American Cemetery in Dumaguete City and its History

The American Cemetery inside the Old Dumaguete Chinese Cemetery was established as part of the American Masonic Cemetery in Dumaguete in 1907 part of the area of the cemetery is the grave site of the American Missionaries and Teachers .The cemetery area was established as the extension of the American Masonic Cemetery in 1922.

Studying the Dumaguete History during the American Period their are three American Cemetery one is American Military Cemetery located in the present Eterna Funeral House area in Daro but in the 1960s the remains were transferred to the Manila American Cemetery in Fort Bonifacio ,another one in the old Public cemetery located in the present -Redemptorist Church and back part of Negros Oriental State University and of course the present Dumaguete American Cemetery.

This American cemetery is about 100 meters square in size, surrounded by the congested Chinese Cemetery in Brangay Daro in Dumaguete City Negros Oriental . Siliman University Mass Communication students did a clean up drive , started have conducted, in February of each year, a cemetery clean up as part of their class project.Every Nov 1 Kuya Mo Atega the adviser of the Silliman University International Students will pay a visit to light a candle and bring Flowers.

The Kabataan para ni Rizal Advocacy Project under the leadership of Prof. Penn T. Larena,MPA from St. Paul University did a series of Heritage clean up drive since 2019.

The American Cemetery is one of the least well-known spots in Dumaguete, owing perhaps to the kind of grim reminder it brings about mortality, but also perhaps because of its secluded location inside the Chinese cemetery. It no longer has internment space, but the place still “charms” the occasional visitor with its wrought-iron gate beautifully covered by pink cadena de amor, and grounds shaded by full-grown mahogany trees and indian trees. Among the Americans buried here include a host of missionary teachers from Silliman University, such as Henry and Margaret Mack, T. S. Dodd, W. M. Baugh, Ila Smith-Munn, Cal Reed Cole Sr., Elena A. Cole, Cal Reed Cole Jr., Charlie Bell Cole Sr., Rev. Lapsley Armstrong McAfee, Robert Sherry Matheson, and Elliot Thomas Bell.

In 2020 the American Cemetery in Dumaguete City is 98 years old