Cemetery
St. Mary's Episcopal Church is graced with a remarkable campus which includes an historic and active cemetery of 20 plus acres which surround the church and parish house.
Churchyard
a place of quiet and repose, a place where comfort is drawn from the peace provided by being close to God and to God's church. It is a blessed burial place where the eartly remains of people have been laid to rest in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life.
St. Mary's cemetery is roughly organized in a symmetrical plan with hand-crafted stone walls on all sides. The graves have a variety of modest, yet beautiful stone plaques and exquisitely carved headstones. The landscape of the churchyard is a virtual arboretum, with many specimen trees including several kinds of beech, maple, oak, chestnut, linden, umbrella pine, Kentucky coffee, dogwood, and various evergreens and flowering shrubs. Deer and wild turkeys have been seen at times, as well as a number of bird varieties. It is a beautiful place for a quiet peaceful visit.
History
The earliest grave markers belong to Mary Lawton Vinson (d. 1797) and her son,George Vinson, (d. 1816).
Sarah Gibbs, who donated the land on which St. Mary's sits, is buried in the churchyard, on the east side of the church she helped build. She was a dedicated and fascinating woman and Sarah Gibbs and Oakland Farm: Hospitality and Heartache tells her story and the story of her commitment to the Episcopal faith and her generous donation to the church.
Famous people buried in St. Mary's cemetery include
- Stephen Bleecker Luce (1827-1917), U.S. Navy Admiral and the first President of the Naval War College;
- McCarty Little (1845-1915), founder of the Naval War College War gaming exercises; and
- Mabel Norman Cerio (1876-1949), founder of the Norman Bird Sanctuary.
There are also markers honoring everyday people, priests, bishops and members of the congregation. To find notable people interred in the cemetery, you may use an online document compiled by St. Mary's or visit Find-A-Grave.
BUrials and Gravesites
The St. Mary's Churchyard is an active, historical cemetery, the final resting place of over 2,000 people, and still has gravesites available for purchase.
Inquiries about purchasing a gravesite are by appointment only. Please contact Karen Laroche, Pastoral Associate for Administration at 401-846-9700, ext. 100 or email her at karen@smcportsmouth.org to arrange an appointment.
Before contacting the Pastoral Associate, please read the following documents, which outline our churchyard rules and regulations and our policies on funerals and burials.
On the following pages you will find historical, practical and useful information about St. Mary's churchyard, particularly if you are considering the purchase of one of our gravesites, but also if you already own a site and are facing the prospect of a burial.
We hope you will find the information contained here helpful and informative, and that during your next visit to the church you will find the time to reverently walk through our historic churchyard.
