The Coddington Cemetery is an early colonial cemetery located in Newport, Rhode Island. It is sometimes called the Friends' Burial Ground, and has more colonial governors buried in it than any other cemetery in the state.
The Coddington Cemetery at 34 Farewell Street is a very old colonial cemetery with 93 known interments, and has the largest number of interred colonial governors of any cemetery in the state, including William Coddington, Nicholas Easton, William Coddington, Jr., Henry Bull, John Easton, and John Wanton, all Quakers. None of the governor's graves has a governor's medallion like those found at the gravesites of most other colonial governors. The first known interment in this cemetery was that of Mary Moseley Coddington, the wife of Governor William Coddington, who died in 1647, and the last interment was that of James Easton who died in 1796.
The cemetery has been designated as Rhode Island Historic Cemetery, Newport #9, and is located on Farewell Street between Baptist and Coddington Streets in Newport. Within the cemetery is a monument honoring Governor William Coddington, erected on the 200th anniversary of the founding of Newport. The monument reads:
<div style="text-align: center;"> THIS MONUMENT<br> Erected by the Town of Newport<br> on the 12th. day of May 1839 being<br> the second Centeniel Anniversary<br> of the settlement of this town:<br>
To the memory of<br> WILLIAM CODDINGTON ESQ<br> That illustrious man, who<br> first purchased this Island<br> from the Narragansett Sachems<br> Canonicus and Miantunomo<br> for and on account of himself and<br> Seventeen others his associates<br> in the purchase and Settlement.<br> He presided many years<br> as chief Magistrate of the Island<br> and Colony of Rhode Island<br> and Died much respected and lamented<br> on the 1st day of November in [1678]<br> [last line illegible] </div>