The oldest incorporation in the state of Rhode Island, Riverside Cemetery was incorporated into the town of Wakefield in the year 1870 by Stephen C. Fisk, Daniel M.C. Stedman, Daniel Sherman, I.M. Church, B.F. Robinson, John Babcock and Samuel Rodeman Jr. The original grounds purchased consisted of eight acres and the property was used as a place for family members to bury their loved ones. Stephen Fisk, one of the original incorporators, was one of the first people buried on the grounds. 

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Since then, the cemetery has been passed on to generation and generation of the same original families. Riverside Cemetery is privately owned. 

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