Newport

Touro Synagogue (1763) - the oldest surviving synagogue building in North America - and George Washington's 1790 letter "to bigotry no sanction."

Modern locality anchor

Newport

United States · City · 41.5°N 71.3°W

This anchor orients the sourced locality record. It is not a reconstructed historical position or border; the single map below provides geographic context.

View location

Where is Newport?

Land geometry: Natural Earth 1:50m via world-atlas. Pins mark modern localities or representative regional anchors stored on Atlas place records, not historical borders and not reconstructed positions. · Sources & methods

THE COMMUNITY TIMELINE · EVERY NODE DATED

What happened to the Jewish community of Newport?

1658–1820

Colonial Sephardic community (Touro, 1763)

1820–1945

Community fades (19th c.); synagogue maintained

This section addresses destruction and loss. It is one chapter, not the whole story — continue to what survives and what was created after

1945–present

Modern small community; national landmark

Today

Tiny community; national landmark.

LANGUAGES & COMMUNITY

What did Newport sound like?

Hebrew (עברית, Ivrit)Ladino / Judeo-Spanish (Judezmo; Haketía)

Ladino / Judeo-Spanish (Judezmo; Haketía) is a language with its own grammar, literature, and history — not “broken” anything, and not a dialect of Hebrew.

AFTER · IN FULL COLOR

What survives today?

In Newport

Tiny community; national landmark.

Touro Synagogue
synagogue · historic site
National Historic Site; oldest US synagogue building (1763).

SOURCES & REVIEW

Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. (place entry)
Macmillan Reference USA · 2007

Reviewed 2026-07-30

Reading about Hebrew (עברית, Ivrit) and Ladino / Judeo-Spanish (Judezmo; Haketía)? Baba can help you understand the languages in context →