The Salem United Church and Cemetery has existed since the early 1800s when James Clark transferred the original property on which the Church and ‘Old Cemetery’ is located to
Reverend John Bethune. It has always been a ‘community’ cemetery.   The parcel of land which we now call the ‘New Cemetery’ was purchased and was ready for use in the summer of 1977.
 
The Salem United Church Cemetery Association was formed in 1924 by members of the congregation of the church to manage the operation of the Cemetery. Since then, a series of By-Laws have been passed, the most recent ones in 2017, which took effect upon approval by the Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO) on February 7, 2019.
 
A Committee of volunteers elected at an annual meeting each year conducts business and maintains the Cemetery on behalf of the Association.  The memberships of the Committee does change from time to time, and in order to provide some guidelines for committee members, while the Bylaws which establish the Committee (and must be approved by the Bereavement Authority of Ontario whenever a change is made) do govern the business of the Committee, the practical day-to-day business of the Committee has not heretofore been standardized and recorded in writing.