Old Harbor U.S. Life Saving Station

History

The Old Harbor U.S. Life Saving Station is a historic maritime rescue station and museum, located at Race Point Beach in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Built in 1897, it was originally located at Nauset Beach near the entrance to Chatham Harbor in Chatham, Massachusetts. It was used by the United States Life-Saving Service (USLSS), and then by its successor, the United States Coast Guard (USCG), as the Old Harbor Coast Guard Station. The station was decommissioned in 1944, abandoned and sold as surplus in 1947, and was used as a private residence for the next twenty-six years.

The property returned to Federal ownership in 1973, acquired by the National Park Service as part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Two years later, facing the threat of imminent destruction from extreme beach erosion, it was removed, cut in half, and floated by barge to Provincetown. The Park Service rehabilitated it and furnished it as it would have existed during its original use as a turn-of-the-century life-saving station. The Old Harbor U.S. Life Saving Station Museum opened at its new location in 1978.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.