Historic burial grounds in Rhode Island, US
United States historic place
The Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery are a pair of separate
cemeteries on Farewell and Warner Street in
Newport ,
Rhode Island . Together they contain over 5,000 graves, including a
colonial -era
slave cemetery and
Jewish graves. The pair of cemeteries was added to the
National Register of Historic Places as a single listing in 1974.
[1]
History
God's Little Acre
The Common Burial Ground was established in 1640 on land given to city of Newport by
John Clarke .
[2] It features what is probably the largest number of colonial era
headstones in a single cemetery, including the largest number of colonial
African American headstones in the United States. The predominantly African-American northern section of the cemetery is commonly referred to by local African-Americans as "God's Little Acre".
The Island Cemetery was established by the city in 1836, and transferred to the private Island Cemetery Corporation in 1848.
[2] Many members of Newport's most prominent families have been buried there over the years. Notable people buried there include Medal of Honor recipient
Hazard Stevens , Commodore
Oliver Hazard Perry , Commodore
Matthew C. Perry and financier
August Belmont .
Grave markers returned
In 2016, three gravestones were discovered which had been lost for years. One stone, found in Pennsylvania, was a 12 x 24 marker for a 1-year-old child. The others were 1835 stones for a Newport woman, which were found in a Newport yard during a renovation. The recovered stones were reset in the Common Burying Ground in 2016 by the Newport Historic Cemetery Advisory Commission.
[3]
In 2017, two more burial stones found in Pennsylvania, those of Violet and
Duchess Quamino , were returned and restored.
[4] Duchess Quamino, a free Black woman formerly enslaved to
William Ellery Channing , had been an active member of Newport's African community.
[4]
Notable burials
Prominent people buried in the Common Burial Ground
John Howard Benson - Artist and stone carver.
John Linscom Boss Jr. – United States Representative.
Christopher Champlin – First Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island.
Christopher G. Champlin – United States Representative 1797–1801, United States Senator 1809–11.
Michele Felice Cornè – Painter.
John Cranston – Colonial Governor of Rhode Island.
Samuel Cranston – Colonial Governor of Rhode Island.
William Ellery – Signer of the
Declaration of Independence and colonial Deputy Governor.
James Franklin – Printer and brother of Benjamin Franklin.
Ann Smith Franklin – Printer & publisher, wife/widow of James Franklin (1st woman U.S. newspaper editor)
Prince Greene - Enslaved African-American who served as a soldier in the American Revolution.
Ida Lewis (lighthouse keeper) – Heroine of the 19th Century. Recipient of the
Gold Lifesaving Medal .
Henry Marchant – Delegate to the Continental Congress.
Dutee J. Pearce – United States Representative.
Peter Quire – African-American leader and founder of St. John's Episcopal Church in Newport.
Duchess Quamino (1739–1804), a formerly enslaved woman, known as the "Pastry Queen of Rhode Island
[4]
Asher Robbins – United States Senator 1825–39.
Zingo Stevens - Enslaved stone carver.
Gilbert Stuart – Portrait artist, is not buried here, but is honored on the monument above his wife's grave. (
cenotaph )
Jane Stuart - First woman portrait artist in Newport, and daughter of Gilbert Stuart. Her mother and a few of her sisters are buried there, too.
William Greene Turner – Sculptor, perhaps best known for his statue of
Oliver Hazard Perry in Newport.
Frances (Latham) Vaughan – "The Mother of Governors," widow to colonial President
Jeremy Clarke , and mother of colonial governor
Walter Clarke .
William Vernon – Colonial era merchant.
Richard Ward – Colonial governor of Rhode Island.
Samuel Ward – Delegate to Continental Congress and colonial Governor of Rhode Island.
Prominent people buried in the Island Cemetery
Hugh D. Auchincloss – Naval officer, government official and stockbroker
Janet Lee Bouvier Auchincloss Morris – Mother of
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
August Belmont – Chairman of the
Democratic National Committee 1860 to 1872 and founder of the
Belmont Stakes
August Belmont Jr. – Developer of the
IRT Subway in New York City and the
Cape Cod Canal
Perry Belmont – United States Representative and Army officer
Sara Swan Whiting Belmont Rives – 1st wife of
Oliver H.P. Belmont and 2nd wife George L. Rives
Yeoman (F) 3rd Class Gladys Carr Bolhouse – U.S. Navy veteran of
World War I and local historian.
Gunner
George F. Brady , USN –
Medal of Honor recipient.
Captain
Kidder Breese , USN – Commander of the
Naval Landing Party at the
Second Battle of Fort Fisher .
Brevet Brigadier General
Henry Brewerton – Superintendent of
West Point Military Academy .
Melville Bull – United States Representative, 1895–1903
George Henry Calvert – Writer and Mayor of Newport
Rear Admiral
Augustus Case – Career Navy officer
William Cole Cozzens – Mayor of Newport and Governor of Rhode Island, 1863
Henry Y. Cranston – United States Representative from Rhode Island and commander of the
Artillery Company of Newport
Robert B. Cranston – United States Representative from Rhode Island
George T. Downing (1819–1903) – abolitionist, entrepreneur, restaurateur
[5]
Lieutenant
Thomas Eadie , USN –
Medal of Honor recipient (buried in Island Cemetery Annex).
William Channing Gibbs – Governor of Rhode Island, 1821–24
George Washington Greene – Historian
John N. A. Griswold – Merchant, industrialist and diplomat
Richard Morris Hunt (1827–1895) – Noted architect of Gilded Age
[5]
Charles Bird King (1785–1862) – Painter
Clarence King (1842–1901) – Geologist
[5]
George Gordon King – Congressman
Lewis Cass Ledyard – Lawyer and Commodore of the
New York Yacht Club
Captain
Christopher Raymond Perry – Privateer in the
American Revolution and naval officer in the
Quasi War
Commodore
Matthew C. Perry (1794–1858) – Commander of
Black Ships Expedition to Japan in 1853
[5]
Commodore
Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819) – Hero of the
Battle of Lake Erie in
War of 1812
[5]
Lieutenant Colonel John Hare Powel – Army officer, Mayor of Newport and commander of the
Artillery Company of Newport
George L. Rives – Assistant
Secretary of State
William Paine Sheffield Sr. – Congressman and United States Senator 1884–85
William Paine Sheffield Jr. – Congressman
Major General
Thomas W. Sherman – Civil War general
William Watts Sherman (1842–1912) – Socialite and treasurer of the Newport Casino
Brevet Brigadier General
Hazard Stevens –
Medal of Honor recipient and son of Isaac Stevens
Major General
Isaac Ingalls Stevens – Civil War general who was killed in action at the
Battle of Chantilly
Frank K. Sturgis – President of the
New York Stock Exchange
Brevet Brigadier General
George Washington Tew – Civil War officer. Lieutenant Colonel of 5th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery. Commander of the
Artillery Company of Newport .
Commodore
Benjamin J. Totten – Career U.S. Navy officer
Charles C. Van Zandt – Governor of Rhode Island 1877–80
Major General
Gouverneur K. Warren – Chief engineer of the
Army of the Potomac at the
Battle of Gettysburg – Commander of
V Corps (1863–65)
George Peabody Wetmore – Governor of Rhode Island and United States Senator
Katherine Prescott Wormeley – Literary translator, founder of the
United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War
Images
Common Burial Ground
Island Cemetery
See also
References
External links
41°29′47″N 71°18′56″W / 41.49639°N 71.31556°W / 41.49639; -71.31556
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