The historic Warwick Neck Lighthouse is set to go to public auction this summer, offering buyers a rare chance to own one of Rhode Island’s iconic light stations.
The waterfront property at 1350 Warwick Neck Ave. features the 51-foot-tall lighthouse, which has guided mariners since 1827 and remains an active aid to navigation, capped with its classic cast iron lantern and a modern beacon. The roughly 1.3-acre estate also includes a 1,626-square-foot, two-story, four-bedroom home with one and a half bathrooms that once served as the lighthouse keeper’s quarters, along with an oversized two-car garage.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the property sits on a residential street about a mile from the Warwick Country Club. The lighthouse was built in 1827, the keeper’s dwelling was built in 1932, and the light was automated in 1985.
The U.S. General Services Administration, which is handling the sale, has not yet finalized a start date or an initial bidding price. Once those are set, the agency will publish them on its real estate sales website and issue a formal invitation for bids with details on the property, environmental information and the bidding process.
The auction follows a federal disposal process that began several years ago. In 2023, the GSA offered the lighthouse at no cost to eligible government agencies and nonprofit organizations under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000, which makes historic lighthouses no longer needed by the U.S. Coast Guard available for educational, park, recreational, cultural or historic preservation purposes. Under that law, a lighthouse that is not transferred to a public body or nonprofit organization is then sold to the public, as the Warwick Neck property now will be.
Prospective bidders can subscribe to the GSA’s real estate sales site and follow the listing to receive updates as the auction details are finalized.
