 800 documented burials. The Reisterstown Community Cemetery is supported solely through donations and volunteer work. The Cemetery Committee meets every other Thursday night at 7pm at the Trinity Lutheran Church library. All volunteers are welcome at meetings. Donations can be sent to us at P.O. Box 803, Reisterstown, MD 21136. Checks should be made out to the Reisterstown Improvement Association, with a note for the Reisterstown Cemetery in the memo line.
