The first lifesaving station in Amagansett began as a lifeboat house in 1849 from a congressional grant to construct boathouses along the shoreline of Long Island and New Jersey. The Amagansett boathouse, one of 16 built around the same time and irregularly staffed by volunteers, sat between Indian Wells Highway and Atlantic Avenue.
In 1878, Congress established the United States Life-Saving Service to rescue victims of coastal disasters, and funded regular staffing for the stations. After this legislation, the Amagansett station was moved to the north side of Bluff Road in 1880. By 1902 it was rebuilt on Atlantic Avenue with the U.S. service’s traditional look based on a station in Quonochontaug, R.I., while the structure from 1880 was moved to Main Street. The 1902 station is located where the Amagansett Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station Museum sits today at 160 Atlantic Avenue.
Before the establishment of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, the Amagansett station’s first keeper, Charles B. Barnes (1807-1879), was appointed in 1853. In 1856, Samuel Stratton (1824-1899) joined him. These first keepers were likely appointed by the volunteers of the station.
After the establishment of the U.S. service, legislation stated that all stations must be manned by a station keeper and crew. The keepers were then appointed by the federal government and oftentimes were experienced fishermen or shore whalers.
This postcard, from the Amagansett Historical Association’s collection, shows at right the Amagansett station constructed in 1902, along with sand dunes and the ocean in the background. The structure was operated by the Life-Saving Service, which became the Coast Guard under the Coast Guard Act of 1915. The Coast Guard ran the station until 1944.
A major restoration project started in 2007, returning the station to its 1902 design. Today the building is operated as a museum listed on both the New York and National Registers of Historic Places.
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Kristen Ahearn is a librarian and archivist in the Long Island Collection.
