| Cemetery Number | NT003 |
| Town | NEWPORT |
| Cemetery Name | COMMON BURIAL GROUND |
| Find A Grave (Opens in New Tab) |
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| Graves List | Display Graves List |
| Location | FAREWELL ST |
| State | RI |
| Direction | E |
| Pole Number | |
| Distance | 20 |
| Map Number | |
| Page Number | |
| Plat Number | |
| Deed Book | |
| Deed Page | |
| Size in Feet | 600 |
| Size in Feet | 1000 |
| Burials | 10000 |
| Inscriptions | 7000 |
| Fieldstones | |
| Tombs | |
| Exist? | YES |
| Last seen date? | 2019 |
| Newest | 1999 |
| Oldest | 1660 |
| Vandalism | Y |
| Veteran | |
| Pole | G |
| Comment | A land grant to Newport by Dr. John Clarke, 1640.
Bayles' "History of Newport County," NY, 1888, describes it thus: "The
"Common Ground," so called, is the oldest public cemetery in Newport. It
was laid out about 1665. It remains today in all its primitive
surroundings, and the quaint headstones of common slate, with their rude
inscriptions, awaken a feeling of veneration which surrounds this spot with
no little degree of interest. Here may be seen the graves of many of the early governors of the colony, that of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the graves of our early merchants and clerical worthies. Many stones are dedicated the memory of old sea captains. The cemetery contains
twenty stones on which armorial ensigns are cut; all of these lie flat on the surface of the ground while most were originally box tombs, and of course have, like most of the early stones in this ground, suffered every sort of injury, even in a fewcases, mutilation. Among the stones on which family arms are cut may be
mentione the Cranstons, Sanford, Bayley, Wanton, Thurston, Chaloner,
Buckmaster, Freebody, Vernon, Ellery, Sears, Gardner and Ward. One might
almost write a history of Newport in this common ground, so full are the
inscriptions on the stones erected here" (pp. 542-543). |
| Condition | good |
| Enclosure | stone wall |
| Gate | iron gate |
| Growth | grass-well kept |
| Terrain | hilly moderate |
| Cemetery Location |
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| Cemetery Burial Map |
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