In 1841, Andrew Dickson, the founding father of Pakenham, donated one acre to the trustees of the Presbyterian church to be used as the church's "Burying Ground". In 1863, he sold an adjoining half acre to James Quigley, who then gave it to the Methodist church for its own cemetery. A joint committee of both churches was formed in 1904 to oversee the entire property. The property increased in size in 1916, when Mary Phee (nee Whyte) donated an additional piece of land. When the two churches amalgamated in 1925, the cemetery was turned over to the newly formed United Church of Canada, and a committee of St. Andrew's United Church became stewards of the Pakenham Union Cemetery. With additional land donations by William H. Dickson in 1960 and Jeanne Barr (nee Grainger) in 1992, the cemetery took its present shape. The peaceful property sits nestled among a forested area overlooking the 5 Arch Bridge and Mississippi river in Lanark, County.