| Cemetery Number | PV011 |
| Town | PROVIDENCE |
| Cemetery Name | ST JOHN'S CEMETERY |
| Find A Grave (Opens in New Tab) |
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| Graves List | Display Graves List |
| Location | BENEFIT ST |
| State | RI |
| Direction | E |
| Pole Number | 6 |
| Distance | 100 |
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| Size in Feet | 120 |
| Size in Feet | 140 |
| Inscriptions | 328 |
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| Exist? | YES |
| Last seen date? | 2014 |
| Newest | 1948 |
| Oldest | 1739 |
| Vandalism | N |
| Veteran | |
| Pole | M |
| Comment | Beside the Cathedral of St. John on Benefit St.
King's Church, renamed St. John's Church in 1794, was founded in 1722. In 1754 when the Rev. Mr. Checkley died he was buried in front of the old church, between it and the road. When the new church was built in 1810 this part of the graveyard was removed and a cart load of gravestones was taken away.
Recorded in 1982 by James C. Belleman
Recorded in 1992 by John Sterling
Photographed in 2011 (partial) by Cherry Bamberg
Photographed in 2014 (partial) by Vincent Luti - he also made some B & W photos here in the 1980s.
The Diocese of Rhode Island’s Cathedral of St John has announced that it will close its doors. Founded in 1722 as the King’s Church, members of Rhode Island’s fourth oldest Episcopal Church learned on 19 February 2012 that the cathedral chapter in consultation with Bishop Geralyn Wolf voted to close the church effective 22 April.
In a letter to the congregation, the interim dean, retired Bishop David Joslin of Central New York, reported that at the cathedral’s annual meeting, the chapter had been in “engaged in much prayer, anguish, and discussion. We have consulted with the Bishop and her staff and our former Wardens. As a result, the Chapter realized that we must suspend services and parish life at the Cathedral.”
Bishop Joslin noted the cathedral “experienced growing financial difficulty over a period of years. Now it has become more than a difficulty. Simply put, we are now out of money. Last year we had a deficit of about $250,000 which was covered by reserves. Now those reserves have been used up.”
According to statistics published by the national church offices in New York, the Cathedral of St John had 400 members as of the end of 2010 – an increase of 50 since 2000. However, the average Sunday attendance of the church as the end of 2010 was 130, a decline of approximately 30 since 2000. Parish contributions also declined over the decade, falling to approximately $140,000 by 2010.
Right behind the churchyard is the former home of poet and spiritualist, Sarah Helen Whitman. Whitman was engaged to be married to Edgar Allan Poe in 1848, but the engagement was broken off before the year was out. During his time wooing Sarah, Poe would visit St. John's Churchyard and take strolls amongst the memorials.
Decades later, author H.P. Lovecraft was drawn to the location regularly during his walks and drew inspiration from it. He once admitted in a letter to having "sat down on an altar-tomb [to write] rhymed acrostics on the name of Edgar Allan Poe." |
| Condition | good |
| Enclosure | stone wall |
| Gate | no gate |
| Growth | grass-well kept |
| Terrain | hilly moderate |
| Cemetery Location |
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| Cemetery Burial Map |
N/A
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