Sights ~ The John Stevens Shop ~ Newport

 If you were following the 2022 RI Statewide Scavenger Hunt on Insta, you probably saw a few pictures of the John Stevens Shop in Newport.

The shop was founded in 1705 by John Stevens I, and has been at its present location (27 Thames St.) since sometime after 1757. John Stevens I handed it over to John Stevens II, and so on until more than 200 years later in 1927, when the business left the family and was sold to John Benson. 

Since then, the shop has been in the Benson family, and is still in business today, 95 years on.

As stone carvers, the original Stevenses, their employees, and enslaved workers, created memorial stones, hearths, and kitchens on sailing vessels. These included memorial stones for enslaved people. 

Between the Stevens and the Bensons, the shop has produced notable monuments and carvings, from local burial grounds to Arlington National Cemetery and beyond.

Today the shop is run by Nicholas Benson, who was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship and in 2010 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.