- Street:
- 122 Church Street
- City:
- Bristol
- State:
- Rhode Island
- Zip Code:
- 02809
- County:
- Bristol
- Phone:
- None
- GPS Coordinates:
- 41.670049, -71.271139
- Maps:
-
- Also Known As:
- Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Bristol #8, West Burial Ground
- Active:
- No
- Condition:
- Relocated
- Established:
- 1737
- First/Oldest Burial:
- Unknown
- Affiliation:
- Non-Sectarian/Public
- Access Type:
- Public
- Historic Site:
- Yes
- Website:
- None
- Cemetery Map:
- None
- Notes:
- From "Sketches of Old Bristol" by Charles O. F. Thompson - "In 1737, the part of the Common east of the Gladding's house was designated as a burying-ground." This house stood on the south side of the Common, about halfway between High and Wood Streets. As late as 1895, a slight depression in the land remained where the cellar once was. The house at one time was used as a smallpox hospital, probably on account of its nearness to the burying ground. In 1853 the town meeting "Voted - that Bennett J. Munro be appointed a committee to remove the remaining tombstones from the West to the East burying ground." In the early 1870s, when they were plowing up the southeast part of the Common, people now living remember them turning up bones that were only a foot or two under the surface and throwing them in a pile off to one side; later, they were reburied over in the East Burial Ground. "In 1850, the southeast corner of the Commons was an old graveyard, surrounded by a roughly built stone wall on three sides. On the east side, there was a wooden fence. Most of the stones were of the old slate period with angel heads, hourglasses, Father Time, etc." (pg 185)
