Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "X" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.) A B Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, ormethod of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.
(Expires 5/31/2012) Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions.) ARCHITECTURE MARITIME HISTORY Period of Significance 1900-1950 Significant Dates 1900 construction of Life-Saving Station 1938 construction of Equipment Building Criteria Considerations (Mark "x" in all the boxes that apply.) Property is: A Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes. B removed from its original location. C a birthplace or grave. D a cemetery. E a reconstructed building, object, or structure. F a commemorative property. G less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years.
Period of Significance (justification) Criteria Considerations (explanation, if necessary) Significant Person (Complete only if Criterion B is marked above.) Cultural Affiliation Architect/Builder Victor Mindeleff, architect Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph (Provide a summary paragraph that includes level of significance and applicable criteria.) See Section 8 Continuation Sheet 3 NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) OMB No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_8 Page 1 (Expires 5-31-2012) Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable) Statement of Significance Summary Statement Built in 1900 by the United States Life-Saving Service, the Nahant Life-Saving Station was one of 33 life-saving stations established in Massachusetts before the modern Coast Guard was formed in 1915 (when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the U.S. Life-Saving Service), and it is one of only twelve in the state that still survives. Of these, only one other (the Point Allerton Station in Hull, NR 1981) was in active service for a longer period of time in its original function.
It is also the only surviving one-of-a-kind station in the state, as all other surviving stations were built from standardized plans where more than one of that type was constructed. The station is architecturally and historically significant as a largely intact example of a coastal rescue station that played an important role in the maritime history of Massachusetts and the U.S. The Nahant Life-Saving Station retains integrity of location, design, setting, workmanship, feeling, and association, and fulfills National Register Criteria A and C at the local and state levels. Historical Background Development of the U.S. Life-Saving System The organized rescue of coastal shipwreck survivors off Nahant predates the establishment of the Nahant Life-Saving Station by more than 50 years, when the Massachusetts Humane Society constructed a lifeboat station in the 1840s for this purpose.
Organized in 1786, the Humane Society was the oldest, largest, and mostwell-known of several volunteer organizations formed along the northern Atlantic coast during the late 18th and early 19th centuries for the sole purpose of saving the lives of shipwrecked mariners. Towards the end of the 18th century, the Society began building small, unmanned huts on isolated sections of the Massachusetts coast that provided shelter and food to shipwreck victims who were able to make it to shore on their own. The first of these was built on Lovell's Island, in Boston Harbor, in 1789. Within a few years, others were established to the north and south of Boston and on Cape Cod. These were simple structures outfitted with a wood stove, food, and clothing, and were maintained by a nearby resident appointed by the Society to look after them.
The first structure in this country to house a surfboat for rescuing shipwreck victims was also built by the Humane Society. This was constructed in 1807 at Cohasset, and was probably a simple shingle-sided building, one story high, and only slightly longer than its 30-foot surfboat. During the next 65 years the Society extended its lifesaving efforts to other sections of the Massachusetts coast, so that by 1872 there were 76 boathouses and eight shelter huts. By 1898, two years before the U.S. Life-Saving Station in Nahant opened, the Humane Society maintained 69 lifeboat stations between Annisquam and Westport.
Ofthese, ten were located north of Boston, at Nahant, Lynn Beach, Swampscott, Marblehead, and Salem, two each at Gloucester and Rockport, and one at Annisquam.1 It is not known for certain when the Humane Society boathouse at Nahant was established, but the town's 1845 Annual Report lists a station at the "Nahant Hotel." A photograph in the collection of the Nahant Historical Society shows a Humane Society boathouse that was presumably built after this date, on what was historically called Longfellow or (continued) 1 Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Report: 1897 and 1898 (Boston: Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1898), 10-11. NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_8 Page 2 (Expires 5-31-2012) Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable) Cobblers Beach (now known as Curlew Beach) off Willow Road. This was moved across the street and converted into a private house that still stands, in an altered condition, at 170 Willow Road. Although its date of construction is not known for certain, it was probably the 1865 station, mentioned in a history of the Humane Society. At that time, it was under the command of N. Lear of Lynn. By 1869, William Luscomb had been appointed keeper-in-charge, and it was listed as station No. 12.2 The Humane Society stations operated under the supervision of paid keepers who drilled volunteer crews in surfboat handling and various lifesaving techniques.
Each crewmember was paid for attendance at drills and for rescues in which he assisted. As an added incentive, medals and other rewards were often given for outstanding acts of heroism. Although the Society was successful in reducing the number of casualties from shipwrecks in Massachusetts, there was need for a national network of lifesavers along other sections of the coast. Navigational aids such as lighthouses and markers that were largely in poor condition; unreliable, inaccurate coastal charts; and unseaworthy or overloaded ships piloted by inexperienced captains all contributed to numerous shipwrecks and losses of life. The public outcry resulting from frequent shipwrecks along the New Jersey coast during the 1840s led to efforts to establish what was to become the first federally funded system of lifesavers. This began in 1848, when Representative William A.
Newell of New Jersey secured an appropriation of $10,000 to provide funds for building eight unmanned stations along the northern New Jersey coast. These were similar in construction and function to the Humane Society boathouses, and were outfitted with much of the same type of rescue equipment. Over the next seven years the federal Long Island, plus one at Fishers Island and one at Watch Hill in western Rhode Island. The existing boathouses of the Massachusetts Humane Society extended the network of lifesavers from Cape Cod to the New Hampshire border, thus providing a measure of protection to shipping around and between the major ports of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.
Although the number of stations had increased substantially since the federal government's involvement in 1848, there were still many problems plaguing the system that contributed to great loss of life from maritime disasters. The government's lack of control over the daily operations of many stations, and the reliance on volunteers to man them, were two major shortcomings. Although a local resident or benevolent society was initially appointed to look after the buildings and maintain the equipment, most overseers soon lost interest. No funds were provided for repairs, and over time the stations and equipment began to suffer from neglect. Furthermore, unpaid and poorly trained crews were often difficult to gather at a time when the situation called for quick and well-coordinated action. In sparsely populated areas, response time was particularly slow.
In 1853, an attempt was made to bring more order and effectiveness to the Service. A paid superintendent was appointed to oversee the operations of the system, and for the first time paid keepers were put in charge of the stations. However, this proved to be only moderately successful, as many of the keepers were political appointees with few skills in training crews or directing rescue efforts. It was not until 1869 that surfmen were offered pay as well, but then only at alternate stations and only during the severe winter months. (continued) 2 Howe, Mark Antony DeWolfe. The Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: an Historical Review, 1785-1916 (Boston: The Society), 231. NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_8 Page_3 (Expires 5-31-2012) Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable) A number of fatal shipwrecks along the Atlantic coast during the winter of 1870-71 demonstrated the lack of protection from an inefficient service in need of greater organization and more stations. In response to the public outcry following the news of the disasters, Congress appropriated funds for paid crews to live at every station for such periods as deemed necessary. It also appointed Sumner I. Kimball to supervise all operations of what was to eventually become the U.S. Life-Saving Service. One of Kimball's first acts was to commission an investigation of the entire service to determine what was needed to make it more effective.
After finding that many of the boathouses were in poor condition and badly run, he ordered a complete reorganization of the system. Incompetent keepers were removed and replaced with the most skilled surfmen at each station, and the repair of deteriorated buildings and equipment began. Kimball's investigation also found that most stations were located too far apart for neighboring crews to be of assistance to each other during rescues. Steps were taken to build additional stations in between older ones so that each would be no more than an average of three to five miles from the next. To bring this about, 18 new stations were ordered for New Jersey and Long Island, while all of the existing ones underwent renovations to accommodate additional crewmembers and equipment.
In 1872, Congressappropriated funds to extend the Service to the coasts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts with the construction of a station on Block Island and at Narragansett Pier, as well as nine stations on Cape Cod to supplement the efforts of the Humane Society. This brought the total number of U.S. Life-Saving Stations to 82. Two years later, in 1874 six more stations were built in Massachusetts: on Nantucket and Plum Island (north of Boston), while another ten were established from Gurnet Point in Plymouth (south of Boston) to the New Hampshire border during the late 1880s and 1890s. The nearest year-round life-saving stations to Nahant were at Point Allerton in Hull (south of Boston), established in 1890, and Straitsmouth in Rockport (to the north), built in 1899.
A floating station was located in Dorchester Bay, off City Point in Boston Harbor, in 1896, but was active only during the summer months. Although the Life-Saving Service had established 25 stations in Massachusetts by the end of the 19th century, the Humane Society continued to maintain their own stations, all of which were manned by volunteers. In fact, the Humane Society station at Nahant remained active until at least 1914, fourteen years after the construction of the Nahant Life- Saving Station.3 When stations of the two organizations were located near each other, they assisted each other in rescues whenever possible. But in January 1898, when the Humane Society tried to rescue the crew of the coal-carrying schooner Charles S. Briggs, which went aground off the cliffs of Little Nahant, the nearest life-saving station at Hull was too far away to offer assistance.
Despite the Society's efforts, all eight crewmembers perished. History of the Nahant Life-Saving Station The inability of the volunteer crew assigned to the Nahant Humane Society station to respond effectively to shipwrecks such as the Charles S. Briggs prompted Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge to file a bill in Congress the day after the wreck. The bill called for the establishment of a professionally manned U.S. Life-Saving Station at Nahant. Lodge also urged the town to donate to the federal government a piece of land on which to build the station. At the March 19, 1898, Town Meeting, a motion was approved to "authorize the Selectman to give the United States a suitable site for a life-saving station on Land belonging to the Town." Soon after, Congress passed the legislation.
(continued) 3 The 1914 Atlas of Nahant (Sanborn Map), in the collection of the Nahant Historical Society, shows a Mass. Humane Society Boathouse on Willow Road. NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_8 Page 4 (Expires 5-31-2012) Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable) On October 27, 1898, a parcel on the north side of Nahant Neck at Short Beach was deeded to the United States. This site was chosen because it offered easy access to and good views of Lynn Harbor and Broad Sound to the south, and Nahant Bay to the north.
The station was placed on the north side of the road that runs along the middle of the Neck because the land is wider and higher than that on the south side and because the water on this side was deeper and therefore more favorable for launching a surfboat (See Figure 9). Soon after the land was transferred tothe Life-Saving Service, plans were started for the layout of the station site and the construction of the buildings. One of the earliest drawings associated with the station is a plot plan of the lot that was drawn in August 1898 before any buildings were constructed.4 Another plot plan drawn in October of 1899, just before the station was completed, shows the placement of buildings on the site5 (See Figure 9). These included the station dwelling and a small outbuilding to the east of the station, plus a flagpole and drillpole to the west of the station.
A 1919 plot plan that shows the site in greater detail includes a cistern to the north of the station, a cesspool near the beach, paved areas and walkways, and what looks from early photos to be an iron-rod fence along the south, west, and north boundaries (See Figures 1-3 and 10).6 The station was designed by Victor Mindeleff (1861-1948), who was born in London of Russian parents and trained as an architect in Washington, DC. He was also an accomplished watercolorist, gardener, and ethnologist. Much of his work was influenced by several expeditions he made to the southwestern U.S. with John Wesley Powell, beginning in 1881. There he drew sketches and later constructed scale models of Native American pueblo ruins and cliff dwellings for the recently created Bureau of American Ethnology.
He also worked for the Smithsonian Institution where he published several works on American ethnology.? Mindeleff's architectural work prior to the Life-Saving Service included the 1891-92 Chautauqua Tower (NK), a Richardsonian Romanesque circular structure that housed administrative offices at Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo, MD. After he left the service, he established an independent practice in Washington DC, where he focused on designing single- family homes in conjunction with their surrounding landscaped gardens. During this time he also designed a number of buildings in what is now Shenandoah National Park, the most impressive of which was Massanutten Lodge (built in 1919 in a rustic architectural style, and listed in the National Register).
He served as the architectural advisor on the design of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (dedicated in 1921) at Arlington National Cemetery, and was president of the Washington chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1924 and 1925, as well as president of the Washington Chapter of the Watercolor Guild.8 (continued) 4 "Plan of Land Taken for U.S. Life Saving Station. Nahant, Mass. August 8, 1898." Source: U.S. Coast Guard Civil Engineering Office (USCG CEO), Warwick, RI. 5 "Sketch Showing the Location of Nahant Life-Saving Station, Second District. October 10th, 1899." Source: USCG CEO, Warwick, RI. 6 "Plot Plan. U.S. Coast Guard Station Number 24, Nahant, Mass., Dec. 1919." Source: USCG CEO, Warwick, RI. 7 "Victor Mindeleff, 1896-1948," Journal of the American Institute of Architects, May 1948, 219. 8 William Bushong, Judith Helm Robinson, and Julie Mueller.
A Centennial History of the Washington Chapter: The American Institute of Architects, 1887-1987, (Washington, D.C.: The Washington Architectural Foundation Press, 1987), 143. NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_8_Page 5 (Expires 5-31-2012) Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable) Mindeleff began working for the Service in 1896 and stayed for approximately 20 years, leaving around the time it was taken over by the U.S. Coast Guard. While there he was the most prolific of all its architects, staying the longest and producing the most designs.
He designed eight different one-of-a-kind station plans, from which only a single station was built, and at least ten different standardized station types, from which between two and 30 stations were built of each type. The Nahant station was probably his third design and his first one-of-a-kind plan.? Although he either signed or initialed most of his plans as architect, he was also listed as "typographer and hydrographer" in 1909 and 1912 publication that contains travel expense reports of Treasury Department employees. In that role he "secured hydrographic and topographic data necessary for the preparation of plans and specifications" for new stations, and made "surveys and established boundary lines" at existing ones. Eleven sheets of architectural plans were drawn for the station's construction.
10 These are labeled "Nahant and Gloucester," indicating a station of this type was planned for both locations. Although stations at both sites were completed in 1900, for an unknown reason a station of an earlier style (a Duluth Type design) was instead built at Gloucester. At that time, there were 270 stations established on the Atlantic, Gulf, Great Lakes, and Pacific coasts, 31 of which were in Massachusetts. Although the original 1899 plans of the Nahant station exist, the construction specifications that accompanied the plans have not been found.11 These would have described how the station would be built and what materials were used in its construction. They may have also specified what colors were used on the siding and trim.
Two early 20th-century color postcards of the station show the siding shingles to be brown or gray, suggesting they probably were left unpainted, a common practice for shingle siding on stations. The specifications for the Duluth Type station that was designed by Mindeleffs predecessor in 1893 called for the roof and shingle siding to be unpainted, as did those for Mindeleffs 1910 Lorain Type station design. The wood trim on the Nahant station was painted, probably white. The outbuilding shown to the south of the station on the original plans was a one-story, wood-frame structure with a porch and contained two privies, a storeroom, and storage for wood, coal, and oil. (continued) 9 Although the Nahant plans are not signed by an architect, there is little doubt that Mindeleff drew them.
He was the only architect working for the Life-Saving Service during the period it was designed, and the plans have many similar features found in station plans he did sign. 10 Plans of the Nahant Life-Saving Station, 1899. 11 Sheets. Source: USCG CEO, Warwick, RI. 11 A large number of architectural plans for the station (including an original copy of the original 1899 plans containing 11 sheets), plus station plot plans, are held at the U.S. Coast Guard Civil Engineering Office, Warwick, RI as of November 1999. The construction specifications for the original drawings could not be found in this office. With the transfer of the station from the Coast Guard to the Town of Nahant, this collection of plans will probably eventually be transferred to the Cartographic and Architectural Branch of the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.
A few station plans can also be found at the Coast Guard Academy Library (USCGAL) in New London, CT, in the microfilm collection, "United States Coast Guard Civil Engineering Tracings, Lifeboat Stations." NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page_6 (Expires 5-31-2012) Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name ofmultiple listing (if applicable) Completed in February 1900, the station was constructed by John Barrows of Portland, Maine at a cost of $7,945.00.12 In preparation for the opening, Captain Nehemiah C. Hayman was appointed the station keeper in March. Captain Hayman was born in Wellfleet, Mass., in 1859 and worked as a fisherman before entering into the Life-Saving Service.
Many lifesavers were fishermen before joining the Service; their skill in handling dories also made them good surfmen. In 1880 Hayman was appointed surfman at the Cahoon Hollow Station in Wellfleet, where he stayed until 1895. He was then promoted to the rank of captain and assigned to the Gay Head station on Martha's Vineyard, where he served until he was transferred to Nahant. 13 Although Captain Hayman was assigned to the Nahant station in March of 1900, it was another few months before a crew of six surfmen was appointed under his command. Like most other life-saving stations of this period, the Nahant station was initially manned from the beginning of August to the end of May, because shipwrecks were more likely to occur during this period than in the summer. A seventh crewmember was added from December to April to assist in the winter months, when storms were more frequent.
When the newly formed U.S. Coast Guard absorbed the Life-Saving Service in 1915, it called for stations to be open year-round due to the increase in accidents and groundings of the ever-increasing number of pleasure boats, particularly on the Atlantic Coast. However, it was not until 1917, when the Coast Guard came under the control of the Navy during World War I, that stations stayed open the entire year. 14 When not involved in a rescue, lifesaving crews in every station throughout the country maintained the same weekly routine. During the day, a constant watch of the coast for wrecks was kept from the station's lookout tower. At night and at times of poor visibility during the day, a crewmember patrolled the beach looking and listening for signs of a ship in distress or a shipwreck.
Although the exact route of the foot patrol at the Nahant station is not known for certain, it is believed it included the entire coastline around the town, not just the beach along Nahant Neck. When a wreck was sighted, the patrolman lit a flare to alert the ship that it had been sighted, and then hurried back to the station to summon help. Most rescues during the 19th and early 20th century were made with either a shallow-draft, and relatively light surfboat that was rowed, or with a heavier and deeper draft lifeboat, which was rowed or sailed. Surfboats were kept on a cart in the station, and dragged by the crew to the shore where they were launched. A lifeboat, because of its weight and draft, had to be launched from a marine railway that ran along a ramp from the station's boatroom to the sea.
Along beach coasts where the ocean bottom fell off gradually from shore, such as those on either side of Nahant Neck, surfboats were used because a lifeboat drew too much water to be launched from shore (See Figures 11 and 12). Sometimes the conditions were unfavorable for rescue by the surfboat, such as when the sea was extremely rough. In this case the breeches buoy apparatus was used. A cart holding the breeches buoy equipment was pulled by the crew from the station to a location on the beach near the wreck, where the apparatus was set up for the rescue (See Figures 13 and 14). A line attached to a shot was fired from a cannon on shore into the ship's rigging and tied to the mast by the sailors. Then a life ring with a pair of canvas breeches sewn into it was attached to the line with a pulley and sent out to the vessel to carry back the stranded crew one by one.
(continued) 12 Lynn Daily Evening Item, January 5, 1900. See also: Kenneth A. Wilkie, "The U.S. Coast Guard in the Town of Nahant," 1987. Unpublished manuscript. Nahant Historical Society Archives. 13 "Experiences of a Coast Guardsman," Lynn Item, February 10, 1908. 14 The Annual Reports of the United States Life-Saving Service list the period during the year each station was manned. NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5-31-2012) National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_ 8 Page_7 Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable) Station crews practiced various lifesaving drills five days a week.
Because the breeches buoy rescue was complex and occasionally was performed at night, two days a week were devoted to its practice. All stations had an area on their grounds, with a pole simulating the mast of a wrecked ship, which was used to practice the drill. The drill grounds also contained a flagpole. Flags were used to send messages between adjacent stations before the advent of telephones, and between stations and ships. Stations could signal a ship its location and alert it to offshore dangers or expected stormy weather. They could also warn a vessel if it came to close to shore, or alert a shipwrecked crew that help was on the way. The Nahant drill grounds are shown on the station's 1899 and 1919 plot plans, and the original set of drawings contains a plan of the breeches buoy pole and flagpole (See Figure 4).
Drills were not conducted on weekends, but Saturdays were set aside for station cleaning. Sunday was a day of rest, although the crew had to remain on call at the station or nearby in case of a shipwreck. Each member took turns by the week in cooking and housekeeping. When crews were not practicing drills or involved in a rescue, station life was often routine and mundane. These entries from the 1904 Annual Report of the United States Life-Saving Service illustrate some of the crew's typical day-to-day activities: Oct .18, Naphtha launch, no name. Engine broken down and vessel lying helpless 3/4 of a mile SSW of station. A surfman on patrol discovered the disabled craft and telephoned to the keeper and the life saving crew went to her relief in surfboat, anchored her with surfboat anchor, landed her crew of two men, and the following day towed her into harbor.15 Oct.
25, Schooner Edith Emery. This vessel's anchor fouled some sunken wreckage and surfmen assisted the crew in getting it clear and making sail. 16 May 16. At 1:30 am during a thick fog the patrol discovered a fishing sloop perilously near to the rocks. He displayed a night signal and warned her of her danger. She then headed offshore. 17 The first attempted rescue from the station involving loss of life occurred on December 22, 1903. An entry in the 1904 Annual Report describes the attempt to rescue two fishermen in a fishing dory. On December 22, 1903, the fishing fleet of Swampscott, Massachusetts, were engaged in hauling trawls in the waters off that town until about noon, when they completed their work and prepared to return to port.
One of the dories under sail and carrying fishermen Andrew Gallagher and Walter Cory was farthest out, and was caught in a gale, which the others escaped, by which it was capsized and the occupants quickly drowned. The disaster was witnessed by the lookout of the Nahant Life-Saving Station 2-3/8 miles distant from the scene and also by a lookout on a hill in Swampscott, who was very much nearer. Both gave the alarm at about 1:10 p.m., in response (continued) 15 Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1904), 114. 161 bid., 17. 17 Ibid., 208. NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_8 Page 8 (Expires 5-31-2012) Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable) to which a naphtha launch proceeded from Swampscott a distance of about three fourths of a mile and arrived upon the scene at 1:30 p.m., while a dory that was near by arrived five minutes afterwards, and in some ten or fifteen minutes later the surfboat from the life-saving station. These three boats made every effort in their power to discover some signs of the missing men, but without avail, and when the investigation of the circumstances of the disaster was made nothing had been discovered either of the sunken dory or of the fishermen.
The evidence shows that the men went down with the dory, and that the boat from the life-saving station was promptly launched and made remarkably good time in reaching the scene. The inspecting officer, in commenting upon the promptness of the crew, says that they made "a quick start and gave a splendid exhibition of skill and endurance in rowing the 2-1/2 miles in a choppy sea in less than forty minutes from the time the alarm was given, including the time required to launch the boat. This achievement was emphatically commended by all the witnesses who testified."18 Another rescue attempt was made on April 28, 1913. On that day the two-masted schooner Francis A. Rice, carrying a cargo of wooden pilings, grounded on Sanders Ledge between Nahant and Egg Rock, three-quarters of a mile from the station.
The crew launched the surfboat and rowed out to the ship but when they arrived they found the sailors had made it to shore safely on their own. The ship, however, was a total wreck. 19 In 1915, Congress passed a law that merged the Life-Saving Service with the Revenue Cutter Service to form the United States Coast Guard. The merger of the Life-Saving and Revenue Cutter Services combined the efforts of an organization that rescued victims of coastal shipwrecks from shore with one that dispatched vessels to cruise the coast assisting offshore ships in distress. Initially the Life-Saving Service continued to operate in much the same manner it had in the past, and little changed at the Nahant station for the first few years after the transition.
At that time there were 279 stations in operation, only seven more than were in service when the Nahant station was built fifteen years earlier in 1900. In May 1916, the three-masted schooner Lucia Porter ran aground off the Swampscott-Lynn town line during a storm. Bound for Martha's Vineyard from St. John, New Brunswick, with a load of plaster lath, the ship's crew was rescued by the Nahant station without any loss of life. Although this was the second ship to run aground off the station since it was opened, it was the first time the lifesavers were involved in rescuing the crew. In April 1913, a ship bound for Nova Scotia wrecked off East Point, but the crew made it to shore on their own. On December 17, 1918, Captain Frank Gove took charge of the station after the retirement of Captain Hayman, the original keeper who had served at Nahant for nearly 19 years.
Gove was born in Ipswich in 1868 but moved to Lynn when he was a boy.20 During the 1920s the station, like many others, was involved in preventing rum-running. One incident occurred in May of 1925 when a watchman patrolling Short Beach spotted a suspicious boat off Bass Point. The keeper and the crew took to the surfboat hoping to catch the boat making an attempted landing, but the rumrunner panicked when he saw the Coast Guardsmen and dumped the rum overboard. The Coast Guard recovered 25 cases floating in the water, and several more washed up on Bass Point. (continued) 18 Ibid., 23. 19 "Life Saving Crew Ready for Winter," Lynn Daily Evening Item, August 1, 1911. 20 Stanley C. Patterson and Carl C. Seaburg, Nahant on the Rocks (Nahant, Mass.: Nahant Historical Society), p. 275-276. NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) OMB No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_ 8 Page 9 (Expires 5-31-2012) Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable) Beginning in 1926, the facility also housed a radio station. A crew of five radio operators moved into the station, occupying the two rooms at the south end of the second floor that were formerly used for recreation. The operators had previously been located in East Boston but were moved to the Nahant station because its location was more favorable for transmitting and receiving radio signals. The station was manned by the radio operators 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A steel radio tower for the antenna was built to the west of the station near the drill grounds.
The radio operators were part of a newly created federal system of maritime communications that sent and received messages from ships at sea. Although they occasionally warned commercial vessels of approaching storms, most of their efforts involved directing Coast Guard patrol boats that were trying to prevent rum- running. To keep their transmissions secret, operators used coded messages in voice and Morse code. Although the radio crew was located in the Nahant station, the Coast Guard radio service was not directly a part of the Coast Guard's lifesaving mission. Nor were the operators under the command of the station's captain. Instead, they reported to Coast Guard radio headquarters, located in the Boston Customs House.22 The station may also have been equipped with a telephone, originally or soon after it was built.
In the late 1890s and early 1900s, telephone service was established between many stations so they could better communicate with each other. This was particularly useful when assistance was requested from neighboring stations during a shipwreck. In late 1931 or 1932, a two-car garage was built behind and to the east of the original outbuilding that contained the privy and fuel.23 It is not known what vehicles the station had at that time, but it is likely a tractor was used to pull the surfboat on its cart to the beach where it was launched.
A 1931 station plot plan showing the proposed location of the two-car garage, also shows an existing private garage along the east property line towards the shore.24 Although it is not known why there was a private garage on the grounds or its date of construction, it probably was built after 1919 because it does not appear on a plot plan of that date. During the 1910s and 1920s, motor lifeboats weretaking the place ofsurfboats at many Coast Guard stations throughout the country. They could reach a wreck faster than a surfboat, and because they were motorized the lifesavers were in better shape when they arrived on the scene. However, because these boats were heavy and had a deep draft, they had to either be launched from a ramp that led from the station's boatroom into deep water, or from a separate boathouse at the water's edge.
At a few stations, they were kept in the water at a dock, but the water on either side of Nahant Neck was too shallow to launch or dock a motor lifeboat. In the late 1930s, the Coast Guard proposed the construction of a large boathouse for a motor lifeboat at the end of Whart Street, to be manned by the crew at the Nahant station. The plan featured a three-bay boatroom of the same design as many other boathouses of this period, and a long ramp leading directly into the sea.25 (continued) 21 "Captain Gove 50 Today," Lynn Daily Evening Item, February 15, 1918 22 "Eyes and Ears of Navy are Always Open at Nahant Radio Station," Lynn Daily Evening Item, August 27, 1927. 23 Plans of the Nahant Life-Saving Station, 1899. 24 Conversation, November 20, 1999, with Maurice Poulin, Commanding Officer of the Nahant Coast Guard Station, 1960-1962. 25 "Plan for a Two Car Garage," June 10, 1931.
Source: US Coast Guard Civil Engineering Tracings (on microfilms), USCGAL, New NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5-31-2012) National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable) Section number_ 8 Page_10 For an unknown reason, the boathouse was never built. It is possible the Coast Guard was not able to obtain a title to the land they needed for the facility. A 1936 survey of an area on Willow Road commissioned by the Coast Guard indicates they were looking for a site inthis area at leasttwo years earlier than when the Wharf Street boathouse was proposed.
The survey has a note on it indicating the property was not obtained, but does not state why.It is also possible the Coast Guard may have decided not to build there after seeing the damage done to this area by the 1938 hurricane. Instead of building the boathouse, the Coast Guard placed a motor lifeboat at a dock in Lynn Harbor. Although this arrangement was better than having no lifeboat, it was not as convenient as having it located at the station or in a nearby boathouse that was manned on a constant basis. When the lifeboat was needed, it took the crew about 15 minutes to reach the dock from Nahant.26 As other nearby stations obtained motor lifeboats in the late 1930s and 1940s that could quickly respond to shipwrecks, the importance of the Nahant station, with a lifeboat that was 15 minutes away, began to decline.
In the late 1930s a motor lifeboat was placed at the station directly to the south of Nahant, at Point Allerton in Hull, and at Gloucester to the north. The Nahant station had a motor surfboat during this period but it was smaller, had a shorter range, and was less seaworthy than the motor lifeboats being used by most other stations. The fact that the beach on either side of Nahant Neck Road was suitable only for launching a shallow-draft surfboat was probably not seen as a drawback to the station's location when it was built in 1900, because most life-saving stations on the East Coast used surfboats for rescues at that time. By the late 1930s, however, stations without a motor lifeboat were being phased out. After the Coast Guard decided against building the Wharf Street boathouse, they made some improvements to the Nahant station.
The most significant one was the 1938 construction of the present equipment building, which is a four-bay garage to the northwest of the station. This was probably built because the station needed more space for equipment and boats than could be accommodated in the original outbuilding (which was torn down to make way for it) or in the 1930s two-car garage. A 1938 plot plan shows the location of the equipment building and the two-car garage, although it does not include the private garage that appeared on the 1931 plan.27 The plan also shows an Aviation Identification Platform that was placed at the east end of the grounds. The platform, which contained the number "24" in large numerals, was used to help planes flying over the station determine their location. A set of drawings done in 1937 indicates that some relatively minor improvements were also made to the station at this time.
These include rebuilding or repairing porches on the north and east side of the station, and repairs to the boatroom doors, to a ramp on the west side, and to some windows and doors throughout the station. In 1941, during the build-up to World War II, the Coast Guard was transferred from the Treasury Department to the Navy. While the Army was given the job of defending the coast from foreign attack, Coast Guard stations were assigned the task of operating an "information system" to look for German ships that might try to land saboteurs on shore. (continued) 26 "Nahant Station. Suggested Location for Garage," Plot Plan, December 1, 1931. Source: US Coast Guard Civil Engineering Tracings (on microfilms), USCGAL, New London, CT. 27 Plan for Boathouse and Launchway, Nahant Station, July 14, 1938 2 Sheets. Source: USCG CEO, Warwick, RI. NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev.
8/2002) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_8 Page _11 (Expires 5-31-2012) Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable) To accomplish this, the Coast Guard established beach patrols and built lookout towers along the entire length of the east, west, and Gulf coasts. The Coast Guardsmen were not equipped to repel armed units, but instead were to report sightings of suspicious activities. The patrols and lookouts were not confined to just the area around stations but extended to the entire coast between stations, thus ensuring continuous coverage of the coastline.
To assist in this effort the Coast Guard hired extra personnel, called Temporary Reserves, some of who were assigned to work patrols near the stations, while others were driven from stations to more distant sections of the coast. Volunteer civilians also helped out in many coastal communities, including Nahant. By February 1943, the Coast Guard surveillance was in full operation in New England, and the Nahant station, like all others, was involved in these activities. Had it not been for the role Coast Guard stations played in World War II, some of the smaller and less significant ones would probably have been closed before the War. It is not known if this would have been the fate of the Nahant station, but without a motor lifeboat it might have been slated for closing. Photos of the station during the 1950s show a number of changes to the outside of the building.
In a 1950 photo, the front porch at the west end has been filled in, and the original flared wooden steps for both front porches have been replaced with the present cement steps. The iron fence seen in the early photos along Nahant Road has been replaced with what looks to be wooden posts connected by two strands of wire (See Figure 16). Three aerial photos taken in the mid 1950s provide good views of the station and grounds during this period28 (See Figure 17). In what is presumably the latest of the three photos, taken in December 1956, the two tracks of concrete behind the station for launching the surfboat (seen in the two earlier views) appear to have been removed. This suggests that the surfboat was either not being used by this time, or was kept in the equipment building instead of in the station.
It is likely the motor lifeboat in Lynn Harbor was probably still being used at this time. In 1960, a few changes were made to the walkways and paved areas around the station. In the early 1960s, the boatroom doors were boarded over, the launching ramp from the boatroom to the beach was removed, and a small addition was made to the back of the equipment building. A few relatively minor changes to the inside of the station were made during the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1952, a fire in the attic above the second-floor quarters damaged roof rafters and sheathing boards, requiring the replacement of some of the roofing and framing. The following year, improvements were made to the kitchen and an adjacent pantry. A partition in the crew's quarters was added sometime after 1960.
In 1964, the station was deactivated, and although it was no longer used for rescues, it was kept by the Coast Guard to be used as a recreational facility by active and retired Coast Guard personnel and their families. This use of the station may have actually begun earlier, as a 1960 plan of the first floor refers to the boatroom as the "Recreation Room." To accommodate the new use, a number of interior changes were made. In the boatroom, both of the exterior doors were closed off, the inside was divided into two areas with a partition separating the front from the back, and the walls were covered with plywood paneling. The back area of the boatroom was converted into a kitchen, which served food to (continued) 28 "Nahant Coast Guardsmen and Boat Rushed to Flood Area," Undated newspaper article photo, ca. 1940. Nahant Historical Society. NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) OMB No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_ 8 Page_12 (Expires 5-31-2012) Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable) people outside the station through a pass-through that was cut into the boarded-over rear boatroom doors. On the back of the station, two bathrooms accessible from the outside were created in what was originally the keeper's kitchen, in a chamber at the west end of the building. Linoleum flooring and carpeting found in some areas of the station probably also date to this period. In March of 1978, insulation and vinyl siding were installed on the outside of the station and the equipment building, after a winter storm the previous month damaged the original siding.
From as early as 1966, the Town of Nahant began attempts to gain ownership of the station. During the Life-Saving Service era, stations no longer in use usually reverted back to the former owner of the land, which in this case was the town. Nahant claimed that since it was no longer being used for rescues, the station should be turned back to them, and went to court to try to force the change. Although the courts sided with the Coast Guard, the town did not give up its efforts to acquire the station. Finally, on November 20, 1999, 25 years after the station was deactivated, the Coast Guard turned the station over to the town at a ceremony at the Nahant Town Hall. Since that time, the building owner has undertaken a phased restoration and rehabilitation of the station and equipment buildings, aimed at returning them to service to the community.
The station will offer rentable space for events, private office space, and a rental apartment. The equipment building now provides public restrooms for beachgoers and rentable catering space. Between 2002 and 2005, the Town of Nahant undertook repairs and restoration of the station's exterior. The most significant work involved removing the vinyl siding and restoring the woodwork and shingle siding that had been damaged or removed when the vinyl was installed in 1978, replacing the asphalt roof shingles with wood shingles, restoring the inset porch on the west end of the south elevation to its appearance before it had been filled in during the 1940s, and rebuilding the railings and steps for the two north entries and one west entry.
Additional work included restoring the wood gutters and cornices, repairing and replicating the boatroom doors, repairing many of the windows, and rebuilding the basement bulkhead doors. After the work was completed, the exterior was painted in a color scheme of white and dark green based on an analysis of the existing paint layers between 1915 and 1920. Many of the original features were retained in the restoration of the first floor of the station, including the railings of both stairs, many of the original interior doors, door and window casings, baseboards, and tongue- and-groove strip paneling. The equipment building has also changed little since it was built, with the exception of the vinyl siding that was added in 1978. This has since been removed.
Restoration of the exterior included replacing the asphalt roof shingles with wood shingles, reproducing the original garage doors, restoring the siding and wood trim, and painting. Two restrooms, serving users of Short Beach, were introduced to the southerly end of the building, with two windows being changed to doors. On the station grounds, no traces of the original flagpole, breeches buoy drillpole, or aviation identification platform could be found, in part because sand was brought in for a children's playground in this area, which probably also dates from after 1964. The original fence along Nahant Road and some of the paved areas around the station have also changed. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_8_Page_13 (Expires 5-31-2012) Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable) Archaeological Significance Historic archaeological resources described above may contribute important information on the formation of the United States Coast Guard and maritime history of Massachusetts. Additional historic research, combined with archaeological survey and testing, may help reconstruct the station as built for the United States Life-Saving Service in 1900. Archaeological survey and testing can confirm whether components of the original station survive, and careful mapping can document their internal configuration within the overall facility.
Archaeological testing may contribute important information related to the architectural characteristics, construction techniques, and materials used for the original outbuilding, cesspool, and cistern. The reconstruction of the original station may be important in understanding any changes that might have occurred to the station facility, as the United States Life-Saving Service merged with the Revenue Cutter Service in 1915 to form the United States Coast Guard. Detailed analysis of the contents of occupational-related features, including the cistern and cesspool, may contribute important information related to the social, cultural, and economic lives of the station crew and the rescue technologies available to them. Archaeological resources may include items related to vessel operation and maintenance and parts of rescue apparatus.
Twentieth-century archaeological resources may be important at the Nahant Life-Saving Station because, unlike other surviving stations built from standardized plans, the Nahant Station is the only one-of-a-kind surviving station in the state. Some aspects of the Nahant Station's construction may not be documented on plans, leaving archaeological resources as the only documentation for their existence. (end) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Nahant Life-Saving Station Name of Property 9.
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