Coast Guard Station 1915-1982

In creating the Coast Guard in 1915 by merging the Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service, Congress also made appropriations for new construction to replace some of the run-down buildings that it inherited from the old Life-Saving Service. By May 1916, plans had been finalized for the new Coast Guard Station at Cape Lookout, and on May 9, the keeper recorded that he had received six sets of “plans, specs, and forms of proposal for new Coast Guard Station at this place.”

In early August 1916, the district superintendent approved the final plan for the site, and on August 25, contractor W. B. Shull arrived to begin work. Although there had been some consideration to building the station in a new location, the low rise on which the old life-saving station sat could not be matched elsewhere, and somewhat to the surprise of the station keeper, the decision was made to build the new Coast Guard station on the site of the old Life-Saving station. So, over the last week in August and the first two in September, the old station was jacked up and rolled to a new site barely sixty feet northwest of its old location. When it was moved, the old station was also reoriented, with the boat room doors facing northeast rather than southeast, as they had originally.

Construction began on the new building by the middle of September 1916, and as the new station was going up, the crew was engaged in building new walks and fences as the station compound was rearranged to accommodate the new construction. The new station was completed in 1917 and occupied on January 24, 1918.

The old life-saving station may have been unoccupied through the remainder of 1918 as World War I was fought to its conclusion. By early 1919, however, plans were being laid for converting the old station into a dormitory for Navy personnel who would be manning the Cape Lookout Life-Saving Station's new radio compass station that was planned for the site.

Among the reasons for the demise of the Life-Saving Service as a separate entity were the great improvements in ship-to-shore communications that occurred in the early 1900s. These improvements fundamentally altered the nature of the Life-Saving Service’s mission, but they also gave the old life-saving station itself a new lease on life. Historically, communication between ship and shore had depended entirely on visual contact, with flares and signal flags all that could be done to warn ships against impending disaster. The advent of battery-powered “occulting lights” in the early 1900s allowed the station to communicate through Morse code, not only with ships at sea but also with the life-saving stations at Core Banks and at Fort Macon. Nevertheless, visual contact was still necessary and even the station’s occulting light was virtually useless under foggy or stormy conditions.

The newly developed “radio compass” proved highly effective during World War I in locating ships at sea through the use of radio signal "triangulation". Twenty-nine radio signal stations were built along the East Coast during the war, and in 1919, Cape Lookout was one of nineteen additional signal stations built by the Navy.

With the radio compass, came the need for electrical power and, undoubtedly, a gasoline-powered generator and batteries were installed with it in 1919. In January 1922, the station log records the crew’s work in laying electrical cable between the radio shack and the 1917 building “for the purpose of installing electric lights in station.” Quite likely, electric lights were installed in the old life-saving station at the same time.

Between WW I and WW II, the station served as a typical Coast Guard installation, with life-saving remaining a part of the station's role through 1942. The Coast Guard’s life-saving stations on Core Banks (one was located half-way up the Banks near Old Drum Inlet and another at Portsmouth) remained in service after World War I, but The Portsmouth Life-Saving Station closed in 1937, and the Core Banks Station in 1940.

During WW II, German U-Boats prowled the waters off North Carolina's coast and sank several ships. Because of this threat to shipping from the Morehead City port, Cape Lookout was fortified. Battery Cape Lookout, which had two 155mm guns (1942) in revetments and later two 5-inch naval guns (1942-1944) on concrete mounts, was constructed near the old Coast Guard Station (the concrete supports are still visible). A radar tower was raised in the dunes in front of the Coast Guard Station and a Battery Commander's observation tower was on the shore behind the battery. A new Naval Radio Compass tower was constructed 340 yards west of the radar tower. Observation posts also were located on Shackleford Banks (near Bald Hill Bay) and on South Core Banks (about four miles northeast of the lighthouse). Lookout bight was a mined and net-protected safe anchorage for allied merchant ships from 1942 to 1944.

Some, if not all, of the residences near the Coast Guard Station were occupied by Army personnel (193rd Artillery) during the war years.

After World War II, the Army base was conveyed to the Coast Guard, which retained only ninety-five of the original 400+ acres that made up the base. Land speculation also increased and several of the old residences were acquired by people without family ties to the cape to be used as summer vacation cabins.

In the 1950's, after automating the Lighthouse, the Coast Guard began to plan significant changes to the operation of the Cape Lookout Station. Several smaller buildings were demolished and, in 1957, a 1923 boathouse and the1887 life-saving station building were offered for sale. The 1887 building was purchased, moved about 500 yards north of its original site, and used as a vacation house until 2003.

In 1982, the Cape Lookout Station was merged into the larger Fort Macon Coast Guard Station and was decommissioned. The station buildings and property were transferred to the Cape Lookout National Seashore in 1984. Currently, the Station is utilized by the Cape Lookout Studies Program of the North Carolina Maritime Museum, which promotes environmental education, research, conservation, and an appreciation of maritime natural history on the coastal waters and islands. Electrical power at the site is provided by solar panels and a wind generator.