NewportTower

Newport Tower, Old Stone Tower, Old Stone Mill, Newport Ruin, The Old Mill, Round or Viking Tower.

It is one of the mysteries of Newport. There are a number of theories about the tower’s origin. One is that the stone tower was build by the Vikings in 11^th or 12^th century, supposedly as a watch and defense tower. Another theory concludes that Portuguese explorers built it in 1511. Or maybe it was the Dutch who built it when they established trading posts in America before the first colonies were founded. Still another theory sets the erection of tower to 1355, when it was built by religious group sent by the King of Norway and Sweden. Or maybe you’ll like the theory that the tower was build by Governor Benedict Arnold as a windmill. The origin and early history of this stone structure is shrouded in mystery supported by its peculiar construction and isolated position.

© Richard Konkolski

The cylindrical tower rest on eight rude circular columns. The arches have no proper keystone and two of them are broader then the others. Two stages are apparent. There are two windows and a fireplace. On the inside the haunches are cut for the beams of the first floor. The windows and doors do not face the place where the village was located at that time.

© Richard Konkolski

The tower is high on a hill and could have been seen by mariners back then. That the tower has a fireplace would make it unusual for a mill. On the other hand, at night a fire could have been seen far away and a seaman could steer by its light into Newport Harbor. Whatever the story is, the tower is still standing in Touro Park, occupied only by pigeons, guarding its secret.

The 28 feet high Medieval-looking structure is most probably an “Old Mill” built by the first Governor of the Colony Benedict Arnold, who owned the property at the time of his death. He makes mention of it in his will, dated in 1677, calling it “my stone build Wind Mill”, when he was giving direction for his burial place. It is known, that he moved to Newport after 1661. For a long time, the date of building was set to “sometime before 1676”. A Mr. Church mentioned the tower in his account of King Philip’s War in 1675, where he wrote of a certain captain being advised by an Indian fighter to lead his men “to the windmill on Rhode Island, where they would be out of danger.” A record from 1740 in which Edward Pelham gave eight acres of land to his daughter mentions the Stone Mill: “with an Old Stone Wind Mill thereon standing and being, and commonly called and known as the Mill Field.” The lane appears to be named from its way up the hill to the mill and is now called Mill Street. The Pelham’s wife was granddaughter of Governor Benedict Arnold.

An old mill near Leamington, England, designed by Inigo Jones, supposedly was a model for Governor Arnold’s Stone Mill.
Old Mill at Leamington
© Richard Konkolski

The windmill was definitively an object of the first necessity to the settlers. The flat stones of which the tower is build were used throughout the island to build walls. Most of the stones were turned up during plowing.

The Stone Tower has a much deeper meaning to the Newporters. It is part of the founding mythology, which cannot be mixed with science. In early 1990 there was research done on tower by a Committee for Research on Norse Activities in North America AD 1000-1500. The study had two parts – examination of all documentary and published evidence and sophisticated “carbon 14” dating procedure from samples of mortar used in the construction of the Tower and Wanton-Lyman-Hazard house, which was build between 1660 and 1700 for comparison.

Testing reports conclude that the carbon dating confirms the most probable date of the building between 1635 and 1698. All documentary, architectural and archeological evidence point to a date close to the lifespan of Benedict Arnold or one of his contemporaries as its builder.

The Americans used the Tower as a watchtower in 1762. The British stored munitions in it. City of Newport supposedly rented the tower to the Newport Artillery Company so that a watch for enemies could be held. Today the Tower is just a great monument to our past and whoever built it had done a good job on the structure and in providing us with a curious mystery.

The Stone Mill stands in the pleasant Touro Park between Bellevue Avenue, Pelham Street and Mill Street. The Mill Street was one of earliest streets of Newport.

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