**The News from Island Cemetery**

*Serving Newport families for over 175 years …*

Hello All and Welcome to the first newsletter from Island Cemetery!

To keep you informed of new projects here in the Island Cemetery, we are launching an online newsletter here our website.

We have many staffing and Board changes bringing new skills and ideas . I’d like to introduce myself, Pamela Kelley. I’ve been the President of the Board of Trustees for the past 2 ½ years. My background was as an attorney here in Newport as well as a business owner of Rue de France, an import and online business that was sold in 2001. Trustees are chosen from people who own or control a 4 grave lot, as is set out in the original Articles of Incorporation from 1848. Our Board now includes Frank Ray, George Herrick, Walter Reed, Ron Dupont, Norman Bestoso, Kevin Kelley and Harry Eudenbach. Harry is also President of the separate non-profit foundation set up in 2014, the Belmont Chapel Foundation.

Although Mike Henlynshyn retired as of the end of 2019, we still call on his expertise on occasion. He worked at the cemetery for 30 years and has an encyclopedic memory. Lee Richards of Four Seasons Landscaping, Tiverton, who has been doing our grounds maintenance for the past 10 years is continuing so we will have continuity. We have also hired a part time administrator, Sharon Hussey to keep track of the paperwork and bookkeeping and to help us apply for grants, which is something we hope to do more of. Sharon was formerly the Exec Director of Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation. She brings a lot of experience of the non-profit world to the job, as well as her black labradoodle, Max.

During this Covid 19 lockdown, we’ve been able to keep the property open to visitors and the dog walkers. They’ve always been careful and respectful of the space and are a welcome group. We’ve added a sign at the entrance to remind everyone to maintain social distancing until the pandemic retreats.

We have applied for and received a $10,000 grant from EJMP Foundation for Philanthropy to specifically be applied to conserving and computerizing the cemetery’s records that go back to the founding in 1848. It is great to be recognized by this community and even better to be able to undertake this important project which will make accessing all our information as well as grave locations available to all. We were able to do this through the Friends of Island Cemetery, a 501 (c) (3) which is now a partner of the Island Cemetery. Sharon has been instrumental in getting this grant. We’ve identified the cemetery management software and company we’ll be using and hope to get them started in the next few weeks as translating information from cards into an electronic, accessible form involves interpretation of data and handwriting. Salve Regina has already been a great help as they’ve scanned all the cards which are in a digital form, which is certainly step one from an archival point of view.

Another exciting project is a long-range plan for the cemetery’s future that incorporates newly available burial areas, includes landscape design and takes into account the trend towards cremations while continuing to provide for maintenance of the lovely grounds. This has allowed us to take a look at other historic cemeteries and see how they’ve addressed the problem of balancing reasonable growth and responsible maintenance given a limited space we have available .

A proposal has been made by Dodie Kazanjian to use the Belmont Chapel as a gallery to temporarily exhibit the artwork of an artist she’s selected from July to September, 2020. Her 501(c)3 is called Art&Newport and the website at art&newport.org sets out their ideas: to educate and create programming that will make use of the city’s natural landscape and its history as a place for contemporary art and artists.

This would be the fourth year she has staged events in Newport, the last being in the summer of 2019 at the Marble House. She has selected artist Piotr Uklaski and loves the Belmont Chapel as an exhibition space, just as it is, in an abandoned condition, aside from removing the wooden window covers and replacing with Lexan and restoring and reinstalling the original wooden doors. Art & Newport will be paying for the cost of the door repair and restoration as well as the Lexan for the windows to let in natural light. The artist, Piotr Uklaski, has been working on a series of paintings specifically for the chapel; some of his recent works can be seen in his Oct 2019 NY exhibition Ottomania.

We’re tentatively planning to have the space open by appointment only for limited times, only on weekends from July to September, depending on what will be safe at that time. We will need volunteers to man/woman the chapel and the office, develop a handout about the cemetery and monitor the space and number of people. If you’re interested, please contact either Harry at harryeudenbach1@verizon.net or myself at islandcemeterynewport@gmail.com. Harry thinks there would be a lot of local interest as well in the chapel and I agree with him, particularly as all the other large events in Newport have now been cancelled. It will be a great way to create interest in the cemetery and bring attention to the restoration needs in front of people who have the means to support it.

The cemetery has many varieties of trees some of which are considered “specimen” trees. We’ve applied to and are hoping to be one of Newport Tree Conservancy’s Arboretum . You can look at our tree map, which Bartlett Tree Experts prepared here which lists all our trees and their condition. Our trees are reaching maturity and some need to be replaced so that’s on our To Do List, although it’s unfortunately not the only thing on that list!

If you have any questions or want to get involved with the cemetery, please contact us at islandcemeterynewport@gmail.com

Regards,
Pam Kelley, President
Island Cemetery Trustees

Volume I - Welcome

Volume II- Projects in Progress