Today marks 175th birthday of ‘America’s Bravest Woman’. Ida Lewis was an American lighthouse keeper noted for her heroism in rescuing people from the sea. Her family moved to the Lime Rock Light in Rhode Island in 1857. She helped maintain the Lime Rock Light after her father became ill and eventually was the keeper after both parents died. Lewis made her first rescue in 1854 when she was 12 years old and she made her last recorded rescue when she was 63. During her 54 years on Lime Rock, she is credited with saving 18 lives although unofficial reports suggest the number may have been as high as 25. On July 16, 1881, she was awarded the rare, and prestigious, Gold Lifesaving Medal from the United States government, for her daring rescue on February 4, 1881, of two soldiers.
In 1924 the Rhode Island legislature officially changed the name of Lime Rock to Ida Lewis Rock. The lighthouse service changed the name of the Lime Rock Lighthouse to the Ida Lewis Rock Lighthouse—the only such honor ever paid to a keeper in the United States.
The Lime Rock / Ida Lewis Lighthouse doesn’t catch your eye as a lighthouse, as the beacon is on the side of the wall and is not seen above the roof. The Eagle River Lighthouse in Michigan is another lighthouse which is often overlooked, even though the beacon is above the roof, but it blends in with other houses on the water edge.
Eagle River Lighthouse
