Ida poses in front of her lighthouse with her dog by her side and her brother, Rudd, in the background. This photo was made into a postcard which became popular with tourists. Another popular postcard is this nighttime shot of Ida’s lighthouse looking peaceful and demure in the moonlight.
View of Lime Rock Lighthouse with downtown Newport in the backdrop. Black & white postcard of Lime Rock and the lighthouse taken from Newport Harbor.
This painting, of Ida rescuing two men, was commissioned by the U.S. Coast Guard illustrating the rescue that brought her fame. It was later made into a needlepoint, as part of the Women Lightkeepers Series, and sells on E-bay today. This is one of the many pen & ink sketches depicting Ida’s life on Lime Rock. Here she is pictured with her mother and her invalid father – for whom Ida took over the lighthouse duties – when he suffered a stroke. His favorite place was to sit by the fire.
At least two pieces of music – complete with lyrics about Ida’s heroic rescues – were written in her honor…the Ida Lewis Waltz and the Ida Lewis Mazurka. An older Ida, typically with a dog by her side, poses with visitors to Lime Rock.
Ida in the Rescue, a beautiful wooden skiff built and presented to her on Ida Lewis Day in Newport. Her dog, Dewey (named after Admiral Dewey with whom she developed a close friendship) stands on an outcrop of Lime Rock. This pen & ink of Ida running across Lime Rock toward her skiff to make one of her daring rescues appeared in Harper’s Weekly in 1869 where she was the cover story.
A painted postcard of Fort Adams and one of the many regiments stationed there. Ida rescued more than one soldier making his way across the bay from Fort Adams to the bars in downtown Newport. A picturesque postcard declaring Ida Lewis the “Grace Darling of America.”


 

Most of the old postcards on this page were provided courtesy of Sanford “Sandy” Neuschatz.