Rose Island Lighthouse

Rose Island, Newport Rhode Island, USA

On a chilly summer day, I launched a kayak from a rocky shore at Battery Park in Newport, Rhode Island. I had set my sights on getting close to the Rose Island lighthouse. The light is located not far from Newport Harbor, and very close to the iconic Newport Bridge.

It was a short twenty or thirty minute paddle to Rose Island. There was a bit of a chop, and I was sure to give right of way to the numerous sailboats and pleasure craft cruising around Goat Island.

The lighthouse is located on a speck of land that once was home to fortifications dating back to colonial times. The light itself is sits on the existing southwest bastion of a fortification built as part Newport’s old coastal defense system. During the years of the French revolution, some engineers fled France during the turmoil. The construction of fortifications on Rose Island were lead by French- born U.S. Army Major Louis Tousard. The fort would be informally named Fort Hamilton. The “fort” never was expanded during that era, but the US Navy would fortify parts of the island in WW2. The navy constructed buildings used for storing explosives for the nearby torpedo station on Goat Island. After the navy closed and abandoned the facility it fell into slow decay. The lighthouse itself was replaced by automated lights offshore, and it too was shuttered.

By the 1970’s the lighthouse was shambles, victimized by vandals. The Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation was formed by a group of concerned citizens, and together with the City of Newport, secured ownership of the land. The lighthouse and other historic structures on the island were slowly restored.

Today, you may visit the island and tour the light, or arrange to stay at the lighthouse for a night for a fee that helps maintain the house and grounds.

The island also is home to a wildlife refuge for the gulls and other local birds.

As I paddled past the refuge,I was warned not to approach by the nesting birds, but was able to capture their ire with a long telephoto.

Away from the refuge, I landed on the small beach used for kayaks. I explored the lighthouse and picked a spot to photograph it, leaving soon after. It turned out that the highlight of the trip was not the beacon after all, but seeing the “fort” repurposed into a much more useful home for the wildlife of Narragansett Bay.

You can get more information about the Rose Island lighthouse on the foundation’s’ website: https://www.roseisland.org/