A single website providing a detailed overview of the Newport Tower and Kensington Rune Stone has not existed and this site was created to remedy that. Many theories have been advanced as to who built the tower, when and for what purpose. The establishment position is that it was built by Benedict Arnold, grandfather of the revolutionary traitor, as a windmill in about 1675. There is no documentation of this, only a statement in Arnold’s will referring to, “my stone built windmill.” It is not the purpose of this website to evaluate any theories other than the colonial theory or to solve the mystery of The Newport Tower. Rather, these pages exist to aid the open-minded reader judge whether or not the colonial build theory is viable. Either the tower was built by colonials, or it is older. We invite you to explore the links below, form your own conclusion and consider its implications. We recommend you begin your explanation with the Dispute History page. Each page has a link at the bottom to the next page in the series.

The image at the right is from the painting done by Gilbert Stuart in 1775. Stuart was a known realist who painted the best known portrait of George Washington. Only 100 years after it was supposedly built as a windmill, there is no evidence in the picture of any ruins of a windmill, not even a road leading to it. It looks ancient, as it surely is.