Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries

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Cemetery NumberJN078
TownJOHNSTON
Cemetery NameJOSEPH BLANCHARD LOT
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Graves ListDisplay Graves List
Location[REMOVED TO HIGHLAND MEMORIAL CEME]
StateRI
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Burials14
Inscriptions10
Fieldstones4
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Exist?NO
Last seen date?1940
Newest1885
Oldest1831
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PoleN
CommentJames N. Arnold recorded this lot his #70 - May 24, 1891. (Bk. 2, pg. 182) (JN078). “On top of Fenner’s hill on the Plainfield turnpike in rear of farm house in open lot and not well protected a burial yard of the family.” Note by Charles Benns 1935 #543: "this cemetery is almost destroyed but undoubtedly once contained many more gravestones." In 1987 this cemetery was totally distroyed and a greenhouse built on the site. The Attorney General's office was still investigating this in 1997. See 19 Feb 1900 deed in Johnston for transfer of this property from James Edwards to Michael Ionnotti with a resevation for a cemetery. The Blanchard Family Burying Ground (Johnston Historical Cemetery No. 78) was identified at the site of a self storage facility off Plainfield Pike (Route 14) in Johnston, Rhode Island in the late summer of 2004. In the spring of 2005, Extra Space Storage satisfied all the requirements of Johnston Town Ordinance #1013 and the Rhode Island State Historic Cemetery Act (R.I.G.L. 23-18-11 et seq) and petitioned the Town of Johnston to permit the relocation of this small historic burying ground. The petition was granted, and PAL exhumed the remains of 12 mid- to late-nineteenth-century individuals from 13 grave shafts that remained at the construction site. For full report see PAL report #1693.03. The cemetery was located 150 feet north of Plainfield Pike and 725 feet east of Simmonsville Ave. After the cemetery was moved a storage facility was built on the land. GPS coordinates 41 deg. 47' 24.21"N 71deg. 30' 9.47"W In 2007 John Sterling saw several of the stones from this cemetery at the Johnston Highland Memorial Cemetery in the maintenance shed where they were being prepared to be set in the historical cemetery area. Now, 2016, they are in place in the historical part of Highland Memorial Cemetery.
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Enclosureno enclosure
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Cemetery Burial Map N/A