The North Burial Ground opened its gates in 1700. It is the largest municipal cemetery in the region at around 110 acres with more than 40,000 gravestones. Since 1711, the cemetery has not had a single year without a burial. The North Burial Ground contains a wonderful array of classic sculptures and iconography that reflect the styles of three centuries. 

The North Burial Ground has been a place where all of Providence’s people are welcome. The cemetery relishes in its diverse history, having buried Providence’s most prominent and wealthy citizens, politicians, soldiers and leaders, to immigrants, Black people, Indigenous people, religious minorities, and the poor.

The North Burial Ground serves as the final resting place of Sarah Helen Whitman, which is quite appropriate since their social mission stands for what Whitman firmly believed in. She is interred at the far right end of her family’s plot off of Eastern Ave road on a grassy path labeled “Dahlia Path.” You will find her sister, Susan Anna Power, to her right, proceeding with her great grandfather, her grandparents, her parents Nicholas and Anna, and her grandaunts. Whitman’s oldest sister, Rebecca Power Staples, is interred just a stone’s throw away with her husband and children.

Today, the North Burial Ground remains quite active with roughly two hundred burials a year, and programming has never been more prevalent in the cemetery’s history. Edgar Allan Poe: Rhode Island has participated in creating and hosting programs that highlight Sarah Helen Whitman’s legacy. I urge you to follow the cemetery’s Facebook page to stay updated on their events. Any events related to Sarah Helen Whitman or Edgar Allan Poe will always be shared on this website’s home page.