Cemetery Walking Tour - Trudy & Lew Keen - DISCOVER NEWPORT'S ISLAND CEMETERY

Join local historians Trudy & Lew Keen for a walking tour of Newport's historic Island Cemetery on September 23 from 11:00am - 12:00pm. Charter Books will have copies of the Keens' DISCOVER NEWPORT'S ISLAND CEMETERY for sale at the entrance to Island Cemetery. A portion of all book sales will be donated to the Friends of Island Cemetery toward their landscaping and preservation efforts.

Newport was the summer home of internationally famous people at the time Island Cemetery was formed. Remarkably, many of these people chose to be buried here alongside the men and women who lived in the city year-round. Richard Morris Hunt, America's foremost architect, George T. Downing, civil rights leader, Theodore M Davis, Egyptologist and Naval heroes Oliver and Matthew Perry are but a few of the notable people buried here. The book shares the location of the graves of more than 150 notable people and monuments. Chapters are organized as illustrated themed tours including maps to help locate the grave site.

Lew Keen is a former teacher who shared information in a concise, clear, interesting format for decades. In recent years, these skills have been honed as a tour guide in Newport, Rhode Island, presenting the history of the city to visitors and residents. An interest in burial sites began in the 1980s after visiting Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. With his avid interest in all things related to the nineteenth century, cemetery visits to Victorian cemeteries were part of any travel plans. A fascination with Newport’s history exposed the need for action to preserve historic gravestones. Lew led the effort in 2016 that resulted in the renewal of the city’s Historic Cemetery Advisory Commission. Since that time, he has served as the chair of the commission and, later that year, was appointed to the state Historical Cemetery Commission.