Centuries-old gravestones returned to Rhode Island cemetery

Published October 24, 2016

Centuries-old gravestones missing from a Colonial-era cemetery in Rhode Island have been returned after turning up elsewhere, including one found in a Pennsylvania woman's yard.

The three gravestones were reset in the Common Burying Ground in Newport on Saturday.

One stone that dates to 1690 was for a 1-year-old child. Lew Keen, of the Newport Historic Cemetery Advisory Commission, says the 12-inch-by-24-inch stone was found in August by Stephanie Pallas, of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.

The others were from 1835 for a Newport woman and her children. Those were found in a Newport yard in the 1980s and stowed in a basement until the homeowner alerted the commission in the spring.

Keen says people would take stones from graveyards for patios, well covers and other uses.

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