Rose Island lighthouse is located on an 18-acre island off the New England coast, set a mile into Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. Built in 1869, it is a working lighthouse just minutes away from the quaint colonial town of Newport.

Beyond the reach of utility lines and services, the lighthouse stands as an independent, energy-efficient building home to keepers and their families for over a hundred years.

After the Pell Newport Bridge was built the light station was abandoned. For the next 14 years it fell victim to scavengers, vandals, and the weather. In 1984 volunteers of the newly formed nonprofit, the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation, cleaned out and restored it to its 1912 appearance, installing environmentally sensitive, utilities for electricity, water, sewer, and heat.

On August 7, 1993, the beacon was joyously relit after the funds had been raised to pay all the restoration bills. Rose Island light is once again listed on today’s charts as a private aid to navigation. It is one of only a few operating lighthouses maintained by working vacationers who sign on for a week at a time as part of our environmental education program. the lighthouse is also listed on the national register of historic places.