| Cemetery Number | NT013 |
| Town | NEWPORT |
| Cemetery Name | COLONIAL JEWISH BURYING GROUND |
| Find A Grave (Opens in New Tab) |
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| Graves List | Display Graves List |
| Location | KAY & TOURO ST |
| State | RI |
| Direction | |
| Pole Number | 8 |
| Distance | 15 |
| Map Number | |
| Page Number | |
| Plat Number | |
| Deed Book | |
| Deed Page | |
| Size in Feet | 65 |
| Size in Feet | 125 |
| Inscriptions | 42 |
| Fieldstones | |
| Tombs | |
| Exist? | YES |
| Last seen date? | |
| Newest | 1866 |
| Oldest | 1761 |
| Vandalism | |
| Veteran | 0 |
| Pole | |
| Comment | First Jewish burial ground in RI. The Hebrew congregation was formed in
1658 in Newport. George Champlin Mason's "Reminscences of Newport,"
Newport, 1884, states that "In the City Clerk's office there is a copy of a
deed, dated Feb. 28, 1677, of a lot of land bought by Mordecai Capanall and
Moses Pacheckoe, for a burial place for Jews, which lot was enlarged by
later purchases" (p.69).
The "History of Newport County," ed. Henry Bayles, NY, 1888, describes
it in some detail: "This beautiful spot is well known to the many thousands
who visit Newport. It is situated on Kay and Touro streets, surrounded by a
granite wall and iron fence, with a plain square gateway, over which is cut
in bold relief a winged globe. This cemetery of the ancient Hebrew
congregation was acquired in the year 1677. Here are buried many of the
early members of this congregation. The inscriptions on the stones are in
Hebrew, Latin, Portugese, Spanish and English. When the Hebrew congregation
was broken up, in consequence of the removal of its members to other
cities, the burial ground was suffered to fall into neglect and decay. In
1820 Mr. Abraham Touro, then a resident of Boston, visited Newport and gave
directions for the erection of a brick wall, which for many years afforded
ample protection to the cemetery. In 1842 his brother Judah Touro, a
resident of New Orleans, caused the grounds to be put in perfect order, and
replaced the brick wall with the present substantial fence. At his death he
bequeathed a considerable sum in trust to the city of Newport for the
perpetual care of this cemetery. The trust is faithfully and well
discharged" (p. 544). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow mentions this benificence
in his poem "The Jewish Cemetery at Newport": "Gone are the living, but the
dead remain,/ And not neglected for a hand unseen,/ Scattering its bounty,
like a summer rain,/ Still keeps their graves and their remembrance green"
(Putnams' Magazine, June 1854, p. 81).
In his lecture later published as a special bulletin of the Newport
Historical Society, the Hon. Robert Franklin discusses this cemetery and
quotes extensively from an address given before the society in 1885 by Rev.
A.P. Mendes. Mendes had pointed out that all inscriptions began or ended
with the phrase "May his soul be bound in the bands of life," that the word
"died" is never used, that the Hebrew inscription contains only the dates
and age, whereas the English one can be lengthy and flowery. While
ordinarily in Jewish cemeteries the date of death is expressed in a
chronogram formed on some verse of scripture, Mendes found only one example
here, that of Abraham Touro's stone. See the Hon. Robert Franklin, "Newport
Cemeteries," Special Bulletin of the Newport Historical Society, #10,
pp.30-32.
Touro Cemetery may long have been a landmark in Newport, but its
multilingual inscriptions appear to have daunted past transcribers. The 40
names entered into the database were collected by (1) the Rev. Abraham
Pereira Mendes (APM) in 1875 for his paper "The Jewish Cemetery" read
before the Newport Historical Society and (2) Morris A. Gutstein (MAG) for
an appendix to his book "The Story of the Jews of Newport," NY, 1936,
pp.295-321. Gutstein's book is particularly valuable. He provides a map of
the cemetery, discusses anomalies in the burials and possibilities of
graves having been moved or built upon. His numbering system has been used
in our database.
GPS coordinates 41 deg. 29' 16.53"N x 71 deg. 18' 33.62"W |
| Condition | excellent |
| Enclosure | granite posts/iron rails |
| Gate | iron gate |
| Growth | grass-well kept |
| Terrain | level |
| Cemetery Location |
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| Cemetery Burial Map |
N/A
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