Viking Ship on Newport City Hall Cupola - Newport, RI
Posted by: 
NorStar
N 41° 29.503 W 071° 18.697
19T E 307034 N 4595924
This weathervane of a Viking ship on top of the Newport City Hall cupola, is both a reminder of the city's maritime past as a port, and as a reference to a theory that Vikings might have landed and built a stone tower there.
Waymark Code: WMBB44
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 04/28/2011
Views: 7
In Newport, on Broadway, is the Newport City Hall, which has a weathervane on top of its cupola. The movable portion is in the shape of a golden Viking longboat. The weathervane is gold-covered, which makes it very shiny when the sun shines on it.
Newport is an old port city and once rivaled Boston and New York, so the ocean is important to the city. However, it was once thought that Vikings might have landed here and built a cylindrical tower that still stands, and is known either as the Viking or Newport Tower. It is now generally believed that it was built more recently, likely by Benedict Arnold, great grandfather to the Benedict Arnold who was the traitor during the American Revolutionary War. So, it is not likely that Vikings were here, but references still exist around the city.
It is not known when the weathervane was installed in place. The city hall was built in 1900, so it could have been as long as 110 years (2010).
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