Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery

The Common Burial Ground was established in 1640 on land given to city of Newport by John Clarke.[2] It features what is probably the largest number of colonial era headstones in a single cemetery, including the largest number of colonial African 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] Many members of Newport's most prominent families have been buried there over the years. Notable people buried there include Medal of Honor recipient Hazard Stevens, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, Commodore Matthew C. Perry and financier August Belmont.

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]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery.

• Touro Cemetery, the old Jewish cemetery at Newport
• Coddington Cemetery, where six colonial Rhode Island governors are buried
• Clifton Burying Ground, where four colonial Rhode Island governors are buried
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Newport County, Rhode Island

• Colonial Slave Cemetery information
• History of Newport County, Rhode Island," ed. Richard M. Bayles, NY, 1888 (description of common cemetery)