Check out these historic burial sites in Newport!

January 10th, 2025

By Helena Touhey

A version this map – designed for Newport Life by Carrie Lapolla – appears in our January/February 2025 print issue. Be sure to pick up a copy from one of our local retailers!

HISTORIC BURIAL SITES OF NEWPORT:

(1) Island Cemetery

  • Established circa 1848 
  • Located at Farewell & Warner Streets  
  • Part of the early movement in America towards landscaped, park-like cemeteries and one of Newport city arboreta 
  • Home to the recently restored Belmont Chapel 
  • Notable burials: Commodore Matthew C. Perry, commander of the Black Ships Expedition to Japan in 1853, and his brother, Oliver Hazard Perry, hero in War of 1812’s Battle of Lake Erie; Richard Morris Hunt, Gilded Age architect. 
  • More info at www.islandcemeterynewport.com and at www.ripnewport.com including PDFs of the new sign 

(2) Common Burying Ground

  • Established circa 1665 
  • Located at Farewell and Warner streets 
  • The site covers 10.2 acres and contains the remains of more than eight thousand people. Added with Island Cemetery to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. (ripnewport.com)  
  • Notable gravesites: William Ellery, signer of the Declaration of Independence; Ann Smith Franklin, printer, publisher, and first female newspaper editor in America; Henry Marchant, delegate to Continental Congress; Ida Lewis, lighthouse keeper; Duchess Quamino, formerly enslaved woman known as the “Pastry Queen of Rhode Island.” 
  • More info at www.ripnewport.com including PDFs of the new sign 

(3) God’s Little Acre

  • Located within Common Burying Ground; entrance of Farewell Street  
  • Recognized as home to the oldest and largest surviving collection of stone markers for enslaved and free Africans, the earliest of whom were born in the late 1600s. 
  • Oldest death date on a stone is 1720. 
  • Grave markers include some inscribed by enslaved stonemasons Pompe and Zingo, and perhaps the first work signed by an artist of African heritage in Newport. A stone for Cuffee Gibbs (1728-1768) is inscribed as being cut by Pompe Stevens, an enslaved African who worked for William Stevens at the family shop during the 18th century. 
  • More info at www.colonialcemetery.com (including notes on African burial customs that were practiced at the time) and at www.ripnewport.com, including PDFs of the new sign 

(4) Old City Cemetery

  • Established around 1865 
  • Located just north of the Braman Cemetery on the west side of Farewell Street 
  • Old City Cemetery and the Braman Cemetery evolved independently but now appear as one. They were established to serve the city as the Common Burying Ground became filled and additional burial space was needed. The property became the final resting place for people of different faiths and every level of society. (ripnewport.com
  • Notable burial: Private Arthur Burton (1897-1918), the only African-American service member from Rhode Island to be killed in action during World War I. 
  • More info at www.ripnewport.com  

(5) Braman Cemetery

  • Established in 1898 
  • Located just south of the Old City Cemetery on the west side of Farewell Street 
  • Created as a private cemetery in the style of a garden cemetery on land that was part of the Braman farm operated by John C Braman (1813-1884) and his sons, David (1845-1921) and Daniel (1850-1907). (ripnewport.com
  • More info at www.ripnewport.com including PDFs of the new sign and this printable self-guided tour  

(6) St. Mary’s Cemetery

  • Located on the corner of Warner Street and Kingston Avenue 
  • A Catholic church was built on Spring Street circa 1852 to serve Newport’s first parish. Although dedicated to a new patron, St. Mary, Our Lady of the Isle, the church was home to St. Joseph’s parish. About thirty years later, the bishop determined Newport needed an additional parish to serve its faithful. A new, separate parish was created and the “St. Joseph’s” name was reactivated. While both parishes share a common root/ancestor on Barney Street, it is St. Mary’s that lays claim to being the oldest Catholic parish in Rhode Island. (ripnewport.com
  • Notable burial: Patrick Boyle. When Boyle became Newport’s mayor in 1895, few could imagine it was the start of a more than 20-year political career. He died in January 1923 during his 17th term. No other mayor has served for as many terms. (ripnewport.com
  • More info at www.ripnewport.com  

(7) John Clarke Burial Ground

  • Oldest grave dates to 1676 
  • Located at the corner of Dr. Marcus F. Wheatland Boulevard and Callender Avenue 
  • John Clarke (1609-1676), one of Newport’s founding members, drafted the Rhode Island Royal Charter, which granted religious freedom to residents of the colony and was approved by King Charles II in 1663.  A Baptist minister as well as a physician, Clarke gave the land to his church to be used for burials. No marker for Clarke was established when he died, but three have been installed in his honor. Additional burials on the site include Clarke’s wives, other Baptist pastors, and people connected with the Rev. Michael Eddy, who died in 1834. 
  • More info at www.ripnewport.com   

(8) Friend’s Burial Ground

  • Oldest gravestone dates to 1743 
  • A rectangular lot located at Tilden Avenue, Feke, Edward and White Streets, that was originally known as The Meadow Field
  • 500 known burial sites with 363 inscriptions, most notably Gideon Wanton (1693-1767) who served as governor of the colony of Rhode Island from 1745-46 and 47-48, and John Townsend (1736-1809), the famed cabinetmaker (ripnewport.com
  • Quaker stones and burials were common at the site up to about 1890. The last Quaker known to be buried there was Horace Williams in 1918.(ripnewport.com
  • More info at www.ripnewport.com including PDFs of the new sign 

(9) Coddington/Governor’s Burial Ground

  • Oldest grave dates to 1647 
  • Located on Farewell and North Baptist streets
  • William Coddington, an English settler, placed the site under the control of the Newport Quaker Meeting. Of the 94 known burials known, 58 inscribed stones remain. Six colonial governors of Rhode Island are buried here including: Nicholas Easton (1675), William Coddington (1678), William Coddington Jr. (1688), Henry Bull (1693), John Easton (1705), and John Wanton (1740). (ripnewport.com
  • More info at www.ripnewport.com including PDFs of the new sign 

(10) Judge Anthony Wilbur Lot

  • Oldest grave dates to 1820 
  • Located near the intersection of Bliss Road and Eustis Avenue  
  • The lot contains burial sites for 27 members of the Ensworth, Hazard, Peckham, and Wilbur families. Once an overgrown wooded lot, recent construction has changed it to a green park in a residential section of Newport. Five marble stones were conserved in 2018 by the city of Newport (ripnewport.com
  • More info at www.ripnewport.com  

(11) St. Joseph’s Old Catholic Cemetery

  • Also known as the Barney Street Cemetery, it is the oldest Catholic burial ground in Rhode Island
  • Located at the corner of Barney and Mount Vernon streets  
  • The Boston Diocese established St. Joseph’s as the first Catholic parish in Rhode Island in 1828. Without a church, the congregation worshipped in an old wooden schoolhouse on Barney Street, where an adjacent burial site soon was established. Today it is maintained by volunteers from the Museum of Newport Irish History. (ripnewport.com)  
  • Oldest grave dates to 1828  
  • More info at www.newportirishhistory.org and in this series – “Stories amid the stones” – printed in The Newport Daily News in 2018 

(12) Trinity Churchyard

  • Oldest grave dates to 1704  
  • Located alongside Trinity Church on Spring Street 
  • The churchyard is the most quintessential English burial site in the city. The Anglican congregation was established in 1698, and the existing building, which dates from 1726, was enlarged in the 1760s. The oldest monument from 1704 for Thomas Mallett is among the 246 other graves marked with excellent examples of Colonial Era carved stones. (ripnewport.com
  • More info, especially on notable burials, at www.ripnewport.com  

(13) Colonial Jewish Burying Ground

  • Established in 1677  
  • Located on the corner of Bellevue Ave. And Kay Street (across from the Hotel Viking) 
  • When consecrated, it was the second Jewish cemetery in North America, the first belonging to Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City 
  • There are 42 known graves 
  • More info at www.tourosynagogue.org, including two related poems, one by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the other by Emma Lazarus  

(14) Governor Benedict Arnold Graveyard

  • Oldest grave dates to 1677 
  • Located on Pelham Street
  • Established by Gov. Benedict Arnold (1615-1678) for his family and relatives. Arnold’s namesake and great-grandson was a Revolutionary War general infamously remembered as a traitor. 
  • The entire site was lost for nearly ninety years when a house was built upon the grounds and all the gravestones were buried. Alice Brayton purchased the property in 1946 and, with the help of John Howard Benson and T. J. Brown, removed the cottage and restored the site to its current configuration. (ripnewport.com
  • More info at www.ripnewport.com and in this series – “Stories amid the stones” – printed in The Newport Daily News in 2018 

(15) United Congregational Churchyard

  • Oldest grave dates to 1745 
  • Located on Spring Street, in the side yard of the Congregational Church (the one with the trio of teal doors) 
  • The cemetery contains the final resting sites of two Congregational ministers. One, a grave circa 1839, was moved at a so-far unknown date from an older cemetery affiliated with the first Congregational Church on Mill Street. The second, a monument, commemorates a pastor of the second Congregational Church. (ripnewport.com
  • More info at www.ripnewport.com  

(16) Clifton Burial Ground

  • Oldest gravestone dates to 1670 
  • Located along Golden Hill Road, just up from The Hut  
  • Owned and maintained by the City of Newport  
  • There are 250 known graves and 160 inscriptions  
  • Many of the slate stones were created by notable Newport stone carvers, including members of the Stevens family, John Bull, and William Mumford. 
  • More info at www.cityofnewport.com  

(17) Jonathan Easton Burial Ground

(18) Coggeshall Burial Ground

  • Oldest grave dates to 1647 
  • Located off Coggeshall Avenue, south of The Breakers stable 
  • Owned by the city of Newport and maintained by the Preservation Society of Newport County  
  • More info at www.ripnewport.com including PDFs of the new sign 

(19) Collins Burial Ground

  • Oldest grave dates to 1791 
  • Located on Castle Hill Avenue 
  • Small cemetery for members of the Collins family, including John Collins, governor of Rhode Island from 1786-1790. A monument says the stones were restored and protected by Dr. John G. Warren of Boston and Andrew Collins of Louisiana in 1854. (rihistoriccemeteries.org
  • More info at www.rihistoriccemeteries.org 

(20) Jahleel Brenton Burial Ground

  • Oldest grave dates to 1674 
  • Located in Fort Adams State Park  
  • The sole gravestone is that of Jaleel Brenton, son of Gov. William Brenton, who arrived from England with a commission from King Charles I, allowing him to claim a 2,000-acre tract of land in Newport. That area includes what now is known as Brenton Point, Fort Adams, and Hammersmith Farm.(ripnewport.com
  • More info at www.ripnewport.com and www.rihistoriccemeteries.org 

(21) Fort Adams Cemetery

  • Oldest grave dates to 1836 
  • Located in Fort Adams State Park 
  • Info on the military history of the cemetery can be found in this Salve Regina faculty & staff report from 2001 and more general info can be found at www.ripnewport.com 

(22) Coaster’s Harbor Smallpox Burying Ground

  • Oldest grave dates to 1736 
  • Located on Coaster’s Harbor Island, a 92-acre island that currently houses the Naval War College, and where in 1716 the government ordered the construction of a hospital facility that acted as a quarantine site (newporthistory.org
  • More info at www.rihistoriccemeteries.org  

For more information on local burial sites, Lew Keen, the man behind the website RIPnewport.com who also serves as the chair of the city’s Historic Cemetery Advisory Commission, has recently published, with Trudy Keen, “Discover Newport’s Island Cemetery: Notable People and Monuments from the Gilded Age to Modern Times,” along with the previously published “A Guide to Historic Burial Grounds of Newport.” Copies of Keen’s books can be found at local book shops and gift stores.

advertisement
advertisement