Out in Newport harbor sits the Ida Lewis Lighthouse, formerly the Lime Rock Lighthouse. This little tower carries the name of Ida Lewis, who lived and worked here from 1857 and served as the official lighthouse keeper from 1879 until her death in 1911; she was celebrated for many acts of bravery in saving lives. The story of this light begins when Congress authorized a lighthouse on Lime Rock in 1853.
Lime Rock itself is a limestone ledge about 220 yards (200 m) from the shore. The original aid was a short stone tower fitted with a 6th order Fresnel lens and an oil-burning lantern, and the light was commissioned in 1854. In the earliest years the keeper rowed from the shore each day to tend the lantern, and in foul weather a small wooden shanty offered a place to wait out a storm.
The first keeper, James Stockbridge Lewis, had helped build the tower; six months later Hosea Lewis, his father and a retired pilot, was appointed keeper. In 1857 a two-story house was built and the Lewis family moved to the small island; a few months after moving he suffered a stroke. Picture the harbor and the low limestone ledge about 220 yards from shore, close beside you.