Many of St. Peter's parishioners and visitors are not aware that Salisbury's historic Parsons Cemetery is owned and operated by the church as a non-profit ministry to the community.

The Vestry of St. Peter's and its Parsons Cemetery Commission oversee the cemetery's operations, and here are some excerpts from a recent report on the property from the Commission:

"The land which Parsons now occupies was originally a 53 acre farm owned by Benjamin Parsons who was a community leader in the early days of Wicomico County and served as president of the Bank of Salisbury. At his death in 1873, Benjamin Parsons bequeathed his farm and home to St. Peter's Church for use as a cemetery.

The wall and gates along Division Street were commissioned in 1967 by Alison Parsons, one of Benjamin's descendants. "Parsons has many historical ties with Salisbury, the highlights of which are described in a recently published brochure called "A Brief History of Parsons Cemetery" which is available at the cemetery office at 211 W. London Avenue or at the church.

Parsons serves the community by providing a well-maintained and attractive cemetery without high pressure sales approach so common to many of today's cemeteries.

In recent years the cemetery has undertaken numerous improvements including the paving of roads, the construction of a beautiful columbarium site along the lake, the clearing of many unwanted bushes and trees, particularly in the rear of the cemetery, power washing of the wall and gates, and the addition of landscaping along the lake.

"Much of the cemetery's success can be credited to the very dedicated manager, Valerie Culver. Valerie has been the cemetery's manager since 1988 and performs her function with extraordinary dedication... Although the cemetery is one of St. Peter's many community outreaches, it was at one time a significant financial drain and could be again if it is not properly administered. (It is currently operating without parish subsidy, however, and) the long-term goal of the Cemetery Commission is to build the endowment to the point where the income is sufficient to provide for perpetual care of the cemetery when it reaches total capacity. There is a perception that this has already occurred but it is not true.

There are actually quite a few spaces still available in the currently developed cemetery area and an additional 3000 plots available for future development in the wooded area. The construction of the columbarium also allowed for expansion to allow several hundred niches.

In the past few years the cemetery has been much more actively marketed and this made significant financial investments and improvements. These have resulted in an increase of sales that is helping to advance the cemetery toward its long-term goal.  Even if they have no immediate plans for the purchase of plots or columbarium nitches, all parishioners should make a visit to Parsons just to see what is there and experience some of the history of Salisbury and St. Peter's.

Parsons is an outreach of St. Peter's and is available to people of all denominations."