Volume VIII - Fall 2026
The News from Island Cemetery
Serving Newport’s families for over 175 years …
1. Island Cemetery Today
2026 has been an exceptionally active year at Island Cemetery, marked by growing interest in burial lot acquisition, genealogy and family history research, expanded programming and events, and increased visitor traffic. This heightened activity reflects the Cemetery’s growing role not only as an active burial ground, but also as an important historic, cultural, and community resource. To meet this activity, we are strengthening staff capacity while continuing to plan carefully for the Cemetery’s future.
Lot Development
We are moving forward with a renewed focus on lot development and long-term land management, ensuring that available cemetery property is thoughtfully planned to meet future burial needs while respecting the historic landscape and character of the grounds.
Supporting this important work is the addition of Tanya Kelley as Director of Cemetery Development. Tanya will help lead the planning and development of new burial areas, work with families and lot owners, and strengthen the Cemetery’s approach to sales, land use, and long-term stewardship. Her appointment represents an important investment in Island Cemetery’s future—balancing the needs of an active cemetery with our commitment to preservation, conservation, and responsible care of this historic landscape.
Remembering Together
On Memorial Day 2026, Island Cemetery was honored to welcome members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, families, and friends for a heartfelt remembrance of those who served our country.
Gathering among the graves of our veterans reminds us that behind every marker is a life, a family, and a story of service. We are deeply grateful to the VFW for helping us continue this cherished tradition and ensure that those who served are never forgotten.
2. Preservation & Stewardship
Caring for the Grounds
During the summer, grounds activities concentrated on seasonal landscape maintenance, tree and storm-related work, burial and gravesite services, care of the cemetery’s arboretum, and stabilization and preparation of historic family lots for restoration. Planning is underway with the Grounds Committee of the Board of Trustees for Fall Cleanup Days at Island, the Annex, and Friends’ cemeteries, and improvements to the drainage and landscaping around the Chapel and more.
Preservation Update: Kane Family Lot
Delancey Astor Kane (August 28, 1844 – April 4, 1915) was an American soldier and horseman who was prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age. He was known as the father of coaching (the sport with carriages and horses), an avid yachtsman, and once a Commodore of the New York Yacht Club.
Located in the center of the cemetery and highly visible, this once beautiful garden lot had deteriorated with toppled markers on the family’s graves requiring righting and cleaning and the once-beautiful stone wall increasingly deteriorated with each passing year.”
Restoration work is completed, made possible in part through the generous support of the Phelps family, descendants of Delancey Astor Kane and other preservation and conservation minded donors. The project includes uprighting and stabilizing the historic gravestones and restoring the deteriorated granite wall.
Thanks to Hall Masonry and TNT Gravestone Solutions LLC for their conscientious workmanship.
Family Partnerships in Lot Preservation
Island Cemetery’s historic family lots are an important part of the Cemetery’s character and tell the stories of generations of Newport families. Preserving these distinctive sites is an important part of our stewardship—and one made possible through partnerships with family descendants.
In recent years, the Norman, Kissell, and Pell families have generously supported restoration and improvements to their family burial sites. These completed projects have addressed important preservation needs, enhanced the surrounding landscape, and helped ensure that these historic lots will be cared for for generations to come. We are deeply grateful to these families for their commitment to preserving both their own family legacies and the larger historic landscape of Island Cemetery.
That tradition of family partnership continues at the Ferry Manice Shiland Lot, home to the distinctive Ferry Mausoleum. Major improvements are now underway with generous financial support and design involvement from the family. The project will enhance the landscape surrounding the mausoleum while respecting the historic character and dignity of the site.
Together, these projects demonstrate what can be accomplished when families and Island Cemetery work in partnership. Each restored lot strengthens the Cemetery as a whole—preserving its monuments, landscape, and family histories while ensuring that this remarkable place remains beautiful, meaningful, and well cared for into the future.
A View from Above: Preservation in Progress
See Island Cemetery from a new perspective. The two drone videos below take you above the grounds for a closer look at two significant preservation projects: the restored Norman Family Lot and the Richard Morris Hunt Exedra, an important future restoration priority. Together, they illustrate both the results of a completed conservation project and the continuing need to preserve Island Cemetery’s remarkable monuments and historic landscape.
Drone videos provided by Aquidneck Aerials
3. Planning for the Future
Newport Cemetery District & Alliance
What is the Newport Cemetery District?
For many people entering Newport, the historic burial grounds on either side of Farewell Street provide a first glimpse of the city’s extraordinary history. Together with several nearby burial grounds, they form a distinctive historic cemetery landscape containing centuries of Newport’s history, architecture, monuments, trees, and over 44 acres of open space in the heart of Newport.
Through the emerging Newport Cemetery District Alliance, the organizations responsible for these important sites are working together to identify shared preservation priorities, improve access to burial and genealogical records, coordinate stewardship, and explore opportunities for joint programming and long-term sustainability.
This collaborative approach recognizes that Newport’s historic cemeteries are not isolated sites, but part of a connected historic and cultural landscape. By planning together, the participating organizations can better protect these important burial grounds, improve public access and understanding, and establish a stronger foundation for their long-term care.
Building for the Future
As the operational center serving Island Cemetery and supporting the broader Cemetery District, Island Cemetery’s facilities are an important part of this planning effort. Proposed improvements will address both the needs of an active cemetery and the growing opportunities for preservation, research, and public engagement.
The developing plans include:
Administration Building & Visitor Services — restoration and expansion of the historic Administration Building to provide improved space for cemetery operations, staff, family services, genealogical research, and visitors.
Maintenance & Monument Restoration Facilities — improvements to the Maintenance Building to better support grounds operations, equipment, and the specialized work required to conserve and restore historic monuments throughout the cemetery.
Together, these improvements will strengthen Island Cemetery’s ability to serve families today while providing the facilities needed for the stewardship of its historic landscape well into the future.
What Comes Next
Planning for the restoration and adaptive reuse of Island Cemetery’s historic Administration and Maintenance Buildings continues with generous support from the van Beuren Charitable Foundation. The current phase is advancing the design and establishing a framework for improvements to cemetery operations, visitor services, preservation work, and the surrounding landscape.
As the planning has progressed, the project has evolved to address the Cemetery’s growing needs and the broader opportunities identified through the Cemetery District planning process. The work underway today is about more than improving buildings. It is about creating the infrastructure, partnerships, and long-term plan needed to care for Newport’s historic burial grounds for generations to come.
4. Explore Island Cemetery
Take a Tour
Every monument has a story, and every walk through Island Cemetery offers something new to discover. Explore the people, architecture, monuments, symbolism, and landscape that together tell nearly two centuries of Newport history.
Join one of our guided cemetery tours, organized by Lew and Trudy Keen, and discover the stories behind some of the remarkable people and families buried here. Along the way, learn to look more closely at the artistry of the monuments, the meaning of familiar cemetery symbols, and the ways Island Cemetery reflects Newport’s changing history.
Prefer to explore at your own pace? Download one of our self-guided tours and use your phone as your guide while you wander the grounds. Follow a suggested route, stop when something catches your eye, and discover stories you might otherwise walk right past.
Hidden Histories Challenge
Want to look even closer? Try our new Hidden Histories quiz, designed to turn a walk through Island Cemetery into a discovery of details hiding in plain sight.
Can you find an anchor carved into a monument or gravestone? An angel or winged figure? What other symbols, inscriptions, architectural details, or unusual monuments can you discover?
Hidden Histories encourages visitors of all ages to slow down, look carefully, and explore the cemetery in a new way. Submit your answers—and photos of your discoveries—and see how many of Island Cemetery’s hidden histories you can uncover.
Whether you join a guided tour, follow a self-guided route, or take the Hidden Histories challenge, there is always another story waiting to be discovered at Island Cemetery.
5. Looking Ahead
Richard Morris Hunt at 200: A Legacy Worth Preserving
October 2027 will mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Richard Morris Hunt, one of America’s most influential architects and a defining figure of Newport’s Gilded Age. The Richard Morris Hunt Collaborative Project is bringing together organizations throughout Newport to commemorate this milestone with special events, lectures, tours, exhibitions, and programs celebrating Hunt’s extraordinary legacy.
Island Cemetery has an important story to tell as part of this celebration. The Richard Morris Hunt Exedra, the semicircular architectural element prominently located at Belmont and Perry Circle, is both a significant work associated with Hunt and a lasting connection to the families and architectural history that shaped Gilded Age Newport.
As the bicentennial approaches, Island Cemetery is seeking the funding to restore and preserve the Exedra so that this remarkable monument can become a focal point for interpretation, tours, and special programming during the 2027 celebration. Our project offers donors and preservation partners a timely opportunity to help safeguard an important piece of Newport’s architectural heritage.
Watch for more information about the Exedra restoration campaign and Island Cemetery’s plans for celebrating Richard Morris Hunt at 200.
Upcoming Programs & Events
And for the early birds among us, join in the yoga fun at the Chapel with Rachel Whitworth weekly on Sunday at 8:30 am, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings at 8:00 am …
Join us for early morning yoga in the Chapel on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Learn more and sign up …
6. Support Island Cemetery
Caring for Island Cemetery’s historic landscape and accredited arboretum is a year-round commitment. This season, continued tree care, planting, pruning, grounds maintenance, and attention to the Cemetery’s historic lots and monuments have helped preserve the beauty and character of this remarkable landscape. Much of this work is made possible through the generosity of donors, volunteers, and community partners who share our commitment to its preservation.
As we look toward fall, that support remains essential. Maintaining more than a century and a half of landscape, monuments, walls, trees, roads, and historic structures requires ongoing investment—not only to address immediate needs, but to ensure that Island Cemetery is cared for well into the future.
Our Annual Appeal will arrive later this fall, highlighting the preservation, landscape care, and stewardship priorities your support will make possible in the year ahead.
You don’t have to wait to make a difference. A gift today can support the special preservation and stewardship projects already underway at Island Cemetery.
Support Our Legacy — Give Today
Our Thanks
Everything we accomplish at Island Cemetery is made possible through the generosity, expertise, and commitment of our donors, partners, contractors, volunteers, and staff. We extend our sincere thanks to:
Donors: Prince Foundation; de Ramel Foundation; EJMP Fund for Philanthropy; Jaffe Family Foundation; van Beuren Charitable Foundation; Phelps family members, and many more individuals and descendants of Legacy Lots
Partners: Charlie Ridolf, City of Newport; Lew Keen, NPT Historic Cemeteries Commission
Contractors: PLACEstudio, LLC; SPRING STREET Studio; The Damon Company; TJ Brown Landscaping; DaPonte’s Landscaping Services; Hall Masonry; Devellis Masonry; Atlantic Lawn and Garden; TNT Gravestone Solutions LLC; Beyond the Gravestone; Gravestone Care RI; Aquidneck Aerials, LLC
Our Staff: Sharon Hussey, Betsey Oestreich, Robert Vitello, Tanya Kelley, Frank Amaral, Zachary Russell