New Fyddeye Guide excerpt: Ida Lewis, the most famous female lighthouse keeper

Thursday, 24 November 2011 07:16 Written by Joe Follansbee

Travel News & More - News and Commentary

The first Fyddeye Guide will soon get a companion volume, the Fyddeye Guide to America's Lighthouses, which I'll publish early in 2012. The book will include an article on the lives of lighthouse keepers. Here's an excerpt.

The presence of families at many light stations led to one of the most unique aspects of lighthouse culture, the prominence of women. In an age when women’s roles were limited to the home, or perhaps teaching and nursing, women at lighthouses were often called to perform the same duties as their keeper husbands, fathers, or brothers, particularly if he was sick or had died.

The most famous of the female lighthouse keepers in America was Ida Lewis, the daughter of Captain Hosea Lewis, the keeper of Lime Rock Light in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1854, he suffered a debilitating stroke, and Ida took up her father’s duties, hoping perhaps that her father would soon be back at work. But he never fully recovered, and over the next 15 years, until he died, Ida and her mother become known far and wide for their dedication to the light.

Ida was appointed keeper in 1879, and as the highest paid lighthouse keeper in America ($750 a year), she held a unique spot in a time when most women could never imagine earning as much as men for the same job. Lewis also performed several daring rescues that brought her to the attention of the media and important politicians, such as President U.S. Grant. Thousands of visitors flocked to her lighthouse to meet her, and in 1924, thirteen years after her death, the government renamed the lighthouse from Lime Rock to Ida Lewis Lighthouse. The site is now home to a Newport yacht club.

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