Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery
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Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery | |
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| Location | Newport, Rhode Island |
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| Area | 31 acres (13 ha) |
| Built | 1640 |
| Architect | Multiple |
| Architectural style | Beaux Arts, Other, Romanesque |
| Governing body | Private |
| NRHP Reference # |
74000044 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | May 1, 1974 |
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]
Description
The Common Burial Ground was established in 1640 on land given to city of Newport by John Clarke.[2] It features an unparalleled collection of colonial era headstones including the largest number of colonial African American headstones in the country. 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 burials
Prominent people buried in the Common Burial Ground
- John Linscom Boss, Jr. - United States Representative.
- Christopher G. Champlin - United States Representative 1797-1801, United States Senator 1809 - 1811.
- 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.
- Ida Lewis (lighthouse keeper) - Heroine of the 19th Century.
- Henry Marchant - Delegate to the Continental Congress.
- Dutee J. Pearce - United States Representative.
- Asher Robbins - United States Senator 1825-1839.
- Moses Seixas - Founder of Freemasonry in Rhode Island and colonial era Jewish leader.
- William Greene Turner - Sculptor, perhaps best known for his memorial to Oliver Hazard Perry.
- 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
- August Belmont, Jr. - Developer of the IRT Subway in New York City and the Cape Cod Canal.
- August Belmont - Chairman of the Democratic National Committee 1860 to 1872 and founder of the Belmont Stakes.
- Perry Belmont - United States Representative and Army officer.
- Sara Swan Whiting Belmont Rives - 1st wife of Oliver H.P. Belmont 2nd wife George L. Rives.
- Gunner George F. Brady, USN - Medal of Honor recipient.
- 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.
- William Cole Cozzens - 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.
- Lieutenant Thomas Eadie, USN - Medal of Honor recipient (buried in Island Cemetery Annex).
- William Channing Gibbs - Governor of Rhode Island, 1821 - 1824.
- George Washington Greene - Historian.
- Richard Morris Hunt - Noted architect of Gilded Age.
- Charles Bird King (1785–1862) - Painter.
- Clarence King - Geologist.
- George Gordon King - Congressman.
- Lewis Cass Ledyard Lawyer - Socialite and Commodore of the New York Yacht Club.
- Janet Lee Bouvier Auchincloss Morris - Mother of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
- Captain Christopher Raymond Perry - Veteran of the Revolutionary War.
- Commodore Matthew C. Perry - Commander of Black Ships expedition to Japan in 1853.
- Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry - Hero of the Battle of Lake Erie in War of 1812.
- Lieutenant Colonel John Hare Powel - Union 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 - 1885
- William Paine Sheffield, Jr. - Congressman.
- Brevet 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 Chantilly, Virginia.
- Frank K. Sturgis - President of the New York Stock Exchange
- Brevet Brigadier General George W. Tew - Civil War officer. Lieutenant Colonel of 5th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery. Commander of the Artillery Company of Newport.
- Charles C. Van Zandt - Governor of Rhode Island 1877 - 1880
- Major General Gouverneur K. Warren - Chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Gettysburg - Commander of V Corps (1863-1865)
- 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
See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery. |
- Touro Cemetery, the old Jewish cemetery at Newport
- Coddington Cemetery, where six colonial Rhode Island governors are buried
- Clifton Burying Ground, where four colonial Rhode Island governors are buried
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Newport County, Rhode Island
Images
Common Burial Ground
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Original grave slab for Governor John Cranston on left, and newer slab for both him and his son, Governor Samuel Cranston, on right
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Table marker for Governor Samuel Ward on left; brick vault for his father, Governor Richard Ward, on right
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Enclosed plot for Deputy Governor William Ellery, signer of the Declaration of Independence
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William Ellery grave inscription
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Grave plaque for William Ellery
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Ida Lewis monument
Island Cemetery
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Island Cemetery in 2009
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Entrance building
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Overgrown cemetery chapel
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Chapel
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Hole in the Chapel roof
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grave of Richard Morris Hunt
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grave of Richard Morris Hunt
References and external links
- Colonial Slave Cemetery information
- History of Newport County, Rhode Island," ed. Richard M. Bayles, NY, 1888 (description of common cemetery)
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "NRHP nomination for Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery" (PDF). Rhode Island Preservation. Retrieved 2014-11-05.
Coordinates: 41°29′47″N 71°18′56″W / 41.49639°N 71.31556°W
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