Nobody knows for sure where it came from or who built it or why, but right smack in the middle of Newport, Rhode Island, at the top of Mill Street, in Touro Park, stands an odd, circular stone structure known to locals as " The Old Stone Mill" and to the world as " The Newport Tower."

Most people think it was built as a grist mill, by the first colonial governor of Rhode Island, Benedict Arnold. (No, not that Benedict Arnold--his grandfather) Arnold owned the property on which the Newport Tower stands and mentions his " stone built grist wind mill "in his will-- so it makes sense that maybe The Newport Tower is the remains of Arnold's grist mill, built to grind corn for the growing town of Newport..

That has always been the prevailing theory, Circular windmills of similar construction were not unknown in the part of England Arnold came from. Some historians think The Newport Tower was modeled after the 17th century Chesterton Mill in Warwickshire, and radiocarbon dating seems to point to a 17th century origin as well.

However, there are some important ways in which the Newport Tower differs from most 17th century grist mills. The most puzzling thing is that clearly, there was once a loft or second storey to the Newport Tower and that up there, just above where the joists and floorboards would have been, is a fireplace built into the wall. A fireplace in a gristmill full of flammable grain and dust just does not make sense.

There is also some indication that the structure was already there when English colonists arrived on the scene and the town of Newport was founded. But,more importantly there are also a couple of much more excitingly romantic possibilities.