One of the oldest in the state, the Newman Cemetery was established in 1643, when the area was part of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. It is located at the southwest corner of Newman and Pawtucket Avenues, adjacent to the Newman Congregational Church. Its first recorded burial is in 1658, and it remained in use well into the 19th century. [Wikipedia]

The burial ground is mostly intact after nearly three and a half centuries. Since the burial of William Carpenter in 1658– the first recorded interment here- -it has been continuously used by the community and serves as the resting place for many locally prominent citizens. Here are -the graves of the Reverend Samuel Newman, founder of Rehoboth and first pastor of Newman Congregational Church, and of other early Rehoboth settlers, the only extant sites associated with these individuals and their lives. A remarkable number of grave markers from the ,l6OOs survive at Newman Cemetery- -‘certainly among the largest, if not the largest, group of seventeenth-century gravestones in Rhode Island today. [from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form]

The earliest grave (above, left) is marked by a simple, rough-cut field stone about twenty inches high and reads in rough-cut letters, “W.C., for William Carpenter who died in 1658. Click here for the Find-a-Grave listing.

This cemetery was originally in Rehoboth, MA. In 1812 the western half of Rehoboth was set off as a separate township called Seekonk, Ma. In 1862 the western part of Old Seekonk was ceeded to Rhode Island and was incorporated as East Providence, RI.

Click here for the searchable Rhode Island Historical Cemetery web page on the Newman Cemetery.

Click here for the Blackstone Heritage Corridor web page about the area.

Click here for photos of some of the oldest headstones.

Click here for more photos of the cemetery.

Click on the map below for a Google satellite map of the location.