Ida Lewis

This is an edited version of an interview first heard in episode 48 in February 2020. The guest is author Lenore Skomal.

Ida Lewis was possibly the most famous lighthouse keeper in American history. She was born in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1842.  She became the official keeper at Lime Rock in Newport Harbor in 1879 and held the position for 32 years. Officially, Ida Lewis is credited with 18 lives saved. She became a celebrated national heroine.

Writer Lenore Skomal is the winner of multiple awards for literature, biography, and humor. Her book on Ida Lewis, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, was originally published in 2002. Booklist called it “[a] sensitive biography. . . . A remarkable story of an ordinary woman who did some extraordinary things.”