Figure A Figure B Figure C

The Rose Island Lighthouse in the harbor of Newport, Rhode Island, has taken on a new life as a living museum. The first floor has been restored to the condition it was in at the beginning of the 20th century, when the lighthouse was in its heyday.

Figure A--The Rose Island Lighthouse was built on the foundations of an 18th-century bastion, and began guiding maritime traffic in 1870. A century later, the lighthouse was abandoned after the Newport Bridge was completed and listed on navigational charts.

Figure B--Today Rose Island has been restored with careful attention to detail. Charlotte Johnson, executive director of the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation, said they intentionally created a worn, utilitarian look to reflect how the house actually appeared during the early years of the 20th century.

Figure C--Rose Island offers a genuine taste of what a lighthouse keeper's life was like a century ago. Upstairs are quarters for the "keepers," guests who pay to come and live in the lighthouse for a week and perform chores similar to what the actual lighthouse stewards once performed. Guests go through a daily checklist of duties, including checking the precipitation at the island's weather station and monitoring the water supply.