Land for Burns Cemetery was donated in 1876 by Tennessee native William Boyd Burns (1821-1907), a pioneer settler of the Trenton community whose log cabin home stood beside the site. He also gave nearby property for Burns Chapel, a Union church building that served as an early schoolhouse for the surrounding rural area. The cemetery was first used in 1877 for the burials of Burns' stepson John Patton and his daughter Priscilla Burns, who at 16 was a teacher in the Orangeville Academy. Other graves include pioneer settlers of the area and prominent Trenton leaders, among them Civil War veterans, early physician Dr. W. C. Holmes, who fought at Shiloh, and John W. Connelly, a former teacher in the Indian Territory who became a popular local preacher. For well over a century, the cemetery has served residents of the Trenton area, and its original tract has been enlarged through donated land and purchased property while continuing in use and hosting an annual memorial service honoring settlers who led in the area's development.