from   Grist Mill  by Leonard Panaggio Newport Daily News, 1985

 

THE OLD STONE MILL, perhaps one of this nation's oldest tourist curiosities, has been "built" by Vikings, Portuguese explorers, Irish monks, and, of course, our Colonial Settlers. On Aug.31, l918, the Providence Journal reported the observations of Chief Strongheart, a member of the Yakima tribe. The Yakima Indians live in Washington State.        Chief Strongheart made the claim that the stone tower was not built by Norsemen or the British, but by Narragansett Indians. It was not built for mill purposes, but as a temple!  The Indian chief was lecturing in the interests of the YMCA at the naval stations and army cantonments while on a tour of the installations in the Newport district. Maybe the visiting Yakima leader has a point to consider. Many of the miles of beautiful dry stone walls, made from the local field stones, just 1ike those in the Old Stone Mill, were constructed by Indians working for early settlers.    from:  Grist Mill, "The Old Stone Mill," Newport Daily News, 19 November 1985, sec. A4.

  Old Stone Mill

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