The Newport Tower

A round stone tower on eight columns standing in a park in Newport, Rhode Island, and an argument that will not end. It has been attributed to Norse voyagers, the Knights Templar, Portuguese explorers and Chinese fleets. Radiocarbon dating of mortar puts construction in the middle 1600s, and colonial records refer to Governor Benedict Arnold’s stone windmill on this spot, which is almost certainly what it is. It is still a genuinely odd building, and the Norse theory refuses to die because L’Anse aux Meadows proved Norse America was real. PUBLIC park.