Touro Synagogue

Touro Synagogue is a colonial house of worship located in Newport, Rhode Island, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Twelve Ionic columns support the upper balconies inside the building, with each column carved from a single tree trunk arranged to recall the tribes of ancient Israel.

Peter Harrison designed the building and the congregation dedicated it in 1763, making it the first Jewish house of worship on the North American mainland. Sephardic families who came to Newport from the Caribbean brought their religious customs with them and preserved those rituals inside this new space.

The congregation preserves Sephardic traditions through Spanish and Portuguese Jewish rituals, maintaining connections to their West Indies heritage.

The congregation holds services every Saturday morning starting at 8:45, and visitors can join guided tours offered during the week. The building sits in downtown Newport and is easy to reach on foot or by public transit, with the entrance accessible to wheelchair users.

A mural showing the Ten Commandments in Hebrew lettering sits above the eastern Torah ark and was painted by a local artist named Benjamin Howland. Beneath the floor lies a room with a tunnel that may have served as an escape route for the congregation during times of danger.

Location: Newport

Inception: 1759

Architects: Peter Harrison

Architectural style: colonial architecture

Part of: Newport Historic District

Address: 85 Touro Street

Website: http://tourosynagogue.org

GPS coordinates: 41.48940,-71.31190

Latest update: December 5, 2025 22:25