History Bytes: Jewish Burials in Newport

May 7, 2013
A "Newport Daily News" glass plate showing the gates on Farewell Street from the NHS collections.

A "Newport Daily News" glass plate showing the gates on Farewell Street from the NHS collections.

The Jewish cemetery on the corner of Bellevue Avenue and Kay Street dates back to 1677, long before the construction of Touro Synagogue. Sephardic Jews have been present in Newport since 1658 and required their own segregated burial place. The cemetery contains 38 marked graves dating from 1761-1866, and is enclosed by gates donated by Judah Touro in 1842. Other Newport families are buried in lower Manhattan, Philadelphia, the Caribbean and New Orleans.

After a long dormancy in the 1800s, Touro Synagogue experienced a re-birth from a new generation of Ashkenazi worshippers. Under the leadership of Max Levy, Jewish burial lots were purchased in Newport’s Braman Cemetery on Farewell Street and fenced off from non-Jewish graves as required. A wrought iron fence with granite and limestone entrance gates graced Farewell Street and the site was formally dedicated on Memorial Day (Decoration Day) 1911.

A detail from the glass plate showing the sign on the gates.

A detail from the glass plate showing the sign on the gates.