The Newport Tower
In a park in Rhode Island stands a round stone tower on eight arches. Some believe it was built by Vikings, or the Knights Templar, centuries before Columbus.
What was reported
The Newport Tower is a round stone tower about 8 metres tall, standing on eight stone arches in Touro Park, Newport. It doesn't look like other colonial buildings in New England, and for nearly 200 years, people have argued about who built it.
Theories have included Vikings, medieval Scottish explorers, the Knights Templar, Portuguese sailors and the Chinese fleets of the 1400s. The poet Longfellow imagined it as a Viking tower.
Explanations offered
Most historians think it was the base of a windmill built in the 1600s by Benedict Arnold, the first governor of Rhode Island and great-grandfather of the famous traitor, who mentioned 'my stone built windmill' in his will. Radiocarbon dating of the mortar in the 1990s supported a 17th-century date.
- When
- Built in the 1600s
- Where
- Touro Park, Newport, Rhode Island, USA
- Witnesses
- Historians and believers
- Status
- Probably explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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