North Burial Ground

	North Burial Ground
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Providence, Rhode Island
Built	1700
NRHP reference No.	77000003
Added to NRHP	September 13, 1977

The North Burial Ground is a 110-acre (0.45 km²) cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island dating to 1700, the first public cemetery in Providence.^[2] It is located north of downtown Providence, bounded by North Main Street, Branch Avenue, the Moshassuck River, and Cemetery Street. Its main entrance is at the junction of Branch and North Main. The burial ground is one of the larger municipal cemeteries in Southern New England, and it accepts 220 to 225 burials per year.^[3]

History[edit]

From the time of its founding by Roger Williams in 1636, Rhode Island had strict separation of religious and government institutions. Therefore, Providence had no state churches with adjacent public burial grounds, as most New England towns had. Instead, townspeople buried their dead in family plots on individual farms.^[3]

In 1700, a town vote was held to establish a municipal cemetery. This cemetery was to be open to the deceased of all faiths, from millionaires to paupers, and even emancipated slaves. 45 acres were set aside; 10 acres were to be used for a cemetery, the remainder for a town common and militia training ground. However, the first official burial didn't take place until one Samuel Whipple was buried here in 1710/11. There were only about one or two burials per year until 1736, when 14 people were buried.^[3]

By the mid-1800s, under the influence of the Rural Cemetery Movement, cemeteries generally became viewed as a place for the general public to enjoy refined outdoor recreation. In Providence, the North Burial Ground was further landscaped. More land was added, along with curving roads and trees, to make the grounds more attractive to the living.^[3]

Notable interments[edit]

North Burial Ground has the burials of many notable Rhode Island residents, including governors, members of Congress, soldiers, millionaires, emancipated slaves, and literary figures:

Daniel Abbott, deputy governor of Rhode Island colony^{[citation needed]}
Philip Allen, Governor of Rhode Island and U.S. Senator^[4]
Zachariah Allen, prominent Providence mill owner and civic leader^[5]
William B. Avery, Medal of Honor recipient
Edward Mitchell Bannister, Canadian African-American painter
Chad Brown, early pastor of the First Baptist Church in America, progenitor of Brown family
John Brown, merchant, U.S. Representative, slave trader, co-founder of Brown University
John Nicholas Brown II, socialite and philanthropist
Nicholas Brown, Jr., philanthropist and namesake of Brown University^[2]
Kady Brownell, Civil War veteran
Tristam Burgess, U.S. representative
Esek Hopkins, The only chief of the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War
Jonathan Chace, U.S. senator
John Hopkins Clark, U.S. senator
Nicholas Cooke, governor of colony and state of Rhode Island during American Revolutionary War
Fred Corey, Major League Baseball player
Charles Dow, journalist, co-founder of Dow Jones & Company and founder of The Wall Street Journal^[2]
Samuel Eddy, U.S. representative and Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
Arthur Fenner, Governor of Rhode Island from 1790 to 1805.
James Fenner, U.S. senator from 1805 to 1807, Rhode Island governor from 1807 to 1811, 1824 to 1831 and 1843 to 1845
Sam Walter Foss, librarian, poet
John Brown Francis, governor and U.S. senator
William Goddard (U.S. patriot/publisher), American Revolutionary War printer
Stephen Hopkins, colonial governor, founding father, signatory of the Declaration of Independence^[2]^[6]
Jeremiah Brown Howell, U.S. senator
Richard Jackson, U.S. representative
Horace Mann, educator, U.S. representative, and first president of Antioch College
James Manning, delegate to the Confederation Congress
Albert Martin (soldier) (memorial), soldier, only Rhode Islander to have fought at the Battle of the Alamo.
Charles J. Martin, artist and arts instructor
James B. Mason, U.S. representative
Peter Mawney, colonel of Providence militia
Augustus S. Miller (1847–1905), Mayor of Providence 1903–1905.
Annie Smith Peck, pioneering woman mountaineer
Saunders Pitman, silversmith.
Darius Sessions, deputy governor of Rhode Island colony
James F. Simmons, U.S. senator
Henry J. Steere, philanthropist and manufacturer
Joseph L. Tillinghast, U.S. representative
Sarah Helen Whitman, poet, essayist, and a romantic interest of Edgar Allan Poe

Images[edit]

Early 1900s postcard of North Burial Ground
Entry flag and marker to North Burial Ground
Dexter family monument with governor's flags for Gregory Dexter, colonial President
Grave monument for Governor Stephen Hopkins, signer of the Declaration of Independence
Grave plaque for Governor Stephen Hopkins
DAR grave plaque for Sarah Hopkins, wife of Governor Stephen Hopkins
Governor Nicholas Cooke grave monument
Nicholas Cooke governor's medallion
Governor James Fenner mausoleum
James Fenner governor's medallion
John Whipple, early Providence settler whose remains were moved here from a family plot
Flags fly over the graves of veterans at the North Burial Ground
Grave of Capt. Pardon Sheldon, patriot involved in the Gaspee Affair

References[edit]

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Rogak, Lisa (2004). Stones and Bones of New England: A Guide to Unusual, Historic, and Otherwise Notable Cemeteries. Globe Pequot. p. 159. ISBN 9780762730001.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Hill, John (24 Jan 2015). "Providence's North Burial Ground is running out of room". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
^ "Allen, Philip, (1785–1865)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
^ Perry, Amos (1883). Memorial of Zachariah Allen: 1795–1882. J. Wilson and son. p. 52. north burial ground Zachariah Allen.
^ Rhode Island College

External links[edit]

41°50′34″N 71°24′29″W / 41.84278°N 71.40806°W / 41.84278; -71.40806

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.

[rogak-2] Rogak, Lisa (2004). Stones and Bones of New England: A Guide to Unusual, Historic, and Otherwise Notable Cemeteries. Globe Pequot. p. 159. ISBN 9780762730001.

[ProJo-Jan2015-3] Hill, John (24 Jan 2015). "Providence's North Burial Ground is running out of room". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 25 January 2015.

[4] "Allen, Philip, (1785–1865)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved April 19, 2014.

[5] Perry, Amos (1883). Memorial of Zachariah Allen: 1795–1882. J. Wilson and son. p. 52. north burial ground Zachariah Allen.

[6] Rhode Island College

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