Ghosts of Newport Past

No, this isn't about haunted houses in Newport, although I'm sure there are quite a bit more than a few. It's just that every year around Samhain I go on a photo safari through Newport's more interesting graveyards. This year I decided to take all my Gather friends along. [Note: Find a recording of Loreena McKennitt's "All Souls Night" and play it in the background while we walk.]

The first stop is the Common Burying Ground on the north end of Newport. This was the official cemetery of colonial Newport, and it remained so until the mid 1800s, when it got full and they moved across Farewell St. to create the Braman Cemetery for the overflow. This is the quintessential colonial New England Protestant boneyard. As you can see by the crowded nature of the following picture, they had no illusions about death - it was the end, and graveyards were really nothing more than dumping grounds for the bodies. But they still had enough respect for those bodies to put a proper memorial over them. This is the view from where I entered on Warner St.

This stone was right next to the Warner St. entrance. I jist like ivy on stone; that's why it's here!

The northern end of the Common Burying Ground is called God's Little Acre. I'll let the sign explain:

And here are some of the gravestones in God's Little Acre.

That one above is the plot for the slaves for one particular family. Yes, even though we're in New England, Newport had slaves. Not for long; most of the New England states abolished slavery immediately following the Revolution. But we had 'em, and here's the proof.

We leave God's Little Acre and go into the rest of the burying Ground, where we see a mix of colonial and early-to-mid 19th century memorials. This shot is typical - the cemetery is full of family plots, but like this one the only remains of the fence around the plot is the gate and the corner posts:

The burying ground has "roads" dividing it; they're even named and with street signs. this is looking up the hill from one of those "streets".

This angel monument is in the same section:

OIliver King's stone caught my eye because of the scroll and lilies motif:

The older stones from the mid-to-late 1600s and early 1700s are in the southwest corner of the burying ground. Here are some examples of the carving of that era. The vague face with wings motif is typical of the turn of the century and early decades of the 1700s.

The Death's Head with wings is the typical motif of the 1600s.

And another round-faced angel:

A view of a shadier corner of the burying ground.

A more developed angel motif from later in the 1700s:


And back to the 1600s:

Across Farewell St. from the Common Burying Ground is the Braman Cemetery. After the Common Burying Ground filled up, they moved city burials across to here. It's a more organized, shadier, and gentler place to be buried, and it reflects the change in the attitude towards death in the 19th century. The radical Protestants who founded New England viewed death as a punishment for man's inherent sinfulness and treated the body's final resting place according to that attitude. But two events in the 19th century changed that: the death of Victoria's Albert, and the Civil War. Victoria, of course, spent the rest of her life in mourning after her consort Prince Albert died, and this mourning eventually was reflected in all areas influenced by the Victorian ethos. And the civil War was a trauma beyond enduring for most American families. Graveyards became places to come visit with the beloved dead, and death itself came to be seen as a blessed release from a trying, laborious life. The stones in the Braman Cemetery reflect this change.

This was the first stone to greet me as I entered by one of the gates:

Newport was at one time a major port for the US Navy, and the Braman Cemetery has a whole section set aside for sailors' graves:

Here's an interesting stone next to the Navy section:

This cemetery also has a large Jewish section:

There also seem to be a few Greek burials here:

Andhere are two Irish children who died tragically young:

I just like the Celtic-style carving on this stone:

And I love the Zen-like simplicity of this one. I asked my friend Fud Benson, whose family has been carving headstones in Newport for generations, if this was one of theors, but even though the lettering style is indeed very "Benson-esque", Fud says neither his father nor any of his brothers would have used gold leaf (see the compass rose under the name).

And a Celtic Cross:

Here's a small but unfortunately unreadable stone:

And a memorial from WWI:

And as we leave the Braman Cemetery, here's a shot showing how very different it is from the Common Burying Ground:

On the way back into town on my way to the Clifton Burying Ground, I remembered the most famous grave in Newport: Ida Lewis', which is in the Common Burying Ground. She was the keeper of the Lime Rock Lighthouse in Newport Harbor (which now houses a yacht club named after her) and made some pretty daring rescues, which made her famous up and down the Atlantic seaboard. Here's her grave:

On the top of the hill behind the Newport Public Library is the Clifton Burying Ground, a colonial-era cemetery. It's my favorite cemetery in Newport because it's just so cosy! The backyards of the houses surrounding it spill into it, so in spring it's festive with flowers and in Fall it's full of Fall foliage. And even the neighbor's cat comes and tries to trip you up while you're taking pictures!

These two shots give you an idea of how the cemetery fits into the neighborhood:

The cemetery is mainly a colonial, pre-Revolution plot, and the stones reflect that, starting in the late 1600s and continuing into the 1770s. There are a few into the 1800s, but only a very few. My favorites are the early ones anyhow, so here are some examples:

The following two are a husband and wife from the late 1600s. Note that the husband has the death's head motif, but the wife has a floral one. That's highly unusual for the period.

And here's the neighbor's cat. He was very friendly and kept me company the whole time I was shooting, except when he got lured away by a tempting grasshopper to chase after.

Some more early 1700s round-faced angels:

Well, that's my yearly Samhain homage to the spirits of Newport's honored ancestors. I hope you've enjoyed this walk. I'll leave you with an image that exempifies the Samhain atmosphere for me - a stone with autumnal ivy tendrils climbing over it: