JFK's Rejected Grave Slab - Newport, RI
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 41° 29.235 W 071° 18.685
19T E 307038 N 4595427
A rejected gave slab meant for John F. Kennedy's grave in Arlington National Cemetery is now located in front of the Boys & Girls Club at 95 Church St., Newport, RI.
Waymark Code: WM110CC
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 07/23/2019
Views: 4
The grave of President John F. Kennedy was an an eternal flame set on a grassy plot surrounded by a white picket fence. However, so many people were visiting the site that a larger gravesite and memorial was commissioned. Today east of the grave site there is an elliptical plaza with a curve wall that overlooks the City of Washington, DC. The wall in engraved with words from Kennedy's first inaugural address.
>
According to the Roadside America website: the original design, by stone carver John E. "Fud" Benson was to surround the grave with granite slabs with quotes from Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address. One of these slabs still exists and is located in front of the Boys & Girls Club at 95 Church St., Newport, RI. The slab contains the quote:
MY FELLOW
CITIZENS OF
THE WORLD
ASK NOT WHAT
AMERICA WILL
DO FOR YOU
This is a fragment of the complete quote:
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”