Providence Parks

Mission

To remember the deceased, comfort the living, and preserve the historical cemetery and serve as destination for the community.

History

The North Burial Ground (NBG) opened its gates in 1700 and is the largest municipal cemetery in the region at around 110 acres and with more than 40,000 gravestones. The cemetery is owned and operated by the Providence Parks Department and contains an eclectic collection of funerary sculptures ranging from simple slate markers to elaborate mausoleum structures.

As the City’s municipal burying ground, NBG is a place where all of Providence’s people are welcome. Buried among governors, mayors, Revolutionary and Civil War leaders, and Providence’s most prominent citizens are people from all walks of life. North Burial Ground celebrates the diversity of Rhode Island’s history by caring for the burial sites of Black people, Indigenous people, immigrants, religious minorities, and the poor.

As an over 300 year old cemetery, NBG displays the landscape and architecture of the major design and planning movements in American history. The oldest sections reflect the utilitarian characteristics of an 18th century graveyard. NBG kept up with the trends and in the mid-nineteenth century, the Rural Cemetery Movement saw cemeteries landscaped into walking parks with elaborate planting, winding pathways, and features like the Receiving Tomb and Marble Staircase entrance. Today, the cemetery’s new sections are reflective of the Lawn Park Cemetery movement, which is characterized by open vistas.

Conduct

North Burial Ground serves many purposes for our community, but our primary role is the memorialization and perpetual care of the deceased. Please keep this in mind during your visit and follow these rules to ensure that a respectful atmosphere is maintained:

• Please respect the cemetery opening and closing hours.
• No dogs are allowed in the cemetery.
• Please do not drive or park on the grass.
• Please follow the posted speed limit of 10mph
• Please do not litter. There are appropriate trash receptacles around the cemetery.
• Balloons and balloon releases are strictly prohibited.
• Keep music at a low enough volume that you are not disturbing other parties around you.

Tours

North Burial Ground is Providence’s oldest municipal cemetery dating back to 1700 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. With over 100,000 interments in the last 300 years, North Burial Ground is host to numerous notable interments within the fields of business, politics, architecture, public health, art, and more. To memorialize these individuals, we have created a variety of content-specific tours that can be offered via public or private walking tours to schools, social groups, and civic organizations.

Self-guided tours and hardcopy maps are available at the office during business hours. Private group tours may be booked by calling the NBG office at (401) 680-5318 or by emailing northburialground@providenceri.gov.  The NBG office can provide you with further descriptions of our current tour offerings.

Current tour offerings include:

• Notable Interments Tour
• Women’s History Tour
• Rhode Island Politics Tour
• Black Heritage Tour
• Public Health Tour
• Relocated Cemeteries Tour
• Brown University Tour
• Faded Lovers Tour
• And more to come soon!

Interment

North Burial Ground offers a variety of options to memorialize your loved ones.

Burial:
We offer both single graves and family lots. Our single graves and family lots are located near the entrance to the cemetery and are available for as need and pre need sales. All of our burial lots allow for a variety of headstone styles, with some size restrictions.

Single graves have space for two interments, one extra deep and one on top.

Family Lots begin at two graves for four interments, or three graves for six interments. Adjoining family lots can be purchased to make larger family lots.

Cremation:
We offer cremation burial or inurnment in a niche in our columbaria garden.

Cremation Family Lots: We are pleased to announce a limited number of family cremation lots at Sycamore & Lily, a landscaped garden section of the cemetery near “Greek Hill.” Sycamore & Lily lots have space for up to four buried urns, and a shared family monument.

The Glen Columbaria Garden: The Glen Columbaria Garden in the heart of North Burial Ground features four stone columbaria, each with forty-eight marble-fronted niches, which allow for the permanent placement of inurned cremated remains. Each niche has space for two urns. Your purchase of a columbaria niche includes all engraving.

Cremation Burial in a Single Grave or Family Lot: We are happy to accommodate cremation burials on top of any extra deep burial in our traditional burial lots or a traditional burial lot can be used entirely for cremations.

For more information about buying a plot, interment, or inurnment in our Columbarium, please call the North Burial Ground office at 401-680-5318 or email us at northburialground@providenceri.gov.