Lenore Skomal - Lighthouse Keepers Daughter: The Remarkable True Story Of American Heroine Ida Lewis

Lenore Skomal is the author of fourteen books, including Lady Liberty: The History of the Statue of Liberty . When her story about Ida Lewis was first released under the title The Keeper of Lime Rock: The Remarkable True Story of Ida Lewis, Americas Most Celebrated Lighthouse Keeper (Running Press, 2002), it won prestigious honors from the New York Public Library and accolades from Publishers Weekly and Book-sense . Her weekly humor column and videocast (www.goerie.com) has won numerous Society of Professional Journalists awards. Skomal has also taught journalism and creative writing at the college level.

Praise for the Running Press edition,
The Keeper of Lime Rock

An intelligent and concise biography of the pioneering woman. A good sea story... about an unusual and brave woman.

Publishers Weekly

[A] sensitive biography.... A remarkable story of an ordinary woman who did some extraordinary things.

Booklist

Lenore Skomal... treats her solid historical homework briskly and lightly.... Fascinating.

Providence Journal

Fascinating.... [A] lively, fast-moving account to hold the readers interest.... Spellbinding.

Oakland Press

To my parents, the late and loving Irene Homoky Skomal, keeper of our family light, and the late Bernard J. Skomal, who paid for the oil. keep the light on for us wherever you are.

Copyright 2010 by Lenore Skomal

Originally published in 2002 as The Keeper of Lime Rock

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

Project editor: Gregory Hyman

Layout: Mary Ballachino

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN 978-0-7627-5880-7

Printed in the United States of America

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Ida Lewis is an enigma. Considered in her day to be the bravest woman in America, she has regrettably been lost to history as a mere footnote. Part of the reason for this is that Ida Lewis was not a woman of letters. Although she had been schooled and could read and write, she was not one to journal or keep diaries. If she did, no trace of them is left to us. It is easy to deduce, therefore, that Ida Lewis did not intend to be remembered by history. Or perhaps proper care wasnt given to preserving her memory. After all, she was only a woman.

Although throughout history there are countless examples of those who have sought and achieved fame through their relentless pursuit of it, Ida Lewis cannot be counted among those. Born into a class system that would forever cast her lot in society, she was destined by birth to be nothing more than a common laborers daughter. Steeped in New England pragmatism, Ida Lewis found no shame in that. Hard work and the simple pleasures it afforded were enough. She accepted that as she conducted her responsibilities as the eldest child living with her infirm father and aging mother at Lime Rock Lighthouse in Narragansett Bay; she tended the light and performed the monotonous tasks that frame the life of a lighthouse keeper. If her life had been the sum total of just that, she most likely would have died a content woman.

Destiny, however, had a different plan. It took her in hand and thrust her into the public limelight without her consent and much against her will. Although she never viewed her heroism as anything special, everyone else did. Ida Lewis rescued people from drowning. She did it well and often, and standing at five feet four inches and weighing 103 pounds, she did so with the physicality of a stalwart man. Word of her rescues circulated quickly and literally overnight, and a country desperate for heroes following the devastating Civil War grabbed hold of her.

But fame is a fickle mistress. Becoming a legend during ones own life can be seductive and create illusions even for the most grounded. Although Ida held true to her Yankee roots, she couldnt help but fall sway to fames allure. Her story unfolds against the backdrop of the Gilded Age in Newport, Rhode Island, which was fast becoming the vacation spot for both the social elite and the rich robber barons in the 1800s. Though famous beyond any of her wealthy neighbors, including the Vanderbilts and the Astors, Ida Lewis would never be accepted into society. The irony of that is obvious, but sadly, it reduced her to a Newport attraction.

This is a tale of a true and steady woman of the humblest of roots, who as a result of her God-given courage, was catapulted to fame and, consequently, met with some of the most influential figures of nineteenth-century America. I feel particularly honored to be the one who can help this remarkable woman reclaim her rightful place in American history. I hope I have done her life justice.