As Greater Portland grows, municipal cemeteries are nearing their current capacity

Cape Elizabeth’s only active municipal cemetery is nearing the end of its usable space. Riverside Cemetery, a historic burial ground that has served the town since 1810, is expected to run out of plots in roughly two years. The town has announced plans to add 293 new plots—238 traditional‑size and 55 for cremated remains—by next summer.

The cemetery sits behind the Spurwink Congregational Church, bounded by Spurwink Avenue and Bowery Beach Road, with the Spurwink River and adjacent wetlands on the far side. “This will be the last available usable space on the property,” said Jay Reynolds, the town’s public‑works director, who has monitored lot sales for years. “At current capacity, we have room for only two more years of sales.”

Reynolds added that the town will soon face a decision: either secure a new cemetery site or risk being unable to provide a final resting place for Cape Elizabeth residents. “We’re at the limit of what we can accommodate here,” he said. “If we don’t find another location soon, we could run into a shortfall.”

The issue of cemetery space is not unique to Cape Elizabeth. Many towns in the Greater Portland area have grappled with similar capacity challenges. In Scarborough, the town’s only municipal cemetery, Dunstan Cemetery, sold out, prompting the opening of Scarborough Memorial Cemetery in 1965. Today, the new cemetery has about 20 single‑plot and 30 double‑plot lots remaining. Tom Hall, Scarborough’s town manager, has said that the town owns a 40‑acre parcel adjacent to the cemetery that could potentially double the site’s size if developed.

“I think there’s a logical expansion area,” Hall said, pointing at a map. “If lots were added there, it could almost double the size of the cemetery.” He noted that, given budget constraints and uncertainty about future demand, the town would likely proceed in smaller increments rather than a single, large expansion.

Westbrook’s Woodlawn Cemetery has taken a similar incremental approach. The cemetery has added two new sections totaling roughly 800 lots, according to Diana Brown, the person who oversees lot sales. “We’re set for many years,” Brown said. “The town owns 45 acres, including the area around the current cemetery.”

Portland is also expanding its active cemetery, Evergreen. The town is adding 640 new lots near Stevens Avenue, a project that should provide about ten years of capacity. Ethan Hipple, director of Portland’s parks and recreation department, said the city will keep monitoring usage. “It’s a finite resource, so if we find in five or ten years that capacity is going down faster than expected, we’ll start to plan for a future expansion,” he said.

The high rate of cremation in Maine has also played a role in cemetery planning. Statewide, about 80 percent of deaths result in cremation, one of the highest rates in the country. In Scarborough, 150 cremation plots were added to Memorial Cemetery around two decades ago, according to Alecia Meyer, who works for the public works department. “They’re smaller—about 3 feet by 3 feet instead of 3 feet by 12 feet,” Meyer explained. “They cost about $400, a quarter of the price of a traditional lot, which helps some older people who don’t have that kind of money.”

Portland’s Evergreen Cemetery has built a columbarium—a three‑wall structure containing hundreds of niches for cremated remains. The columbarium is already half full. While no new columbarium is planned for the current construction phase, Hipple said the city expects to add another one in the coming years. “A lot of families want to have a place to go and remember their loved ones,” Hipple said.

The expansion of cemetery space across Maine’s municipalities reflects a broader trend of population growth in bedroom communities such as Scarborough, Windham, Gorham, and Westbrook, which have all grown between 5 percent and 11 percent over the past five years, according to census records. As communities expand, so does the need for long‑term burial options.

For Cape Elizabeth, the upcoming addition of 293 plots will be the cemetery’s final expansion. The town plans to complete the new lots by next summer, but the underlying issue remains: the town must decide whether to purchase a new cemetery property or risk running out of space entirely. The decision will shape the community’s ability to provide a dignified final resting place for generations to come.