Affiliated Area: Touro Synagogue National Historic Site, Rhode Island

               Hello and welcome back to our blog on the National Park Service.  In this latest post, we look at our second “Affiliated Area” to the NPS, the Touro Synagogue National Historic Site in Newport, Rhode Island.

 

The Touro Synagogue National Historic Site.

BACKGROUND:

               Today Newport, Rhode Island, is best known for its famed Gilded Age mansions.  However, in its early history it was one of the country’s foremost thriving seaports.  As a result of its international shipping industry, and Rhode Island’s colonial charter giving all its citizens the protection to their right of freedom of religion, the town attracted a wide array of ethnic and religious groups and became the location of one of the United States’ oldest Jewish congregations.

               The synagogue was constructed in 1763 for Newport’s small but well established Jewish population.  Following depredations inflicted on Newport during the American War of Independence, the congregation dwindled and struggled to survive.  For long stretches the synagogue was closed during the 1800s, often rumored to be a stop along the Underground Railroad.  The synagogue was restored in the 1880s and remains an active congregation to this day.  The Touro Synagogue was designated a National Historic Site in 1946, but as it remains a privately-owned house of worship it is only an Affiliated Area of the National Park Service and not an official unit.

 

The interior of the synagogue.

THE SITE:

               The Touro Synagogue National Historic Site consists of the synagogue, a small park on its grounds, and the Ambassador John Loeb Jr. visitor center.  The synagogue is architecturally significant, contains a prized four-hundred-year-old copy of the Torah, and is the oldest synagogue in the United States.  The Loeb visitor center contains a short film on the history of the synagogue and exhibits on the Newport congregation and prominent Jewish Americans.

 

The park lawn in front of the synagogue and the rear of the Loeb visitor center.

TRAVEL TIPS:

               Touro Synagogue National Historic Site is located in the historic center of Newport Rhode Island at the intersection of Touro and Spring streets.  The historic section of Newport contains very narrow streets and parking is limited.  It is recommended that once visitors find a suitable parking lot that you then walk to the synagogue.  Fortunately, the center of Newport is compact and easily walkable.  The Touro Synagogue NHS is open year-round, with varying hours depending on the season, with tours taking place every half hour typically between 12:00pm and 1:30pm, except on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays.  The visitor center is open longer, usually from 11:30am to 2:30pm, with extended hours during the summer.  The site is handicapped accessible.  A NPS passport stamp can be found at the front desk.