doubt, a marked episode in his life and knowledge. Forty odd years later, he, by the chance of fate, was the Governor of the Rhode Island Colony. With the destruction of a previous wood windmill of 1665, blown down in a great storm, it became his duty to provide another one for the use of the little colony. And there is small doubt, indeed, that in doing that he undertook to provide a mill that should be as nearly as possible a copy of the old mill at Chesterton, near Leamington—the best mill of which he knew. And so, without the measurements as to the general arrangement, size and design, from memory only, he there built, with the most limited facilities, a virtual replica of the Leamington-Peyto-Jones mill. In order to secure greater permanence and protection against Indian attacks the mill was built of stone instead of wood.
For, while of course the fine stone work and carving and detail are missing, in this colonial condition, the general dimensions, the design and the interior arrangements are in substance the same throughout. It needs only the comparison of the plans of the two—side by side—to be satisfied as to that. Governor Arnold’s birthplace and connection afford the reason of the similarity, and his will even speaks of “my stone built windmill.” This old structure, still standing—as to its walls—in Truro Park, Newport, R. I., is perhaps America’s greatest colonial relic, and with its prototype of Chesterton constitutes the most unique pair of windmills, having the greatest historic interest, of any attaching to our country’s windmill history.
NOTE:
[A] Presented at a meeting of the Mechanical and Engineering Section, held Thursday, March 14, 1918.