Commentary: Rescuing and Repurposing the 1898 Oregon Inlet Life-Saving/Coast Guard Station – Another potential use

For more information on the background of the Oregon Inlet Life-Saving Station, click here

About the Oregon Inlet Life-Saving Station

As millions of travelers land upon the famous Hatteras Island by crossing the impressive new Marc Basnight Bridge, (which locals still refer to as the Oregon Inlet Bridge), the visitor sees a beautiful but mysteriously abandoned building. It is, it was, the 1898 Oregon Inlet United States Life-Saving Service Station No. 16. It is in serious trouble. It needs to be saved, to be nurtured, to be rescued – just as it spent its life doing for others. To add to the confusion, it is very often mistaken for and misidentified as the Pea Island station.

I have already proposed a number of functions for this structure that would benefit millions of visitors and locals alike – each of these functions would be one room in the new floor plan: a Visitors Welcome Center, a gift shop, a museum celebrating all 29 of North Carolina’s United States Life-Saving Service stations, a large meeting room/event venue, and a webcam in the tower.

Now For Something Completely Different!

Let’s add a NOAA weather forecast office! Why is that? There are a number of excellent reasons:

• The operational and active U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Motor Lifeboat (MLB) Station Oregon Inlet is right across the Inlet. Immediate weather information is critical to their success. Here is an interesting factoid: The USCG only has 19 “surf stations” in the nation that, due to routinely high surf, require special boats and specially trained coxswains. Only five of them are on the East Coast. Two of those are at each end of Hatteras Island – MLB Station Oregon Inlet is the one on the north end! (Hatteras Inlet is the other.)
• One of North Carolina’s major fishing center marinas, the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, is also directly across the Inlet. They house nearly 50 charter fishing boats that pass out of the Inlet to the Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean thousands of times a year. Once again, immediate weather information is critical to their lucrative business.
• “Weather” was the primary cause of shipwrecks in the operational days of the Life-Saving Service. It still figures prominently today in USCG operations.
• Hatteras Island locals can testify that the weather frequently and sometimes drastically changes right at Oregon Inlet. It is a phenomenon to be recognized.
• Finally, this gives NOAA and the local weather forecasters an excellent opportunity to educate the millions of annual Hatteras visitors.

How serious is the trouble? Being abandoned for 30 years, the station has suffered neglect, deterioration, and even vandalism – but most egregious of all – a few want it dismantled and moved off its birthplace of 126-years ago and send it to Manteo.

I recently founded the 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization which I named the Outer Banks Coast Guard History Preservation Group. ^TM The broad name is to match its broad objective: starting with rescuing the 1898 Oregon Inlet U.S. Life-Saving Service Station No. 16. Then, to rescue, restore, assist, and promote all other Coast Guard-related OBX organizations. There is a lot of Heroic Hatteras History Here!

Help us achieve this noble and historic mission. See our Facebook page (website coming soon). Join our mailing list and/or donate at LifeSavingServiceOBX@gmail.com.