Touro Synagogue

The oldest surviving synagogue in the United States, built 1759–1763. During the Revolution it served as a British officer's meeting room and later briefly as a hospital. In 1790 George Washington wrote his famous letter to the congregation assuring them that the new government "gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance." The letter, a foundational statement of American religious liberty, was inspired by a message from Newport's Jewish community to the new president. A National Historic Site.