Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Awareness and Preservation Weeks (Rhode Island Cemetery Weeks) is set to kick off in April, featuring dozens of free programs for the public to participate in. The event is organized by the Rhode Island Advisory Commission on Historical Cemeteries (RIACHC) and Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission (RIHPHC) in collaboration with many individual and organizational partners.
The event will include tours of historically significant cemeteries like North Kingstown’s Elm Grove Cemetery and Moshassuck Cemetery in Central Falls. One tour will visit God’s Little Acre in Newport, America’s oldest documented and extant burying ground for people of African heritage. There will be many opportunities to visit small burying grounds like the Gardiner-Hopkins Lot at Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown and the Governors’ Burial Ground in Newport, as well as other lesser-known but just as significant sites throughout the state.
Volunteers will have the opportunity to participate in dozens of clean-up events throughout the state, including Earth Day activities in Providence and Warren. The R.I. Advisory Commission on Historical Cemeteries has promoted volunteer projects that clean up, maintain, and improve historic cemeteries since 2015. Volunteers are welcome to help with raking, trash pick-up, light brush cutting, weed trimming, and other activities. At some sites, gloves, bags, and some tools are provided. Volunteers should bring their own tools if available.
Several Cemetery Weeks events will feature demonstrations led by experts. These include stone conservation workshops, gravestone cleanings, and a ground-penetrating radar demonstration. Other programs will offer unexpected ways to explore historic cemeteries, including data collecting at Locust Grove Cemetery in Providence, a drone photography demonstration at Elder Ballou Meeting House Cemetery in Cumberland, a music themed tour at Fort Adams in Newport, a scavenger hunt at Brayton Cemetery in Warwick, as well as several encounters with cemetery geology and wildlife. Archaeologists and historians will offer presentations on Rhode Island cemeteries and the laws that govern them.
According to RIHPHC Executive Director Jeffrey Emidy, “Rhode Island’s nearly three thousand cemeteries are among our most unique and often overlooked cultural resources. Historic cemeteries tell the stories of individuals and families, landscape design, artistry and technology, religious beliefs, traditional cultural practices, and community development.”
Rhode Island Cemetery Weeks will run throughout April and May, with events taking place across the state.
Visit www.preservation.ri.gov/ricw for more information and a calendar of events. Listings will be updated throughout the spring, with information about times, locations, tour size limits, registration (if required), and other key details.
Schedule of Events
APRIL
• 4/1 Tour | Trinity Church Graveyard, Newport
• 4/4 Tour | Norman Bird Sanctuary, Middletown
• 4/5 Talk | Portsmouth Free Library, Portsmouth
• 4/5 Moon hike | North Burial Ground, Providence
• 4/8 Tour | Trinity Church Graveyard, Newport
• 4/8 Clean-up/data collection | Locust Grove Cemetery, Providence
• 4/8 Tour/clean-up | Lippitt-Spywood Lot, Warwick
• 4/15 Drone photo workshop | Elder Ballou Meeting House Cemetery, Cumberland
• 4/15 Tour | God’s Little Acre, Newport
• 4/15 Tour | Trinity Church Graveyard, Newport
• 4/15 Tour | Lawton Valley Cemeteries, Portsmouth
• 4/16 Walk | North Burial Ground, Providence
• 4/19 Talk | online
• 4/20 Tour | Norman Bird Sanctuary, Middletown
• 4/22 Tour | Trinity Church Graveyard, Newport
• 4/22 Earth Day | North Burial Ground, Providence
• 4/22 Tour | North Burial Ground, Providence
• 4/22 Clean-up | North Burial Ground and Kickemuit Cemetery, Warren
• 4/23 Hike/Clean-up | Fisherville Brook Wildlife Reserve, Exeter
• 4/23 Tour | River Bend Cemetery, Westerly
• 4/29 Tour | God’s Little Acre, Newport
• 4/29 Tour | Trinity Church Graveyard, Newport
• 4/29 (or 5/6) Tour | Elm Grove Cemetery
• 4/29 Talk/Tour/demonstration | North Smithfield-Woonsocket
• 4/29 Tour | Oak Grove Cemetery, Pawtucket
• 4/29 Clean-up | Brayton Cemetery, Warwick
MAY
• 5/5 or 6 Walk | St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Providence
• 5/6 Tours | Fort Adams Cemetery, Newport
• 5/6 Conservation workshop/Clean-up | Cumberland
• 5/6 Tour | Trinity Church Graveyard, Newport
• 5/7 Tour | Moshassuck Cemetery, Central Falls
• 5/7 Tour | George Sears Greene Cemetery, Warwick
• 5/10 Clean-up/data collection | Locust Grove Cemetery, Providence
• 5/12 Clean-up/data collection | North Burial Ground, Providence
• 5/13 Clean-up | Cumberland
• 5/13 Tour | Coddington Burial Ground, Newport
• 5/13 Tour | Trinity Church Graveyard, Newport
• 5/13 Tour | North Burial Ground, Providence
• 5/13 Tour | Burr’s Hill Park, Warren
• 5/17 Discussion | North Burial Ground, Providence
• 5/20 Clean-up | Cumberland
• 5/20 Tour | Trinity Church Graveyard, Newport
• 5/20 Tour | Casey Farm, North Kingstown
• 5/20 Tour | North Burial Ground, Providence
• 5/20 scavenger hunt | Brayton Cemetery, Warwick
• 5/25 Tour | Roger Williams National Memorial, Providence
• 5/27 Clean-up | Cumberland
• 5/27 Tour | Trinity Church Graveyard, Newport
• 5/27 Tour | Casey Farm, North Kingstown
ONGOING (APRIL – MAY)
• Online video about North Burial Ground + Swan Point Cemetery, Providence
• Walking challenge | North Burial Ground, Providence
IN PLANNING
• Tour | Elder Ballou Meeting House Cemetery, Cumberland
• Talk | East Greenwich
• Clean-up/demonstration/Tour | East Providence
• Clean-up | North Smithfield
• Tour | St. John’s Cemetery, Providence
• TBD | Glocester, Richmond, Scituate, Smithfield, Tiverton