Ecclesiastical Preservation in Newport
Saturday, September 28, 2024 - 10AM
In-Person Tours
NESAH will return to Newport, Rhode Island to tour two landmarks that are undergoing conservation and preservation projects.
At 10 AM, we will start at the historic Newport Congregational Church on Spring Street. Constructed in 1857 from designs by New York architect Joseph C. Wells, the structure of Portland brownstone was modified in 1880-81 with an expansive decorative program by artist John LaFarge. The church was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2012 and efforts to conserve its extensive interior murals is ongoing thanks to the leadership of the LaFarge Restoration Fund.
(The church's address is 73 Pelham Street, Newport RI 02840)
Next, at noon, the group will move over to Island Cemetery located
on Warner Street. Initially formed in 1640, the cemetery grew in the late 1830s. In 1886, August Belmont, a wealthy banker who was the American agent for the Rothschild family, commissioned Newport architect George Champlin Mason and Son to build a chapel within the cemetery. The chapel served as a memorial to the Belmont’s daughter Jane Pauline. In modern times, the chapel had fallen into a state of neglect, best remembered as being shrouded 
in thick vines and overgrown trees. In 2014, the Belmont Chapel Foundation was formed to restore the chapel. Restoration work has largely been financed thanks to the generous donations from the Alletta Morris McBean Charitable Trust, the Van Beuren Charitable Foundation, Preserve Rhode Island, and the Champlin Foundation.
(The cemetery's address is 30 Warner Street, Newport RI 02840)
