Our story
Palmer Cemetery was founded in about 1732, when the community or town of Kensington was created by Capt. Anthony Palmer. Our cemetery was originally called the Kensington Burial Ground and was a free burial ground for the inhabitants of this new community. Palmer, who was an acting Governor of Pennsylvania in 1747 and 1748, passed away in 1749. Anthony Palmer was laid to rest in the Christ Church Burial Ground in Old City (2nd and Market Street).
Our history:
From the very beginning, the town of Kensington, now Fishtown was a working class, blue collar community. From the shipbuilders and fishermen who settled close to the banks of the Delaware River and to all who lived just a little inland, the small town offered all that was needed to thrive. There were glass works and cloth mills, shipyards and rope walks. Small farms were close by. Philadelphia was just a short trip down the river from Shackamaxon to Market Street.
Anthony Palmer, the founder of Kensington, while living on his estate at what we now call Penn Treaty Park, would travel by barge or small vessel to his post as acting Governor in 1747 and 1748.
Palmer came to America by way of Barbados in about 1700. He had previously traveled here many times transporting goods such as sugar from the Caribbean.