Coast Guard Station

Coast Guard Station. Assateague Island National Seashore. Between 1922 and 1967. the white buildings visible in the distance marked the center of lifesaving activities on this end of Assateague Island. The twelve-man crew of the Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station stood ready to aid vessels in distress along the nearby coast. , , From the three-bay boathouse, the double ender motor-driven rescue boats were launched on carriages that ran into the water on rails. Unlike earlier beachfront stations where crews had to launch surf boats directly into the breakers, these craft could enter the ocean through the calmer waters of Chincoteaque Inlet. Even during storms rescue boats could get under way. The historic Assateague Lighthouse is one of nearly 450 automated lighthouses maintained today by the U.S. Coast Guard. , , (sidebar) , Closed by the Sands , The first Assateague Beach Life- Saving Station (1) stood on the northern shore of Toms Cove. Silting of the cove and growth ol the "hook." gradually made it difficult to get rescue boats to the ocean at low tide. In 1922 a more modern station(2) was built at what was then the tip of the island, but the island continued to grow and silting made access difficult. Today's Coast Guard Station is in Chincoteague, Va. (captions) , Rescue Craft Crews at the beachfront life-saving stations rowed out to wrecks in surf boats. , , Power boats revolutionized rescue operations at modern stations like this one. , , Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station , Today the National Park Service is preserving the deactivated Coast Guard Station. The buildings are not open to the public.