The cemetery is much older than the church on site. By the time this church was built, the cemetery had already been closed to new burials. The cemetery operated from 1772 until 1860. There are many historical plaques on site. Below is text from the best description of the cemetery. The same information sign also describes the history of the site in the French language.
In 2009-2010, the City of Quebec restored the cemetery, taking great care to preserve the spirit of the place. A peaceful haven in the heart of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste quarter, the cemetery still has the feeling of being a corner of England.
There are currently 314 gravestones on which the names of some 580 people are inscribed. Worn by time, they tell the stories of the deceased: infant deaths, epidemics, death by drowning...
Three hundred and fourteen is a small number if we consider that the cemetery served, from 1772 to 1860, as a burial site for the Protestant Anglophone population of Quebec City, which was flourishing at that time.
Three hundred and fourteen is a small number when you think that of the 6,000 to 10,000 individuals who were buried here, their bodies piled one on top of the other, buried tightly and close to one another.
St. Matthew's cemetery and the church next door - now converted into a library - have been designated as an historic site by the Government of Quebec.