Ida Lewis Revered as America’s Bravest Woman

She saved 18 people while keeping watch at the Lime Rock Lighthouse in Newport Harbor

New England Historical Society
Share
New England Historical Society
Ida Lewis Revered as America’s Bravest Woman
Copy

Did you know the so-called “bravest woman in America” was from Newport? Ida Lewis saved about 16 people during her time as the keeper at the Lime Rock Lighthouse in Newport Harbor, but rescuing two soldiers from drowning when their boat capsized on March 29, 1869, gained her national attention.

Lewis’ final rescue came in 1906, when she was 64. The lighthouse is now named in her honor.

Get the full story in the reel below.

Once thought lost to history, the powerful handwritten declaration by New England Baptist clergy resurfaces—shedding new light on religious resistance to slavery and a pivotal moment in the church’s past
Imagine if you could be the greatest in the world at anything, but you’d have to sell your soul to do it. That’s the story of the show “¡Que Diablos! Fausto,” a bilingual production at Teatro en El Verano
Rhode Island had been poised to become a hub for offshore wind, but the new domestic policy bill debated overnight in the U.S. House could put that work in jeopardy
Twenty states, including RI, sued the Trump administration after federal health officials shared sensitive data about Medicaid recipients