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At the age of 27, Ida's celebrity status was approaching its
peak. She was praised on the pages of Harper's Weekly, Leslie's,
the New York Tribune and many other popular periodicals
of the day.
At least two pieces of music were named for her-the Ida
Lewis Waltz and the Rescue Polka Mazurka. Ida Lewis
hats and scarves flew off store shelves.
It was estimated that 10,000 people visited Lime Rock in 1869.
"Of these," reported the Boston Journal, "there
were probably not twenty who compensated her for the trouble
they gave. . . . People would land at the rock, prowl over the
house, quiz the family, pry into the household affairs, patronizingly
ask the age of each person and what they lived on, and how they
felt when Ida was saving souls."
Ida and her parents were paid a visit by President Ulysses
S. Grant in 1869. According to some sources, the president's
boat landed on the shore, and he got his feet wet when he stepped
out. "I have come to see Ida Lewis," Grant happily
explained," "and to see her I'd get wet up to my armpits
if necessary."
During the same year, Vice President Schuyler Colfax also
visited Lime Rock. Admiral Dewey and General Sherman were among
the others who made the pilgrimage to Lime Rock in this period,
and suffragist Susan B. Anthony twice praised Ida Lewis in her
journal.
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After an engagement of about four years, Ida was quietly married
in 1870 to William H. Wilson of Fairfield, Connecticut. Ida went
with her husband to Black Rock Harbor. Little is known of Ida's
brief married life, except that she was desperately unhappy and
soon returned to Lime Rock. Ida rejected divorce on religious
grounds, but she and Wilson were permanently separated.
Ida's father, Hosea Lewis, died in 1872, and his widow became
keeper, at least on paper. Ida, of course, had already been the
primary keeper of the station for many years.
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By 1877, the health of Ida's mother was failing, leaving her
with increased housekeeping and care giving responsibilities.
Her mother would remain ill and eventually died of cancer in
1887.
In November 1877, Ida saved the lives of three soldiers whose
catboat had run into rocks to the west of the lighthouse. This
rescue was particularly stressful for Ida, and it resulted in
an illness -- probably diphtheria -- that lasted for months.
Ida finally received the official appointment as keeper in
1879, largely through the efforts of an admirer, General Ambrose
Everett Burnside, the Civil War hero who became a Rhode Island
governor and United States senator. With a salary of $750 per
year, Ida was for a time the highest-paid lighthouse keeper in
the nation. The extra pay was given "in consideration of
the remarkable services of Mrs. Wilson in the saving of lives."
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A fanciful depiction of Ida Lewis from Ripley's
Believe it or Not!
Courtesy of Cheryl Easterbrooks
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| In 1906, a friend was coming for a visit in a
small boat when she fell overboard, and Ida rowed out and pulled
her friend into her dory. Also in 1906, Ida became the recipient
of a pension of $30 monthly from the Carnegie Hero Fund, and
the American Cross of Honor Society awarded her a gold medal.
The 1906 episode is often referred to as Ida's last rescue, but
a newspaper story from August 5, 1909, tells us that Ida saved
the lives of five young women whose rowboat was overturned by
the steamer Commonwealth. |
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Ida wrote in 1907:
Sometimes the spray dashes against these windows so thick
I can't see out, and for days at a time the waves are so high
that no boat would dare come near the rock, not even if we were
starving.
But I am happy. There's a peace on this rock that you don't
get on shore. There are hundreds of boats going in and out of
this harbor in summer, and it's part of my happiness to know
that they are depending on me to guide them safely.
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Early one morning in October 1911, Ida Lewis extinguished
the light at Lime Rock for the final time. She became ill that
morning and remained in bed for several days. Some say her apparent
stroke resulted from worry over a false report that Lime Rock
Light was about to be discontinued. Artillery practice at nearby
Fort Adams was suspended out of respect for the keeper.
Ida Lewis died on October 25, 1911, at the age of 69. The
bells of all the vessels in Newport Harbor tolled for Ida Lewis
that night, and flags were at half staff throughout Newport.
More than 1,400 people viewed her body at the Thames Street Methodist
Church. Among the crowd that gathered to pay its respects were
keepers Charles Schoeneman of Newport Harbor Light, Charles Curtis
of Rose Island Light, O. F. Kirby of Gull Rocks Light, and Edward
Fogerty of the Brenton Reef lightship. The captain and crew of
a local lifesaving station in Newport were also present.
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Edvard Jansen became the new keeper at Lime Rock. Shortly
after Jansen became keeper, his wife gave birth to a baby girl,
christened Ida Lewis Jansen. Like his predecessor, Jansen gained
fame as a lifesaver, saving two men whose boat had overturned
in a storm in 1918.
In 1924, the state legislature voted to change the name of
Lime Rock to Ida Lewis Rock. Jansen remained keeper of Ida Lewis
Rock Light until an automatic optic on a skeleton tower was installed
near the old dwelling in 1927. The automated light was discontinued
in 1963, and the skeleton tower was removed.
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The buildings at Lime Rock were sold in 1928 for $7,200 and
soon became the Ida Lewis Yacht
Club. A new walkway was built to the property, and the
old dwelling became the clubhouse. The Ida
Lewis Yacht Club can be seen from many of the sightseeing
boats out of Newport.
The original lens, manufactured by L. Sautter of Paris, is
now on prominent display, along with other artifacts and photos
of Ida. A small lamp is still lighted seasonally on the side
of the building, serving more as a memorial than as an aid to
navigation.
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- Lime Rock during the period when
an automated light on a skeleton tower served as the active aid
to navigation. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
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In 1995, the first of the new Coast Guard "keeper class"
175-foot buoy tenders was named the Ida Lewis. An actress
portraying Ida was brought by horse-drawn carriage to the launching
ceremony at the Marinette Marine Corporation in Wisconsin. The
vessel's homeport is Newport. In 2001, crewmembers from the vessel
spent time sprucing up Ida's gravesite.
Ida Lewis's gravestone is inscribed, "The Grace Darling
of America, Keeper of Lime Rock Lighthouse, Newport Harbor. Erected
by her many friends."
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If you're visiting Newport you might also want
to stop by the Common Ground Cemetery In Newport. Ida Lewis's
grave is near the front entrance of the cemetery on Farewell Street
(near Clarke Ave. in the cemetery).
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- In the summer of 2001 the crew of
the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Ida Lewis restored the gravesite
of their vessel's famous namesake. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
To learn about the keeper class cutters, click
here.
Click
here for photos of the USCGC Ida Lewis.
Keepers: Hosea Lewis (1854-1872); Zoradia Walley
Lewis (1872-1879); Idawalley Zoradia (Ida) Lewis (1879-1911);
Edward Jansen (1911-1927).
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