This triangular burial ground was originally owned by Deacon Joshua Fletcher, one of the town's original 89 taxpayers, and called the West Burying Ground. Westford assumed its care in 1761 and renamed it Westlawn in 1896. Most of the 400+ people buried here in the 1700-1800s were congregants of the First Parish Church and were the town's founding fathers, veterans, industrialists, and farmers (Prescott, Fletcher, Wright, Hildreth, Day, and Spaulding families among them).

The most distinguished citizen buried here is Colonel John Robinson (1735-1805) Westford's highest ranking Revolutionary War officer, who has the largest slate marker in the cemetery. Colonel Robinson answered the call to the North Bridge in Concord on April 19, 1775 and was also second-in-command at the Battle of Bunker Hill two months later. The cemetery was nearly named in his honor; he lived a short distance away on what is now Robinson Road, where the elementary school named for him stands. He rests among more than a dozen Revolutionary War veterans buried here, their graves marked by iron Maltese crosses placed by the Sons of the American Revolution in 1902.

Please preserve the historic headstones by refraining from sitting or leaning on them or making rubbings or tracings. Please contact the Cemetery Department with any questions or concerns.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission refers to this cemetery in MACRIS as WSR.807 Historic name: Westlawn Cemetery; Common Name: West Burying Ground

This cemetery is referred to asGR2 Westlawn Cemetery in the "Vital Records of Westford Massachusetts to the end of the year 1849."