In a powerful anecdote from her 2017 Academy Award acceptance speech, Rhode Island-raised actress Viola Davis detailed the source of her inspiration:
“...there's one place that all the people with the greatest potential are gathered. One place. And that's the graveyard. People ask me all the time — what kind of stories do you want to tell? And I say, 'Exhume those bodies. Exhume those stories — the stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition; people who fell in love and lost.”
Providence’s North Burial Ground is the largest cemetery in Rhode Island, serving the local public since the 17th century. Still an active gravesite holding more than 200 burials per year, nearly 35,000 headstones, memorials, and tombs mark the grounds where many remarkable individuals are interred.
Despite its urban surroundings, the North Burial Ground is an open-space sanctuary where community residents and visitors can come to experience a quiet, park-like beauty envisioned by the architects. This “perfect place” in Providence attracts residents from all walks of life – from artists to joggers, historians to environmentalists, and everything in between.
In a feature documentary, Exhuming the North Burial Ground: A Perfect Place in Providence delves into the history and legacy of this local landmark. Combining dramatizations, expert commentary, historical documents, on-location filming, and scenic visuals, the film exhumes the stories Davis so dramatically reminds us are waiting to be told — and the lives that are waiting to be celebrated.
A special encore presentation of Exhuming the North Burial Ground: A Perfect Place in Providence airs on Friday, October 30 at 8:00 p.m.
WSBE Rhode Island PBS transmits over the air in high definition on digital 36.1; Cox 08 / 1008HD, Verizon FiOS 08 / 508HD, and Full Channel 08; Comcast 819HD and Verizon FiOS 18 / 518HD in MA; DirecTV 36, Dish Network 36.
