Touro Park

Nothing to write home about, just a quant little park with statues and a few benches and such. It is a nice place to sit and watch the world go by after a long day of walking around Newport

I went to see this site after seeing it on America Unearthed. It is surrounded by mystery. If you are in the area, go see it. I am going to try to visit on the winter solstice.

This is a supposedly mysterious structure in the middle of town! I was hoping for more information about it somewhere in the park but we couldn’t find any. It’s not really a destination but it does provide a nice backdrop if you want to take a rest in the park.

Just a park with a big stone structure. We saw our first Newport homeless man drunkenly sleeping on a bench. Moments later, we saw our second Newport homeless man come and kick homeless #2. We took a picture and left!

This park is small but adds to the beauty of Newport. I like old stone mill here. It is also near a lot of restaurants and cafes.

Stones
that
hold
a
mystery
Touro park is a small park located right off Bellevue Ave in the middle of Newport. A pleasant little place that would be unnoticed except for the unusual stone structure that looks so incongruent among the fine old houses.
It’s usually called the Old Stone Mill but also goes but the names of Round Tower, Newport Tower or Mystery Tower. Nobody really knows what the hell it is or where it came from. It’s made of rough stone and has a diameter of over 20 feet and is supported by 8 cylindrical columns. A couple of small windows are in the top and it probably had a upper floor.
The usual theory is that it was some kind of mill built in the 17^th century, perhaps even by a relative of that famous treacherous dog Benedict Arnold. The pre Colombian Viking theory is also popular as well as the Chinese lighthouse and even the more absurd extraterrestrial nonsense.
In the early 90’s carbon-​14 dating of artifacts connected to the tower showed dates of 1635 to 1695 so it seems it was indeed built in the 17^th century.
Whatever this thing is, it remains one of Newport’s most mysterious structures and a very cool place to visit.