Historic burial grounds in Rhode Island, US
United States historic place
TheCommon Burying Ground and Island Cemetery are a pair of separatecemeteries on Farewell and Warner Street inNewport ,Rhode Island . Together they contain over 5,000 graves, including acolonial -eraslave cemetery andJewish graves. The pair of cemeteries was added to theNational Register of Historic Places as a single listing in 1974.[ 1]
God's Little Acre The Common Burial Ground was established in 1665 on land given to city of Newport byJohn Clarke .[ 2] headstones in a single cemetery, including the largest number of colonialAfrican 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] Hazard Stevens , CommodoreOliver Hazard Perry , CommodoreMatthew C. Perry and financierAugust Belmont .
Grave markers returned [ edit ] 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 andDuchess Quamino , were returned and restored.[ 4] William Ellery Channing , had been an active member of Newport's African community.[ 4]
Prominent people buried in the Common Burial Ground [ edit ] 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 1791-1794.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 theDeclaration 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 theGold Lifesaving Medal .Henry Marchant – Delegate to the Continental Congress.Dutee J. Pearce – United States Representative.Duchess Quamino (1739–1804), a formerly enslaved woman, known as the "Pastry Queen of Rhode Island[ 4] Asher Robbins – United States Senator 1825–39.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 ofOliver Hazard Perry in Newport.Frances (Latham) Vaughan – "The Mother of Governors," widow to colonial PresidentJeremy Clarke , and mother of colonial governorWalter 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 [ edit ] Hugh D. Auchincloss – Naval officer, government official and stockbrokerLillian Barrett (1884–1963) – novelist and playwright[ 5] Janet Lee Bouvier Auchincloss Morris – Mother ofJacqueline Kennedy Onassis August Belmont – Chairman of theDemocratic National Committee 1860 to 1872 and founder of theBelmont Stakes August Belmont Jr. – Developer of theIRT Subway in New York City and theCape Cod Canal Perry Belmont – United States Representative and Army officerGunnerGeorge F. Brady , USN –Medal of Honor recipient. CaptainKidder Breese , USN – Commander of theNaval Landing Party at theSecond Battle of Fort Fisher . Brevet Brigadier GeneralHenry Brewerton – Superintendent ofWest Point Military Academy . Melville Bull – United States Representative, 1895–1903George Henry Calvert – Writer and Mayor of NewportRear AdmiralAugustus Case – Career Navy officer William Cole Cozzens – Mayor of Newport and Governor of Rhode Island, 1863Henry Y. Cranston – United States Representative from Rhode Island and commander of theArtillery Company of Newport Robert B. Cranston – United States Representative from Rhode IslandGeorge T. Downing (1819–1903) – abolitionist, entrepreneur, restaurateur[ 6] LieutenantThomas Eadie , USN –Medal of Honor recipient (buried in Island Cemetery Annex). William Channing Gibbs – Governor of Rhode Island, 1821–24George Washington Greene – HistorianJohn N. A. Griswold – Merchant, industrialist and diplomatCaptainSamuel R. Honey - Army officer and Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island Richard Morris Hunt (1827–1895) – Noted architect of Gilded Age[ 6] Charles Bird King (1785–1862) – PainterClarence King (1842–1901) – Geologist[ 6] George Gordon King – CongressmanLewis Cass Ledyard – Lawyer and Commodore of theNew York Yacht Club George Champlin Mason, Sr. - Architect and historian.CaptainChristopher Raymond Perry – Privateer in theAmerican Revolution and naval officer in theQuasi War CommodoreMatthew C. Perry (1794–1858) – Commander ofBlack Ships Expedition to Japan in 1853[ 6] CommodoreOliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819) – Hero of theBattle of Lake Erie inWar of 1812 [ 6] Lieutenant Colonel John Hare Powel – Army officer, Mayor of Newport and commander of theArtillery Company of Newport George L. Rives –Assistant Secretary of State William Paine Sheffield Sr. – Congressman and United States Senator 1884–85William Paine Sheffield Jr. – CongressmanMajor GeneralThomas W. Sherman – Civil War general William Watts Sherman (1842–1912) – Socialite and treasurer of the Newport CasinoBrevet Brigadier GeneralHazard Stevens –Medal of Honor recipient and son of Isaac Stevens Major GeneralIsaac Ingalls Stevens – Civil War general who was killed in action at theBattle of Chantilly Frank K. Sturgis – President of theNew York Stock Exchange Brevet Brigadier GeneralGeorge Washington Tew – Civil War officer. Lieutenant Colonel of 5th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery. Commander of theArtillery Company of Newport . CommodoreBenjamin J. Totten – Career U.S. Navy officer Charles C. Van Zandt – Governor of Rhode Island 1877–80Major GeneralGouverneur K. Warren – Chief engineer of theArmy of the Potomac at theBattle of Gettysburg – Commander ofV Corps (1863–65) George Peabody Wetmore – Governor of Rhode Island and United States SenatorKatherine Prescott Wormeley – Literary translator, founder of theUnited States Sanitary Commission during the Civil WarCommon Burial Ground [ edit ] ^a b "National Register Information System" .National Register of Historic Places National Park Service . January 23, 2007.^a b "NRHP nomination for Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery" (PDF) . Rhode Island Preservation. RetrievedNovember 5, 2014 .^ "Centuries-old gravestones found, returned to cemetery" . 7 News Boston. Sunbeam Television Corp. October 26, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 14, 2017 .^a b c Belmore, Ryan (May 14, 2017)."Duchess and Violet Quamino Gravestones Return to Newport's Common Burying Ground" . Archived fromthe original on March 8, 2022. RetrievedApril 22, 2022 . ^ "Miss Barrett, Author, Was 78" .Newport Mercury ^a b c d e "Island Cemetery" .RIP Newport . Newport, Rhode Island. Archived fromthe original on May 11, 2021. RetrievedMarch 29, 2022 .41°29′47″N 71°18′56″W / 41.49639°N 71.31556°W /41.49639; -71.31556
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