ARCHITECTURE
The Gothic-designed Belmont Chapel, conceived by George C. Mason & Son Architects was built by William Gosling in 1886. No wood is used in any part of the building except for the roof, domes, and staff heads holding the window sashes. The exterior is built of a rich, warm, reddish-brown sandstone from the Carlisle quarries of Springfield, MA. The stone was laid up rock faced and random squared. The porch and bell stage tower is of stone inside and out.
THE BELMONT FAMILY
August Belmont Sr. emigrated to the United States in 1837 and married Caroline Sidell Perry in 1849. Together they had six children. The Belmont's commissioned the chapel as a memorial to their daughter Jane Pauline Belmont who died at the young age of 19. Given as a gift, the chapel’s original purpose was to serve as a site to hold committal services for those being buried at the Island Cemetery.
ISLAND CEMETERY
The Island Cemetery and the Common Burying Ground are two separate cemeteries on Farewell and Warner Streets in Newport, Rhode Island. Together they contain more than 5,000 graves including a colonial era slave cemetery and Jewish graves. The pair of cemeteries were added to the National Register of Historic Places as a single listing in 1974.
