Comparison to baptisteries, 1844
17
[...] In a work first issued in Denmark, it is proved [...] that the old stone building at Newport, Rhode Island was erected by the Northmen; for it is exactly like the stone houses of Norway, built as baptisteries. The oldest people of Rhode Island know nothing of the origin of that curiously built edifice. [...]
Source: Asahel Davis, "A Discovery of New-England by the Northmen five hundred years before Columbus, with an introduction on the antiquities of America and the first inhabitants of Central America, with important additions. A lecture delivered in New York, Washington, Boston and other cities." (Boston: Dutton and Wentworth Print, 1844), 17.