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Ida Lewis: Mother of all Keepers

Published March 23, 2021

Ida Lewis: Mother of All Keepers

Here at The Mariners’ Museum and Park, Ida Lewis is no stranger. We’ve blogged , Tweeted , written , and lectured all about our heroine of Lime Rock Light. However, our mission here at the Museum is all about Maritime Connections because we’re all connected by the water. That’s why I chose Ida Lewis. Her acts of heroism are still inspiring women of all ages and created legacies that now bear her name. Out of these legacies have come a personal maritime connection and a story of another young woman with a link to Ida’s legacy. I want to take Ida’s story one step further than all the reasons she had the reputation of being able to “row a boat faster than any man in Newport.” As you can probably tell, I’m excited to share these stories with you just in time for Women’s History Month.

Mother’s Keeper

First, I’d be doing you and Ida herself a disservice if I didn’t give you a little background on our brave lightkeeper. Idawalley Zorada (sometimes spelled “Zoradia”) Lewis, the second oldest of four children and eldest daughter of Captain Hosea Lewis. Capt. Lewis became keeper of Lime Rock Light at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1854 when Ida was 12-years-old.

Sadly, in October 1857, he suffered a severe stroke and became unable to continue his duties as lightkeeper. It was then that Ida’s mother, also named Idawalley Zorada Lewis, became the official keeper. Mrs. Lewis maintained the light itself, keeping it trimmed and fed with oil. At age 15, young Ida picked up her oars and took to the sea. She took on the responsibilities of retrieving the family’s supplies from town and fetching her little sister and brothers from school. Rowing in sun and storm, wind and rain, she took to it naturally. Surprisingly, before moving to Lime Rock, she had no boating experience whatsoever.

As keepers of the lighthouse, Ida and her mother would see boaters out at sea, and Ida would row out her boat to save these souls. She made her first rescue of 4 young men at just 16-years-old when their sailboat overturned in the fall of 1858. There are 18 confirmed rescues credited to Ida, but the actual number could be as high as 36. She made her last rescue at the age of 63 and was the keeper of Lime Rock Light until she passed away after a stroke in 1911 at the age of 69.

Sister to Sheep Savior

Some rescues were what one might call “unique.” On Ida’s third rescue one January morning in 1867, three men were driving a valuable sheep when it got away from them and plunged headlong into the waters. The men jumped in Ida’s brother’s new skiff in an attempt to catch the animal, but they were quickly swept up in the tides as well. Ida saw them from the window, rescued the men, then went back for the sheep.

Honors and Awards

All her publicity and fame fell upon her after her fifth rescue in March 1869. Many local and national newspapers picked up on her story, and she became quite the star! After rescuing two soldiers stationed at nearby Fort Adams Army Post, the Humane Society of Massachusetts, and the New York Life-Saving Benevolent Association each awarded silver medals to Ida for her selflessness and heroism. Then, on July 4, 1869, her fellow townspeople of Newport also bestowed upon her a beautiful blue, oak surf-boat, christened the Rescue .

She went on to be awarded the United States Life Saving Medal of the First Class on July 16, 1881, by Secretary of the Treasury, William Windom, for saving two men from drowning on February 4, 1881. Until 2019, she was the only woman to have ever received that tribute.

Becoming Keeper

In 1879, Mrs. Lewis gave the official appointment as lightkeeper to Ida to care for Ida’s sick younger sister. Ida went on to save many more lives in her 32 additional years as keeper of Lime Rock. Her name has since gone on to leave legacies associated with rescue and life-saving assistance.

Ida Lewis Rock and Lighthouse

One of these legacies, formerly Lime Rock, the Rhode Island Legislature, officially renamed Ida Lewis Rock in 1924. Then the U.S. Lighthouse Service (a government bureau that became part of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939) renamed the lighthouse “Ida Lewis Rock Lighthouse.” It’s still the only such honor ever given to any lighthouse keeper. The white Greek Revival house still stands with a few modern additions that now functions as the Ida Lewis Yachtclub . The yacht club’s burgee (pennant flag used in recreational boating) is that of a lighthouse surrounded by eighteen stars to pay homage to Ida Lewis for the eighteen lives she saved.

US Coast Guard Cutter Ida Lewis

Yet another legacy would be the Coast Guard Cutter Ida Lewis. A 175-foot “Keeper Class” coastal buoy tender, commissioned April 12, 1997. She was the first of 14 ships of her class named in honor of famous lighthouse keepers from the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Homeported in Newport, Rhode Island, as an homage to Ida Lewis herself, its area of responsibility spans from Long Island Sound, New York, to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Her crew’s primary mission is the buoys for aiding navigation, conducting search and rescue operations, domestic icebreaking, port, waterway, and coastal security. She does it all!

Connected by the Water

I didn’t choose Ida Lewis by accident. In June 2010, straight out of Coast Guard basic training, at 20-years-old, a fresh new Coastie named Victoria receives orders aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Ida Lewis . But what’s the connection between this Coastguardsman and myself? She happens to be my younger sister! Serving on the USCGC Ida Lewis until September 2011, she left to finally go to “A” School just down the road in Yorktown, VA, where she earned her rate as an MK (Machinery Technician). While on the Ida Lewis , Victoria worked on deck, maintaining and replacing the buoys and other navigational aids.

Maritime Guardians

Certainly, the Cutter and her crew have lived up to her namesake. When they were on their way to Baltimore, MD, from Rhode Island to go into drydock, they received a distress call of a boat taking on water. The Ida Lewis was the closest boat and responded. The MKs (Machinery Technicians) boarded the vessel from their small boat and temporarily patched the leak. They towed them astern (towed behind) through the night to the closest port, where Victoria stood the tow watch.

For two weeks in March 2011, they veered from normal operations when icebreakers in New York needed support. They assisted with ice-breaking to keep the waterways open and clear for barges to transport goods and supplies. Those are but a few examples during Victoria’s time aboard the IDA LEWIS when the Cutter and her Coastguardsmen quietly served and protected the United States’ Northeast waters.

Maritime Moments Continue

In April 2014, Victoria left the Coast Guard, but her maritime connection didn’t end there. A few months later, she began an apprenticeship program at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, where she’ll be a journeyman Outside Marine Machinist upon completion! As it so happens, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard is where USS Merrimack’s resurrection occurred, re-christening it the CSS Virginia by the Confederacy. This ship gained its fame when it sank in the Civil War ironclad Battle of Hampton Roads against none other than the USS Monitor. Now, you can find the turret and artifacts from the Monitor at The Mariners’ Museum in the USS Monitor Center !

Two sisters took this photo aboard the USCGC IDA LEWIS. Now, ten and a half years later, one of them happens to work as a photographer in a maritime museum. Its mission to connect people to the world’s waters. The association between Ida Lewis, her legacies named for her, my sister on her namesake vessel, and my job at a maritime museum to tell photographic stories about maritime connections is so exciting! The nerd in me HAD to share this neat story! Our mission here at the Mariners’ Museum and Park is to show others that through our shared maritime heritage, through the water, we’re all connected. Although, sometimes you just can’t help but become swept up in the discoveries too!

I believe Ida Lewis would be proud of Victoria and her fellow maritime guardians. They carry within them attributes that everyone today, especially women and girls, can strive to be. As they both show that women can do non-traditional female jobs and be successful. Even Ida herself seemed to live up to the Coast Guard motto – Semper Paratus, “Always Ready.”

Lighthouse Women Continued

By the way, if you’d like to learn more about the lives of heroic lighthouse women, then I think you’ll be interested in one of the Museum’s upcoming virtual evening lectures on April 8th. Author, Shona Riddell, will be telling fascinating stories about these incredible keepers, past and present, near and far. The program is totally FREE! And you can get more info and register here ! Hope to “see” you there! 😉

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Newport Spotlight: Ida Lewis Yacht Club (ILYC)

by Ross Cann | Sep 19, 2023 | Articles , Historical , Newport Spotlight

Aerial view of the Ida Lewis Yacht Club (Photo Credits: PJ Dougherty)

When a city is as old as Newport, Rhode Island, which was founded in 1639, many of the buildings and structures of the city have had to function for many different purposes over time. This blog has noted how many buildings have been recognized as National Historic Landmarks and how even more have been added to the National Register of Historic Places , which is nearly as high of a recognition. Today, Newport Harbor is home to five different yacht clubs. These range from the extremely stately Harbour Court clubhouse of the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) to much more humble facilities. One of the most interesting of those facilities is home to the Ida Lewis Yacht Club (ILYC), which was named for the lighthouse and island constructed in the 1930’s used by Ida Lewis, one of America’s earliest female “superheroes.”

Ida Lewis (1842-1911)

The original light house was constructed in 1853 on the Lime Rock, the largest of a series of outcroppings about 900 feet from the Newport shore. It started as a tiny house used for the lighthouse keeper when they had to stay overnight and tend to the facility. Hosea Lewis took the post of the first keeper in 1853 and held the position until his death in 1911. His daughter Ida provided her capable assistance to him during this time, slowly taking on more and more of the responsibilities from her father. At the time of his passing, Ida became the first female lighthouse keeper in the country. As early as 1869, she started to become famous for her daring saves of seamen lost in the waters of the harbor. Harpers Weekly and the New York Tribune called her the “Heroine of Lime Rock”, and published tales of the 18 lives she is officially credited with saving.

Ida Lewis Yacht Club Viewed From The Docks

The functional lighthouse lost its purpose as automatic and electrical light replaced the gas and oil lights of earlier periods. By the 1920s the remnants of the rock outcroppings were sold to the “Narragansett Bay Regatta Association”, which was compromised of a group of experienced yachtsmen. In 1928, the officially christened a new facility called the “Ida Lewis Yacht Club” in honor of the longtime lighthouse keeper and American heroine.

A long wooden walkway was constructed to connect the rock outcroppings to the shore, while docks for members boats were built off the walkway over time. During the America’s Cup eras and before the NYYC purchased Harbour Court, the facility let the club share the grounds and had their burgee fly off the auxiliary flagpole. In 1988, the facility was added to the Registry of Historic Places for its historic importance.

Ida Lewis Yacht Club Viewed From The Water

Even though it is a modest facility, the ILYC represents an important chapter of Newport history when brave men and women like Ida Lewis were tasked with keeping seamen safe and occasionally having to step in to save them during dangerous and stormy conditions. Today the yacht club is an exceptional example of adaptive reuse and a lovely place to dock a boat or watch a sunset from the middle of the beautiful Newport Harbor.

Looking out from the Ida Lewis Yacht Club

Ross Cann, RA, AIA, LEED AP, is an author, historian, and practicing architect living and working in Newport, RI. He holds degrees with honor in Architecture from Yale, Cambridge, and Columbia Universities. He is an avid sailor and race committee member. He is also a longstanding member of the ILYC and its Racing Committee.

A4 Architecture

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Ida Lewis Yacht Club: Beyond its on-its-face beauty, a tale of history

The Ida Lewis Yacht Club is marked by the telltale white awning just past King Park in Newport. Self-labeled as family-oriented, Ida Lewis is a small, private yacht club with beautiful views of Bowen’s Wharf and Narragansett Bay. However, beyond the on-its-face beauty, the yacht club’s history dates back to the 1850s.

Right off the coast of Newport lies the Lime Rocks, which were used in the 1850s as a source of lime for Newport buildings. A lighthouse – today known as the Lime Rocks Lighthouse – and “shed” for its keeper was installed on one of the rocks in 1853. The keeper’s “shed,” which appears to be a full-fledged home, somehow balances on the rocks and has remained standing through many tropical storms and hurricanes. Today, it serves as the clubhouse of the Ida Lewis Yacht Club. 

Ida Lewis’s half-brother was the lighthouse’s first keeper, followed by her father. She became its keeper upon her father’s death and entered her new role in stride. She quickly became known for successfully making countless rescues from the treacherous water near the Lime Rocks. On paper, she saved 18 people during her 42-year stint as keeper although she likely saved many more lives as well. 

Now, a wooden walkway connects the house on the Lime Rocks to the mainland Ida Lewis Yacht Club entrance, allowing club members to access the clubhouse without having to boat over or brave the waters from which Ida Lewis saved so many. This year, the club is celebrating its 95th anniversary, commemorating the year in which the club was formalized after most of the rocks and structures on them were sold to the Narragansett Bay Regatta Association for $7,200 in the mid-1920s.  

Ida Lewis Yacht Club

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Wellington Ave

Newport, RI 02840

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Long walk on a pier to get to the club which sits on a rocky island in Newport harbor. Extremely well kept grounds and buildings, although smallish, especially compared to the NYYC sort of next door, on the harbor. Nice folks

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RI - Newport: Ida Lewis Yacht Club/Lime Rock Lighthouse

The lime rock lighthouse was established in 1854 and lit up newport harbor until its discontinuation in 1927. in 1924, it was renamed the ida lewis lighthouse, named after keeper, ms. idawalley zorada lewis. the name remained after the lighthouse closed when it became the ida lewis yacht club, a private yacht club.   a newport native, ida tended limerock with her mother, for her ailing father, captain hosea lewis, from 1857 until his death in 1872. her mother was appointed keeper until 1879, although ida continued to do the keeper's work. then ida received the official appointment and her own salary ($500 a year). she continued at her post until her own death in 1911. because of her many rescues (officially credited with 18 lives, although unofficial reports put it as high as 25), ida lewis became the best-known lighthouse keeper of her day, earning visits from president ulysses s. grant and vice president schuyler colfax, numerous national press features, and the carnegie hero fund benefaction. ida's last recorded rescue occurred when she was 63 years old.   national register #87001700 (1988).

Ida Lewis Yacht Club

Rates / policies.

Rates Moorings are available for non-members of the club. Members only access slips. Mooring rate $65.00/night Call morning of arrival at 9am to check availability. Marina does not accept advanced mooring reservations.

Policies This marina does not require a credit card to hold the slip or any type of deposit. As a courtesy please notify the marina if you need to cancel your reservation at least 24 hours in advance.

Additional Information

• Fax: 401-846-8234
• Latitude:  41.4768
• Longitude:  -71.31588

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Club Risovalshchikov

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CLUB RISOVALSHCHIKOV, Moscow - Butovo South - Restaurant Reviews, Photos & Phone Number - Tripadvisor

• Service: 4.5