The Narragansett Runestone was first reported to the
Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission (HPHC) in the 1980s. The HPHC was unable to find information about the stone in previous inventories of Narragansett Bay. They found that it was located upland as early as 1939, and it may have been buried. In 2014, Everett Brown of Providence reported that he and his brother Warren had carved the runes on Quidnessett Rock in the summer of 1964. He said that he had forgotten about the incident until the stone was removed and recovered in 2013. In July 2024,
The New York Times reported that
Timothy Mellon, an heir to the
Mellon banking fortune whose estate overlooks the rock, was responsible for the removal and subsequent return of the stone. "At a meeting with neighbors, Mr. Mellon angrily insisted [that] the rock was on his property. According to a state report, he confronted people walking along the shore to look at it and told them to leave", the
Times wrote. In 2013, the investigation of the stone's disappearance "led to Mr. Mellon, who eventually agreed to turn over the stone with no charges filed, according to a non-prosecution agreement obtained by
The Times." ==Media==