Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Bodie Island Coast Guard Station

Historic Structure Report

2005

For

Cultural Resources, Southeast Region

National Park Service

By

Joseph K. Oppermann - Architect, P.A.

P.O. Box 10417, Salem Station Winston- Salem, NC 27108

336/721- 1711 FAX 336/721- 1712

joskopp@mindspring.com
Cultural Resources

Southeast Region

National Park Service

100 Alabama St. SW

Atlanta, GA 30303

(404) 562-3117

The historic structure report presented here exists in two 

formats. A traditional, printed version is available for study 

at the park, the Southeastern Regional Office of the NPS 

(SERO), and at a variety of other repositories. For more 

widespread access, the historic structure report also exists 

in a web- based format through ParkNet, the website of the 

National Park Service. Please visit www.nps.gov for more 

information.

2005

Historic Structure Report

Bodie Island Coast Guard Station

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Manteo, NC

LCS#: 07238

Cover image: Bodie Island Coast Guard Station, 

c. 1925 (CAHA Coll.)


BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Table of Contents

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 3 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Project Team.................................................................................................5 

Executive Summary..........................................................................................7 

Administrative Data........................................................................................11 

PART I – DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY 

A. Historical Background and Context...............................................................I.A.13 

 

Forces of Nature......................................................................I.A.13 

What’s in a Name? Bodie Island................................................... I.A.15 

The Graveyard of the Atlantic...................................................... I.A.16 

A National Life-Saving Service.................................................... I.A.16 

Getting Organized: 1871............................................................. I.A.17 

Expanding the Service...............................................................I.A.18 

Bodie Island Life-Saving Station.................................................. I.A.20 

An Evolving Architectural Landscape............................................. I.A.20 

Station Life............................................................................I.A.22 

Training and More Training......................................................... I.A.24 

The Rescue............................................................................ I.A.24 

On Patrol.............................................................................. I.A.25 

Maintenance........................................................................... I.A.26 

The U.S. Coast Guard and Changing Responsibilities.......................... I.A.26 

B. Chronology of Development and Use...........................................................I.B.29 

Plans and Construction of a New Station.......................................... I.B.29 

Mendleheff’s Chatham Type Station - Modified................................. I.B.30 

Making Other Improvements....................................................... I.B.33 

1933/34 Modifications.............................................................. I.B.34 

Renewed Activity.................................................................... I.B.35 

National Park Service Takes Possession.......................................... I.B.38 

Timeline............................................................................... I.B.41 

C. Physical Description..............................................................................I.C.47 

General Description: The Station in 2005.......................................... I.C.47 

Construction Characteristics......................................................... I.C.48 

Utility Systems........................................................................ I.C.74 

Summary of Conditions............................................................. I.C.74 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Table of Contents

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 4 

PART II – TREATMENT & USE 

A. Introduction......................................................................................... II.A.77 

B. Ultimate Treatment & Use........................................................................ II.B.78 

C. Requirements for Treatment ...................................................................... II.C.85 

D. Alternatives for Treatment ........................................................................ II.D.86 

E. Recommendations................................................................................. II.E.89 

General Recommendations.......................................................... II.E.89 

Specific Recommendations......................................................... II.E.89 

REFERENCES 

APPENDICES 

A. 1925: Probable Floor Plans 

B. 1933: Probable Floor Plans 

C. 1945: Probable Floor Plans 

D. 1962: Probable Floor Plans 

E. 2005: As-found Measured Drawings 

F. Historic Construction Documents 

G. Historic Site Plans 

H. Historic Images 

I. North Carolina Life-Saving Station Statistics 

J. Relocation Options Previously Studied by Cape Hatteras National Seashore 
BODIE ISLAND LIFE-SAVING STATION/BOAT HOUSE HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Project Team 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 5 

PROJECT TEAM 

Building Investigation/ Joseph K. Oppermann, FAIA 

Building Condition Assessment Joseph K. Oppermann – Architect, P.A. 

 Winston-Salem, NC 

Research Joseph K. Oppermann, FAIA, Historical Architect

 John Larson, Architectural Historian 

 Joseph K. Oppermann – Architect, P.A. 

 Winston-Salem, NC 

Building Recordation Barry E. Seiler, Associate AIA 

 Jennifer Plocher Wilkins, Associate AIA 

 Joseph K. Oppermann – Architect, P.A. 

 Winston-Salem, NC 

Document Layout Jennifer Plocher Wilkins, Associate AIA 

 Sarah M. Craig 

 Joseph K. Oppermann – Architect, P.A. 

 Winston-Salem, NC 

Report Editor Jane Kelly 

 Message Makers 

 Winston-Salem, NC 

Project Manager Tommy H. Jones, Architectural Historian 

 National Park Service 

 Southeast Regional Office 

 Atlanta, GA 

Program Review Coordination Steve Harrison, Chief of Resource Management 

 Doug Stover, Historian/Cultural Resource Mgr. 

 Cape Hatteras National Seashore 

 Manteo, NC 

 

 Tommy H. Jones, Architectural Historian 

 National Park Service 

 Southeast Regional Office 
BODIE ISLAND LIFE-SAVING STATION/BOAT HOUSE HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Project Team 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 6 
BODIE ISLAND LIFE-SAVING STATION/BOAT HOUSE HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Executive Summary 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 7 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

 

Travel by sea along the Eastern seaboard of 

the United States can be especially 

troublesome, but no section more so than the 

Outer Banks off North Carolina. The strong 

currents that allow ships to travel quickly 

also bring them close to shore. Shifting 

sands and notoriously rapid changes in 

weather have wrecked many a ship, thus 

earning the early moniker “the graveyard of 

the Atlantic.” 

Further north the conditions are not quite so 

severe, but can be treacherous nonetheless. 

Near the major ports of Boston, New York, 

and Philadelphia, private groups formed as 

early as the 1780s to provide assistance to 

seafarers in danger. There were many 

public outcries for a nationally coordinated 

rescue effort, until in 1848 a New Jersey 

representative secured from Congress a 

$10,000 allocation for a variety of 

assistance. As a result, eight stations were 

constructed there under the supervision of 

the United States Treasury Department; the 

federal government had officially become 

involved. Additional allocations followed 

rapidly, expanding the financial assistance to 

include states along the lower Atlantic shore 

as well as the Gulf. Soon, the Life-Saving 

Service within the Department of Treasury 

developed a prototype station design. In 

addition to keeper’s and crew’s quarters, a 

self-contained boat room for a lifeboat was a 

standard feature. Improvements were 

incorporated as new station types evolved, 

adding an open observation deck to monitor 

the coastline then replacing it with an 

enclosed tower in a later type. During the 

early years, there was a variety of ancillary 

structures about the site including privies, 

water tanks and kitchen buildings. 

 

In North Carolina, the first stations built 

were the 1874 Type. Seven of these 

compact, two-story Carpenter Gothic style 

buildings were stretched out along the coast. 

Then in 1878-79, eleven of the 1876 Type 

stations were added as infill between the 

earlier stations, establishing a pattern of five 

to seven miles between stations. One of the 

1876 Type stations is the Bodie Island LifeSaving Station, then known as Tommy’s 

Hummock Station. It was replaced by the 

much larger, more modern Chatham Type 

station built a short distance away in 1925. 

The new station, the last design type 

developed by the Life-Saving Service, 

featured such amenities as indoor plumbing, 

a self-contained kitchen, and electric 

lighting. The United States Coast Guard, 

having absorbed the Life-Saving Service in 

1915, was the administrating federal agency. 

In time, many of these buildings have been 

lost. A number have been destroyed by 

storms. Quite a few were sold as 

government surplus property in the midtwentieth century, when the initial need of 

saving the lives of endangered seafarers had 

been largely eliminated. Of the ones sold to 

the private sector, some have been relocated. 

Some have had major modifications. None 

have provisions to guarantee the retention of 

their historic character. Today, in North 

Carolina just one 1876 Type station remains 

in the public sector, the one at Bodie Island. 

There are just two of the Chatham Type 

stations in the public sector, one of which is 

at Bodie Island. The buildings are important 

because they are building types. The open 

beach setting is important to understanding 

both the influence of environment on 

building design, as well as life at a lifesaving station. The site location is important 
BODIE ISLAND LIFE-SAVING STATION/BOAT HOUSE HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Executive Summary 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 8 

because it forms a link in the five-to-seven 

mile distribution of stations along the coast. 

The 1879 Station (1876 Type) at Bodie 

Island was moved to its current location by 

the National Park Service in 1955 and 

remodeled for use as a residence by park 

personnel. Although in 1991 the kitchen 

was remodeled, new appliances 

incorporated, and a new central HVAC 

system was installed, it retains in large part 

its 1950s residential appearance and is 

currently used as office for the park rangers. 

The investigating team found that a large 

amount of original and early building fabric 

remains. Further, the building is well 

maintained and in good condition. The 

adjoining boat house was moved during the 

same period and was modified for 

conversion to a garage. In this altered state 

it, too, was found to be well maintained and 

in good condition. 

The 1925 Chatham Type Station was 

seriously damaged by a hurricane in 1933 

and rebuilt with some modifications on the 

same site. It has been unoccupied since the 

1990s. It has a recently installed roof which 

does the job of keeping out precipitation, 

and vented door and window covers add 

further protection from both weather and 

vandals. Nonetheless, the harsh ocean-side 

environment is a constant threat to building 

materials and systems. The exterior is 

losing fascia boards and other elements. 

The lack of adequate paint protection is 

leaving wood surfaces open to more rapid 

deterioration and damaging plants and 

insects. Termites have damaged sections of 

framing. Interior finishes are suffering from 

the damp and minimally ventilated 

conditions. None of the mechanical, 

electrical or plumbing systems can be 

expected to be operational. The 

investigating team also found that when in 

1933 the basement was rebuilt with pouredin-place concrete, much of the original 

millwork was reused. In the two frame 

levels above, the hurricane damage was 

apparently much less severe. Therefore, a 

large amount of 1925 building material 

remains. 

The encroachment of the ocean is a major 

threat to the buildings and the site. A move 

to a location more distant to the coastline is 

imperative. In anticipation of the impending 

move, the National Park Service contracted 

with Joseph K. Oppermann – Architect, P.A. 

in April, 2005, for the purpose of preparing 

an historic structure report for the 1879 

Station (1876 Type) with boat house and 

another for the 1925 Chatham Type Station. 

The study team included Joseph K. 

Oppermann, FAIA, historical architect; John 

C. Larson, historian; Jennifer Plocher 

Wilkins and Barry Seiler, intern architects; 

and Sarah M. Craig and Mary S. Haywood, 

office interns. 

In the preparation of these historic structure 

reports, Tommy Jones provided copies of 

relevant documents from the files of the 

National Park Service, Southeast Regional 

Office. He also provided his transcriptions 

of Tommy’s Hummock/Bodie Island LifeSaving Station Journals. Steve Harrison and 

Doug Stover, Chief of Resource 

Management and Historian/Cultural 

Resource Manager, respectively, gathered 

architectural plans, historic photographs, 

maps, records and other documents from the 

files of National Park Service, Outer Banks 

Group, Manteo, North Carolina. Larson 

reviewed the historic documents, located 

other secondary sources, retrieved maps and 

other iconographic images from the 

collection of the Museum of Early Southern 

Decorative Arts, and compiled the historical 

summaries. Wilkins and Seiler took 

measurements of the building elements and 

prepared floor plans and detail drawings of 
BODIE ISLAND LIFE-SAVING STATION/BOAT HOUSE HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Executive Summary 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 9 

specific elements. Oppermann and Larson 

investigated the physical building fabric to 

assess the respective evolutionary histories. 

No historic fabric was removed. No 

invasive methods of investigation were 

employed. No equipment was tested. 

Oppermann with the assistance of Wilkins 

assessed the physical conditions of the 

buildings; Craig and Haywood assisted in 

the recording of building data. Photodocumentation of the buildings and site were 

prepared. 

The Cape Hatteras National Seashore 

General Management Plan (GMP), prepared 

in 1983, calls for the relocation of the three 

buildings to Whalebone Junction, a site 

about six miles north of the original site. 

The GMP also recommends that the 

buildings serve as a visitors’ center. Since 

the adoption of this planning document, 

however, the recommended site for 

relocation has dramatically changed. The 

adjoining area has become heavily 

developed with resort structures and 

commercial establishments. The 

intersecting roadways are heavily trafficked. 

A new visitors’ center has been constructed. 

This relocation breaks the historic pattern of 

placement of five-to-seven miles between 

life-saving stations. This site breaks the 

visual connection of these buildings to the 

major cultural landmark of the original site – 

the Bodie Island Lighthouse, as well as to 

the major natural feature – the ocean. For 

these reasons it is recommended that the 

buildings be moved to the site of the Bodie 

Island Lighthouse. In addition to 

maintaining an historical proximity of 

related structures and providing site 

characteristics that are comparable to the 

original site, the lighthouse vicinity 

enhances the visitor’s opportunity to 

understand the interrelationship of 

navigation and life-saving by experiencing 

the architecture that enhanced those 

operations. 

Because of the increasing scarcity of the 

1876 Type and Chatham Type stations, and 

because the numerous physical 

modifications make difficult an 

understanding of appearance during their 

respective periods of greatest significance, 

restoration is a recommended treatment for 

all the buildings. 

The recommended exterior and interior 

treatments to the 1879 Station (1876 Type) 

are restoration to the 1885 period, a time 

when it still retained original features 

distinct to the station type and had replaced 

the interior plaster with beaded board that 

still remains, though largely covered. The 

recommended exterior and interior 

treatments to the boat house are restoration 

to 1916, the date of rebuilding after a 

devastating storm. These two buildings, 

relatively small and containing much early 

building fabric, are ideal candidates for 

exterior and interior interpretation of their 

architecture and its role in the Life-Saving 

Service. 

The recommended treatment of the exterior 

of the 1925 Chatham Type Station is 

restoration to 1925, a period when the 

building was most representative of the last 

station design produced by the Life-Saving 

Service. The recommended treatment for 

the interior is rehabilitation. Though there is 

much 1925-era building fabric on the 

interior for interpretation as well as the 

exterior, the building’s larger size and 

generous room sizes lend themselves well to 

adaptation for a variety of modern uses with 

minimal intervention. NPS operations such 

as gift shop, display areas, ranger and other 

staff offices, and ancillary spaces could all 

be accommodated with minor modifications, 

as well as such essential adaptations as 
BODIE ISLAND LIFE-SAVING STATION/BOAT HOUSE HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Executive Summary 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 10 

handicapped-accessible public restrooms 

and or lift. An advantage to placing a gift 

shop in this building relatively close to the 

Bodie Island Lighthouse is that some 

operations currently housed there, such as 

the gift shop, could be moved, freeing up 

those buildings for other purposes, perhaps 

interpretation. 
BODIE ISLAND LIFE-SAVING STATION/BOAT HOUSE HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Administrative Data 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 11 

ADMINISTRATIVE DATA 

Locational Data 

Building Name: Bodie Island Coast 

Guard Station 

Building Address: Bodie Island 

Lighthouse, Nags Head, North Carolina 

NPS Orgcode: 5190 

Location: Cape Hatteras NS 

County: Dare 

State: North Carolina 

Related Studies 

Denver Service Center. General 

Management Plan, Cape Hatteras 

National Seashore. 1983. 

Noblitt, Philip and Mary Ann Peckham. 

National Register of Historic Places 

Inventory: Bodie Island 

Lifesaving/Coast Guard Station. 

March 1977. 

Torres, Louis. “Historic Resource Study of 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore.” 

Unpublished manuscript, Branch of 

Planning Southeast/Southwest Team, 

National Park Service, Denver Service 

Center, n.d. 

Real Property Information 

Acquisition Date: October 15, 1953 

Numbering Information 

LCS #: 07238 

Structure Number: HS-1A 

FMSS Number: 28912 

Size Information 

Total Floor Area: 3529 square feet

First Floor Area: 1381 square feet

Additional Floor Area: 969 square 

feet 

Crawl Space Area: 0 square feet 

Finished Basement Area: 1179 square 

feet 

Unfinished Basement Area: 0 square feet 

Roof Area: 2010 square feet

Perimeter Length: 159 feet

Number of Stories: 2 

Number of Rooms: 20

Number of Bathrooms: 4 

Cultural Resource Data 

National Register Status: Listed 

National Register Date: February 1979 

Period of Significance: 1925-

Proposed Treatment 

Relocation; exterior restoration of the 1925 

Coast Guard Station to its 1925 appearance; 

rehabilitation of its interior. 
BODIE ISLAND LIFE-SAVING STATION/BOAT HOUSE HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Administrative Data 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 12 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.13 

PART I. DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY 

A. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

AND CONTEXT 

Forces of Nature 

Nowhere along the Atlantic coast of the 

United States are the forces of nature a more 

ever-present and defining influence than on 

the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The 

winds, water, sand, and storms have 

continually shaped the landscape and the 

culture. This isolated spit of land, thirty 

miles from the mainland, has been buffeted 

by storms and has challenged navigation 

along its shore since the first recorded 

shipwreck of John White’s flagship Tyger at 

Ocracoke Inlet in 1585. Since then more 

than 650 shipwrecks have been identified 

along this treacherous coastline.1

 In a 

complex relationship with the sea, the 

inhabitants of this land have been both 

threatened and nurtured by this turbulent and 

often hostile environment. 

The formation of the Outer Banks began 

fifteen thousand years ago when the ocean 

level was 300 feet lower than it is today, and 

North Carolina’s coastline was fifty to 

seventy-five miles east of its present 

location. Winds blowing from the west 

piled up sediment to create a large dune at 

the easternmost edge of the continental 

landmass. As the glaciers melted and the 

sea level rose, barrier islands paralleling the 

North Carolina coastline were formed. 

 

1

 David Stick, The Outer Banks of North Carolina, 

1584-1958. (Chapel Hill: University of North 

Carolina Press, 1958), 173. Also, Graveyard of the 

Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. 

(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 

1989), and Eric Hauser “Graveyard of the Atlantic” 

<http://www.coastalguide.com/packet/shipwrecks01.

htm> (19 July 2005). 

Although the sea continues to rise at a rate 

of one foot per hundred years, the Outer 

Banks have remained intact because of the 

unique combination of natural forces 

including wind, waves, and weather. 2 The 

greatest of these forces is the convergence of 

the warm Gulf Stream from the south and 

the cold Labrador Current from the north. 

The clash of these two ocean rivers results in 

extremely turbulent waters and treacherous 

shifting sand bars that extend at Diamond 

Shoals up to twenty miles out into the 

ocean.3

As the ocean continues to rise, the shoreline 

of the Outer Banks in the Bodie Island area 

erodes on the east side at a rate of nine to ten 

feet per year or upwards of 500 feet per fifty 

years. In particularly active areas, like 

Hatteras Island, fifteen and a half feet per 

year are lost to the ocean.4

 As the east side 

erodes, however, the land on the western 

side builds up gradually causing the island 

to migrate westward.5 

 

2

 Orrin H. Pilkey et al. The North Carolina Shore and 

Its Barrier Islands, Restless Ribbons of Sand

(Durham: Duke University Press, 1998) p. 41- 45. 

Also, Karen Bachman, The Insiders’ Guide to North 

Carolina’s Outer Banks, 26th edition <http://www. 

insiders.com/outerbanks/main-history.htm#tod> (17 

July 2005). 

3

Eric Hause, “The Entire NC Coast, Graveyard of the 

Atlantic, Shipwrecks” http://www.coastalguide.com/ 

packet/shipwrecks01.htm (19 July 2005). 4

 North Carolina Division of Coastal Management, 

Long Term Average Annual Shoreline Change & 

Setback Factors, Updated Through 1998 (April 1, 

2004) http://dcm2.enr.state.nc.us/Maps/ER_1998/ 

Color_PDF/page_52.pdf (20 July 2005). 5

 Pilkey, 44-48. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.14 

Figure A-1 Detail of “A Map of the Province of Carolina,” 1730, collection of the 

Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 

By protruding so far out into the Atlantic, 

the Outer Banks are particularly vulnerable 

to summer hurricanes from the south and 

winter nor’easters. These storms continually 

resculpt the fragile landscape of the Outer 

Banks. Consequently, historical records 

dating from 1585 document more than 

twenty-four different inlets cutting across 

the Banks. Geographic formations indicate 

that almost half of the Outer Banks has been 

covered by inlets at one time or another. 

Today there are six inlets between Morehead 

City and the Virginia state line.6

 

By the 18th century, Native Americans no 

longer had a presence on the Outer Banks. 

European settlers were sustained by fishing, 

 

6

 Bachman, “Shipping and Settlement into the 1770s” 

web site Insider’s Guide to the Outer Banks. 

grazing stock, and farming. A number of 

runaways, outlaws, and those marooned 

from shipwrecks joined those that had 

migrated down from Virginia. All of these 

residents profited from the numerous 

shipwrecks cast up by the sea onto the long 

shoreline. Shipwrecks were a primary source 

of lumber as well as other supplies.7

By the time North Carolina became a state 

in 1789 about 1,000 permanent residents 

lived on the Outer Banks. That they were a 

self-sufficient and independent-minded 

people was the result of the rugged and 

isolated landscape they occupied. Their 

young men would be called upon to man the 

Outer Banks Life-Saving Stations. 

 

7

 Stick, Outer Banks, 75-77. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.15 

Figure A-2 Detail of “Map of North Carolina,” 1882, collection of the 

Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 

What’s in a Name? 

Bodie Island 

Bodie Island8 has not been an island since 

Roanoke Inlet closed in approximately 1811, 

and Oregon Inlet was subsequently opened 

by the Hurricane of September 7, 1846. 

Known at various times as Body’s Island, 

Bodies Island, Body Island, Micher Island, 

and Cow Island, its land mass in the 1770s 

extended from Roanoke Inlet at the north 

end, nine and one-half miles south to Gunt 

Inlet and contained approximately 1,900 

acres. The island was acquired from the 

Lords Proprietors in 1722 by Matthew 

Midgett. This section of the Outer Banks is 

especially susceptible to the opening and 

 

8

 The origins of the Bodie Island name remain 

unknown. Today, local lore likes to infer that the 

term relates to the bodies that were washed up on its 

shores. Jan DeBlieu, Hatteras Journal (WinstonSalem: John F. Blair Publisher, 1998), 31. Terrance 

Zepke, Coastal North Carolina: Its Enchanting 

Islands, Towns and Communities (Sarasota: 

Pineapple Press, Inc., 2004), 36. 

closing of inlets. At least six different inlets 

have been located between the present day 

Bodie Island Lighthouse and Rodanthe 

approximately seventeen miles to the south.9 

The instability of this landscape has resulted 

in the reshaping of the size and even the 

location of Bodie Island over the years. 

With the cutting of the Oregon Inlet in 1846, 

the lower part of the island was severed. The 

name, however, would linger, straddling the 

inlet long after the island was gone. When 

the current lighthouse was completed in 

1872 on the north side of Oregon Inlet, it 

retained the name as the Bodie Island 

Lighthouse. Two years later, in 1874, when 

the first Life-Saving Station was established 

in this area, it was named the Bodie Island 

Station even though it was located south of 

Oregon Inlet. In 1883 Bodie Island Station 

was renamed Oregon Inlet Station, and the 

Bodie Island designation was given to the 

1879 Tommy’s Hummock Station, which 

 

9

 Stick, Outer Banks, 274-79. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.16 

was located north of the inlet and nearer to 

the Bodie Island Lighthouse.10

The Graveyard of the Atlantic 

Secretary of the Treasury Alexander 

Hamilton has been credited with first 

naming the ocean off the Outer Banks as 

“The Graveyard of the Atlantic” because of 

the extraordinary number of ships that were 

buried in the shoals there.11 The currents 

that could increase the speed of sailing ships 

also brought them perilously close to shore 

along the Outer Banks. A sudden gale or 

nor’easter could quickly land a vessel on the 

shifting sand bars. Once grounded and 

without assistance, the boat would be torn 

apart by the turbulent waters. Historian 

David Stick vividly describes the sea 

conditions “the northbound Gulf Stream and 

the cold currents coming down from the 

Arctic run head-on into each other, tossing 

their spumy spray a hundred feet or better 

into the air and dropping sand and shells and 

sea life at the point of impact.”12 

By the start of the nineteenth century more 

than a dozen ships a day were navigating the 

barrier islands with little hope of any 

organized assistance in the event of trouble. 

The conditions for mariners were only 

slightly better along the coastline of New 

England. There, near the major ports of 

Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, 

several private organizations had been 

 

10 Ibid., 280. Also, Sep. 1, 1883 entry Tommy H. 

Jones, notes transcribed from Tommy’s 

Hummock/Bodie Island Life-Saving Station Journals 

in Record Group 26 National Archives, Atlanta, 

hereafter cited as Journal. 

11 Molly Perkins Harrison, It Happened on the Outer 

Banks (Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2005), 10-

15. Also, “Under Sea Graveyard along the Outer 

Banks holds the USS Monitor” 19 July 2005 

<http://www.kittyhawkfreepress.com/atlanticgraveya

rd.html> (19 July 2005). 12David Stick, Graveyard of the Atlantic: Shipwrecks 

of the North Carolina Coast (Chapel Hill: University 

of North Carolina Press. 1952), 1. <http://www. 

hatteras-nc.com/atlanticgraveyard/> 

established early in the nineteenth century to 

lobby the government for better navigational 

aids and provision of assistance for wreck 

victims. The oldest of these groups was the 

Massachusetts Humane Society. A 

volunteer organization formed in 1786, they 

were the first to be created solely for the 

purpose of saving lives. Initially they built a 

series of small refuge huts for shipwreck 

victims. In 1807 they constructed an 

unmanned lifeboat station at Cohasset, 

Massachusetts, the first of its kind built in 

the United States. By 1872 the Society had 

built seventy-six lifeboat stations and eight 

huts. Although their work substantially 

reduced casualties along the Massachusetts 

coast, it also highlighted the need for a 

national program.13

A National Life-Saving 

Service 

In August of 1848, Representative William 

A. Newell of New Jersey secured an 

appropriation of $10,000 to procure 

“surfboats, rockets and carronades and other 

necessary apparatus for the better protection 

of life and property from shipwrecks on the 

coast of New Jersey between Sandy Hook 

and Little Egg Harbor.”14 The federal 

government was now involved, and eight 

stations were constructed using those funds, 

with the work supervised by the Treasury 

Department. Numerous appropriations 

followed during the next six years resulting 

in the construction of sixteen additional 

stations and initiated what became a longterm involvement in life-saving services by 

the Treasury Department. In 1850 stations 

were built on Long Island and in Rhode 

Island, and the first efforts were made to 

move southward with the placement of 

 

13Eugene V. York, The Architecture of the United 

States Life-Saving Stations (Master’s Thesis, Boston 

University, 1983), 1-5, hereafter cited as York. 

14Robert F. Bennett, Surfboats, Rockets and 

Carronades (Washington, D.C: U. S. Government 

Printing Office, 1976), 5; also, York, 5. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.17 

twenty-six unmanned lifeboats along the 

coasts of North and South Carolina, 

Georgia, Florida, and Texas.15 Most of the 

stations constructed during this period were 

in New England along the coast of Long 

Island, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. By 

1856 there were fifty-six stations between 

Cape May, New Jersey, and Watch Hill, 

Rhode Island. Combined with stations 

constructed by the Massachusetts Humane 

Society, services extended to the New 

Hampshire border and provided a reasonable 

measure of protection for the northeastern 

states. 16

Architecturally the stations were simple 

vernacular structures. One-and-one-halfstory frame buildings, covered initially with 

shingles and later with siding, they were 

approximately sixteen to seventeen feet 

wide and twenty-eight to thirty-six feet long. 

A large boat room on the first level housed 

the surfboat and lifesaving apparatus. The 

second floor was used for storage. Although 

by 1853 a paid superintendent was assigned 

to manage each station, these buildings were 

not occupied, and crews had to be gathered 

in the event of a shipwreck. Maintenance 

and management of these stations remained 

the responsibility of the Revenue Marine 

Division under the Treasury Department.17

Even though there were no life-saving 

stations in North Carolina, the hazard posed 

by the Outer Banks was recognized. The 

90-foot, 1803 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was 

raised to 150 feet in 1854, and in 1859 two 

new lighthouses replaced the ones 

constructed earlier at Cape Lookout (1812) 

and at Bodie Island (1848). Another thirteen 

years would pass, however, before 

construction of the first Life-Saving Stations 

began on the Outer Banks.18

 

15 York, 6. 

16 Ibid., 9. 

17 Ibid., 7. 

18 Ibid., 180-193. 

Getting Organized: 1871 

In the winter of 1870-71 a number of fatal 

shipwrecks along the Atlantic coast resulted 

in a public outcry over the lack of 

protection. In 1871 Congress began to 

appropriate funds to pay for the crews to live 

at the stations, and Sumner I. Kimball 

(1834-1923), a thirty-seven-year-old lawyer 

in the Treasury Department, was appointed 

to head the Revenue Marine Division. 

Kimball, more than any other individual, 

was responsible for the development of the 

Life-Saving Service. He reorganized the 

management and standardized the 

architecture of stations to reflect their basic 

form and function. He led the organization 

for the next forty-four years, until it was 

merged into the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915.19

Figure A-3 Sumner I. Kimball 

 

19 U.S. Coast Guard web site: “Sumner Increase 

Kimball”, <http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-p/history/faqs/ 

BIO_Sumner_Kimball.html> (19 July 2005). 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.18 

Figure A-4 1874 Type exhibited at 

Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station 

Figure A-5 1876 Type station at Big Kinnakeet, c. 

1890s, North Carolina Collection, University of 

North Carolina – Chapel Hill, negative no. 83-659 

After conducting a thorough inspection of 

existing stations in 1871, Kimball embarked 

upon a program to expand and promote 

professionalism within the Service. 

Working within the Treasury Department, 

he sought to standardize station design by 

establishing the simple 1871 Type – often 

called the 1871 Red House – as the basic 

pattern for stations to follow. In this type, 

the first floor contained two rooms – the 

boat room and a combination crew 

kitchen/living area. Upstairs were quarters 

and storage. All of these stations were built 

along the coast of New Jersey, New York, 

Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. 

Expanding the Service

In 1873, Congress allocated $100,000 to 

extend the life-saving activities into Maine, 

New Hampshire, Virginia, and North 

Carolina with twenty-three newly designed 

stations. The Carpenter Gothic detailing on 

the 1874 Type that Kimball developed for 

the stations made it the most ornate of all the 

life saving station types. Seven of these 

stations were built in North Carolina. 

An additional fifty-one stations were 

authorized in June 1874 for the Atlantic 

coast and the Great Lakes. Frank Chandler 

was assigned to work with Kimball in the 

design of these stations. Chandler retained 

the basic form of the 1871 Red House and 

1874 Type, but moved the design away from 

the Gothic toward the Stick Style. None of 

these, known as the 1875 Type, were built in 

North Carolina. With Chandler’s departure, 

J. L. Parkinson was appointed Assistant 

Superintendent of Construction for LifeSaving Stations. The Parkinson 1876 Type 

further simplified the Stick Style detailing. 

Although called the 1876 Type, most of 

these were not built until two to three years 

later. Eleven of the 1876 Type were built in 

North Carolina; Tommy’s Hummock (Bodie 

Island Station) was one. 

Shortly before leaving office, Parkinson 

developed another design with some 

significant modifications. The 1882 Type 

replaced the open observation platform on 

the roof with an enclosed tower and also 

incorporated a small lean-to on the long 

façade at the kitchen end. These two features 

were added to the Bodie Island Station; the 

enclosed tower in 1900, and the lean-to as 

early as October 1879. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.19 

Figure A-6 1882 Type elevations from York 

Albert B. Bibb, who followed Parkinson, 

around 1885, probably initiated some 

alterations to Bodie Island Station. Under 

his tenure, many of the earlier 1871 Type 

stations were modified with enclosed towers 

and dormer windows. His enlarged Shingle 

Style designs added large lean-tos on both of 

the long facades.20 

Increasingly, the Life-Saving Service 

architects were moving away from the 

simple rectilinear form of the previous types 

to add office space and bathrooms and 

separate the kitchen from the dining area. 

Larger quarters with private closets were 

provided the crew as well as the Keeper. 

Although such elements as a lookout tower 

and boat room remained constant, the 

architects that followed Parkinson often 

added porches and separate entrances to the 

Keeper’s quarters that differentiated the 

public and private areas and defined the 

 

20 York, 41-47. 

hierarchy of the station through the 

allocation of its space. 

Victor Mendleheff, appointed in 1896, was 

the service’s architect when President 

Wilson on January 28, 1915, signed the act 

that merged the Life-Saving Service and the 

Revenue Cutter Service to form the U.S. 

Coast Guard. Although Mendleheff 

remained in the service of the Coast Guard 

for a number of years after the merger, it 

was his final design for the Life-Saving 

Service that continued to be used by the 

Coast Guard well into the late 1920s. 

Constructed for the first time in 1914 at 

Chatham, Massachusetts, this style became 

known as the Chatham Type station; twentyfour of them have been identified.21 Seven 

these were built in North Carolina by the 

U.S. Coast Guard. One of these was the 

1925 Bodie Island Coast Guard Station that 

replaced the 1879 Life-Saving Station. 

 

21 Ibid., 54-60.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.20 

Figure A-7 Chatham Type elevations; York 

Bodie Island Life-Saving 

Station 

On Wednesday, January 15, 1879, Jesse T. 

Etheridge made his first journal entry at the 

Tommy’s Hummock Station. Things were 

less than perfect. The crew was not enlisted; 

the station was not finished, but the 

Norwegian schooner Success, with a load of 

rosin, had just wrecked off the coast. 

Etheridge did not hesitate to respond. With 

a volunteer crew and two trips in the rescue 

boat, he was able to bring the ship’s nine 

crewmen and captain safely to shore. The 

next day he enrolled the first four surfmen of 

the six-men crew and returned to the 

Success to assist in the salvage operation. 

The exact date when Etheridge first learned 

of his appointment to take charge of 

Tommy’s Hummock is not known, but he 

must have watched with great interest in the 

fall of 1878 as the construction of his future 

station proceeded. Tommy’s Hummock 

Station was one of eleven that were being 

built along North Carolina’s Outer Banks 

during 1878-79. These were placed to fill in 

the gaps left after the construction of the 

seven stations in 1874. The new stations 

established a pattern of a station located 

every five to seven miles. By 1905 twentynine stations lined the North Carolina coast 

from the Virginia state line south to Oak 

Island and Cape Fear.22 

An Evolving Architectural 

Landscape 

Officially designated as Station #15 within 

District Six, Tommy’s Hummock Station 

was located on a three-acre parcel of land a 

little over one mile from the newly 

 

22 Richard L. Chenery III, Old Coast Guard Stations 

Volume Two North Carolina (Glen Allen, VA: 

Station Books, 2000), 10-11. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.21 

Figure A-8 Bodie Island Life-Saving Statioin, unknown date pre-1900, unknown photographer; collection of the 

Outer Banks History Center North Carolina Division of Archives and History (OBHC) 

constructed 1872 Bodie Island Lighthouse 

and was the first station north of the 

treacherous Oregon Inlet. Station #14, built 

in 1874 at Nags Head, was further to the 

north. 

The wooden frame building occupied by 

Keeper Etheridge and his six-man crew was 

one-and-one-half stories tall and measured 

twenty feet wide and forty-five feet long. It 

was of the 1876 Type. A standardized 

design attributed to J. L. Parkinson, who was 

appointed Assistant Superintendent of 

Construction in July 1875. Three-quarters 

of the first floor was dedicated to a single 

large room for storage of the surfboat, dory, 

Lyle gun, flags, ropes, breeches buoy, and 

various storm clothes and life-saving 

apparatus. The building was aligned northsouth so that the large boat room doors faced 

away from the nor’easters. The remaining 

quarter of the first floor contained 

kitchen/living space. Upstairs a large 

bunkroom for the crew was on the south end 

and the keeper’s room was on the north end; 

the space in between was for storage. After 

1883, with eight men residing in less than 

1,800 square feet, it must have seemed 

confining for the months that the station was 

occupied. Fortunately, much of the living 

was carried on outside. 

The station was supported with a freestanding privy, a water storage tank, 

flagpole, and drill pole. Telegraph lines 

were in place by 1881, with telephone 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.22 

Figure A-9 1916 Boat House, c. 1955, unknown 

photographer; archives of the National Park Service, 

Outer Banks Group

service added by 1887.23 A key post and a 

Halfway House were located a distance from 

the station. These were essential elements in 

the station’s operation marking the territory 

covered by shore patrols as the midway 

point between Tommy’s Hummock and it’s 

neighboring stations.24 An oil house was 

constructed in 1888 to store their lamp oil. 

One of the earliest alterations to the building 

appears to have been the construction of a 

small six by seventeen foot lean-to on the 

west façade at the north corner.25 This small 

addition may have served as a vestibule 

during stormy weather. 

 In 1892 a freestanding kitchen was 

constructed just to the west of the building. 

With no designated cook, food preparation 

remained a shared responsibility, but the 

removal of cooking from the station must 

have cooled the building a bit in the summer 

and given the crew a larger living space. In 

1900 the observation platform was replaced 

with an enclosed lookout. This modification 

was in keeping with all the stations that were 

 

23 Journal, Mar. 15 and 30, 1881; Aug. 9, Sep. 30, 

1887. 

24 Ibid., Jan. 7-19, 1890. 

25 See discussion of lean-to under the development 

section of Tommy’s Hummock. 

designed after the 1876 Type. It not only 

sheltered the lookout, but also must have 

improved the ventilation on the second 

floor. The last major component for the 

station was a freestanding boathouse. The 

date of its first construction at the Bodie 

Island Station is not known but it was in 

place by 1904.26

By 1915, when the Life-Saving Service 

merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to 

form the United States Coast Guard, the 

Bodie Island Station had been built out and 

refined. The boathouse was rebuilt in 1916 

and the water tank replaced, but the basic 

architectural presentation of the station had 

stabilized. The World War I years brought 

little architectural change to the station, 

although the Coast Guard crew size 

increased to a high of twelve. Most visible 

was the painting of the new Coast Guard 

designation of “175” on the roof of the 

boathouse reflecting the rise of aviation. 

Perhaps as part of the new image that the 

Coast Guard wished to present, the station 

was tidied up with the oil house and kitchen 

relocated and aligned with the north end of 

the station. This configuration was recorded 

in April 1923 by M. P. Hite, as the Coast 

Guard prepared to invest in a major new 

facility for the Bodie Island Station.27

The new building designed for the station in 

October 1923 followed a plan developed by 

the last architect of the Life-Saving Service, 

Victor Mendleheff. First constructed in 

1914 at Chatham, Massachusetts, it was 

henceforth referred to as the Chatham Type. 

This two-story frame building was a major 

improvement over the old station, providing 

additional living and workspace as well as 

electricity, radiant heat, and indoor 

plumbing. 

 

26 Journal, Sep. 12-17, 1904. 

27 “U.S. Coast Guard Bodie Island Station, April 6, 

1923” by M. P. Hite on file in archives of National 

Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.23 

Figure A-10 Bodie Island Coast Guard Station, c. 1925, unknown photographer; 

archives of the National Park Service, Outer Banks Group

Station Life 

When Jesse Etheridge took charge of the 

Bodie Island Life-Saving Station in January 

1879, the rescue season, which began 

September 1, was well under way.28 The 

paid crew remained on station until the end 

of April, then reassembled the next 

September. This eight-month season 

continued until 1894 when it was extended 

by two months, with the crew remaining 

until the end of May and reporting back the 

first of August.29 It was not until the 

summer of 1917, under the Coast Guard, 

that the station was manned all year round.30

The standard size of the crew needed to man 

the oars of the surfboat was six, with the 

 

28 When the first seven stations were established in 

1874, they were only fully operational four months of 

the year: December, January, February and March. 

Stick, Outer Banks, 169-73. 

29 Journal, Aug. 23, 1894, and May 31 and August 1, 

1895. 

30 Ibid., July 12, 1917; also annotation by Tommy H. 

Jones in Journal transcription. 

Keeper at the helm. This crew was 

supplemented with one or two alternates or 

temporary surfmen to insure that the station 

was always fully manned in the event of 

illness, dismissal, or leaves of absence. 

Keeping the station fully manned, however, 

was a challenge. For example, in November 

1879, the Keeper was sick for two days; 

later he left when his child became ill and 

eventually died. One crew member was sent 

for four days to pay bills in Elizabeth City; 

another had a death in his family.31 

Individuals were injured and sent for 

physical examinations, or sent to assist other 

stations.Each absence compromised the 

ability of the station to perform its mission. 

In 1883, a seventh man was authorized and 

added to the crew.32 It was Etheridge’s job 

to submit annually a ranked list of proposed 

 

31 Ibid., Nov. 2, 11, 13, 14, 19-23, 29, 1879. 

32 Stick, Outer Banks, 173. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.24 

surfmen and alternates. They were ranked 

by skill, with the No.1 Man often serving as 

second in command, although there seemed 

not to have been any difference in the pay. 

When the crew moved into the 1925 Station, 

however, the No.1 Man had his own private 

quarters. 

The Keeper’s job was year round.33 If a 

crisis occurred during the off-season, it was 

his responsibility to gather up a crew as 

quickly as possible.34 If he had to leave the 

station, even for just a day, to pick up 

supplies, go to the post office, or attend to 

personal business, he had the responsibility 

of “leaving a good man in his place.”35 

When Etheridge heard on August 10, 1898, 

that his house had a fire, he was not able to 

get away on leave until two days later. In 

June and July of 1899, he took an extended 

leave, probably to make the necessary 

repairs, and left the station in the care of T. 

H. Baum.36

Training and More Training 

The Keeper was responsible for the training 

of the crew and the efficient operation of the 

station. Station life consisted of a rigid 

routine of daily drills and practice training 

sessions. One important responsibility was 

signaling or sending out warnings and 

information to ships. During the first month 

of the station’s establishment, the crew was 

busy building a rocket frame and lamp stand 

 

33 In 1885 the Keeper was paid $700 per year; 

Journal, 22 Aug. 1885. In Oct. 1892, the rate was 

increased to $900 for the Keeper and $65 per month 

for a member of the crew. “Circular, Increase In 

Compensation of Keepers and Surfmen of LifeSaving Stations and Regulations Thereunder, 

Treasury Department, Office of the General 

Superintendent, U. S. Life-Saving Service, 

Washington, D.C. October 25, 1892.” 

34 Journal, May 25, 1891. 

35 Ibid., Aug. 25, 1883, Aug. 14-17, 1884. 

36 Could this be W. H. Baum rather than T.H. Baum? 

W.H. was on the crew during this period of time. 

to signal warnings.37 Prior to the use of 

radios in the early twentieth century, shoreto-sea communication was done with either 

flags or lights. Training included the 

semaphore flag system, which is an alphabet 

signaling system, based on waving a pair of 

hand-held flags in various patterns to 

represent letters. The flags are usually 

square, red and yellow, divided diagonally 

with the red portion in the upper hoist. 

Albert J. Myer of the U.S. Army Signal 

Corps devised a system in the midnineteenth century which used a single flag 

for "wig-wag" signaling, a form of Morse 

code based on waving the flag to the right or 

left.38 This type of signaling was slower than 

semaphore, but it could be read at a greater 

distance and was thus employed extensively 

for ship-to-shore communications.39 At 

night, occulting light signals were used. All 

surfmen were trained and tested in each of 

these methods. Other training included 

resuscitation and boat drills. 

The Rescue 

When it came time, however, for the crew to 

make a rescue there were really only two 

options. The surfboat could be rowed out to 

the distressed vessel to transfer the ship’s 

crew to shore, a challenging maneuver in a 

rough sea. If the ship was close to the shore, 

a line could be shot out to it from a Lyle 

Gun. This device was a mainstay in the 

Life-Saving Service. Although the idea of 

shooting tethered projectiles dated back to 

around 1800, it was not until West Point and 

M.I.T. graduate David A. Lyle (1845-1937) 

began his research that a reliable, efficient 

design was developed. Thus, any linethrowing gun was most often called a "Lyle 

 

37 Journal, Jan. 29, 1879. 

38 Joseph McMillan, Sea Flags “Signaling at Sea” 

http://home.earthlink.net/~mcmillanj/signals/Signals.

html#history (19 July 2005). 

39Lt. A. C. Kidd, USNI Notes On Naval 

Communications (1924). http://www.gwpda.org/ 

naval/kiddnc24.htm (19 July 2005). 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.25 

Gun" regardless of the manufacturer. About 

thirty companies made these guns from the 

late 1800s to 1952; best known were 

American Manufacture, Galbraith, General 

Ordnance, Naval Co., Sculler, and Steward. 

Production ceased in 1952 when rockets 

became favored. Lyle Guns were designed 

to shoot projectiles weighing approximately 

fifteen pounds, carrying rope over a 

thousand feet.40 The Bodie Island Station 

probably had more than one Lyle Gun. 

There was a practice firing on October 12, 

1879, that missed the mark by sixty feet. 

The station received another Lyle Gun on 

May 8, 1895, along with two Lyle Gun 

carriages and twelve projectiles and other 

accessories. In May of 1915, the station 

received a new gun to replace the “old Lyle 

Gun #47 of 1878.”41 If a successful line 

connection was made, then an apparatus 

called a “breeches buoy” could be used to 

bring each person to shore. This device was 

basically a lifebuoy with canvas breeches for 

the legs. This rescue technique was 

practiced regularly on land by using a drill 

pole that was erected to simulate a ship’s 

mast. The competence of the crew was 

based on their speed and accuracy of 

deployment. The drill pole would remain in 

the station’s landscape at least into the mid1940s42 as an illustration of the staying 

power and value of the Lyle Gun in lifesaving operations. 

On Patrol 

Training occupied the mornings, and patrols 

were conducted at night from 6 p.m. to 6 

a.m. in four-hour shifts. The schedule was 

 

40 Lyle Cannons, http://www.cannon-mania.com/ 

lyleguns.htm (19 July 2005). 41 Journal, May 8, 1895; May 7, 13, Aug. 6, 1915. 

42 “Topographic Survey Showing Present USCG 

Property at Bodie Island Life Boat Station and Area 

Proposed to Be Acquired for Future Expansion, 

August 26, 1944.” on file in archives of National 

Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

Figure A-11 Advertisement for“Watchman’s 

Improved Time Detector,” contained with the 

Journal papers

later adjusted to run from sunset to sunrise. 

One surfman would walk the beach north to 

the Halfway House where he would meet 

the surfman coming down from Station 14 at 

Nags Head. The other surfman would head 

south toward the Oregon Inlet and meet with 

the lighthouse station. By December 1885, 

a clock and key post system had been 

installed to verify the performance of the 

patrols. 

Under this system, the surfman on patrol 

carried a special clock and at appointed 

locations there was a post with a key 

attached. The patrolman inserted the key 

into the clock, which left a mark on a record 

sheet indicating the time.43 The key post 

 

43 “E. Imhauser’s New Watchman’s Improved Time 

Detector” advertisement and instructions provided in 

Journal transcription. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.26 

system was particularly useful at the south 

end where the inlet separated Bodie Island 

Station from the Oregon Inlet Station.44

Although the northern terminus was the site 

of the Halfway House, there appeared to 

have been a key post somewhere along that 

route as well.45 

The primary responsibility of surfmen on 

patrol was to watch for ships in distress but 

items ranging from lumber, mines, and 

cargo were often encountered. One of the 

least pleasant aspects was the recovery of 

bodies. From 1879 until the station was 

decommissioned in 1937, the station’s crew 

discovered eight bodies.46 All but one were 

unidentifiable, but a coffin was built at the 

station and each body buried. At least one 

of the burials was “on the beach,”47 but no 

specific location or graveyard was denoted. 

Maintenance 

When not engaged in training or on watch 

for ships in distress, the crew spent 

considerable time maintaining the station 

and repairing the damage caused by wind, 

sand, and water. An immense effort was 

spent clearing away or trying to control the 

shifting sand. When too much sand piled up 

against the privy the crew was forced to 

relocate it. Shells, stones, and grass were 

continually gathered to place around the 

station’s footings in an attempt to control the 

undermining erosion created by wind and 

water. Just as it had done for hundreds of 

years, the beach continued to erode. When 

the station was constructed in 1879, it was 

placed approximately 303 yards (909 feet) 

from the ocean. By 1923 that distance had 

 

44 Journal, Oct. 28, 1879; Mar. 28, 1889; Feb. 26, 27 

1894. Photocopies of patrol schedule supplied in 

transcription. 

45 Ibid., Apr.9, 1889. 

46 Ibid., May 24, 1881; Nov. 22, 1882; Dec. 3, 1897; 

Oct. 28, 1905; Apr. 10, 1913; Sep. 20, 1915; Dec. 6, 

1927. 

47 Ibid., Oct. 28, 1905. 

been reduced to just over 400 feet.48 This 

encroachment caused the Boat House to be 

relocated several times. There were other 

problems as well. Storms washed the 

buildings off their piers and scattered 

firewood down the beach. The flag, drill, 

and telephone poles would attract lightning, 

be blown over or knocked down by storm 

surges. The flooding and termites raised 

havoc with the wooden piers and flooring. 

Most of all, the buildings needed continual 

painting. 

Gallons of white lead paint would be sent to 

the station to be mixed with various 

pigments. Contrasting light and dark colors 

accented the ornamental aspects of the 

building. Early photographs indicate a light 

color around the doors, windows, gable trim, 

and corner trim. The wall shingles, as well 

as the corner beads, were painted a darker 

shade. Additional colors were used either 

on the interior, for signs, or, perhaps, for 

shutters and doors. In the first major 

repainting after the initial construction, one 

pound of vermillion red with a gallon of 

turpentine was received on January 10, 

1885, followed in February with thirty-two 

gallons of paint and one bushel of lime, and 

then in October with a keg of white lead. 

Fifteen pounds of burnt umber was added to 

the color palette in January of 1890. A 

pound of Prussian blue along with twentyfive pounds of white lead and five gallons of 

linseed oil arrived in March of 1896. In 

1906 ten gallons of linseed oil, one gallon of 

turpentine, and 200 pounds of white lead 

were used. In the ever-continuing paint 

cycle, a hundred pounds of white lead 

arrived in 1914, probably for the cookhouse; 

the following year three gallons of red paint 

arrived, probably for the interior trim.49 In 

the dressing up of the station after World 

 

48 See note 27. 

49 Journal, Feb. 28, Oct. 30, 1885; Jan 24, 1890; Mar. 

21, 1896; Apr. 17, 1906; Jan. 1, 26, 1914; Apr. 26, 

May, 1915. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.27 

War I, the colors sent from the Coast Guard 

were ten gallons of white, five gallons of 

straw, five gallons of slate, and five gallons 

of green along with five gallons of linseed 

oil, two quarts of spar varnish, two gallons 

of turpentine, and a gallon of Japan drier.50 

During World War I the station’s number 

“175” was painted on the Boat House roof. 

Later references to “painting the background 

for the figures on the old station building” 

may indicate that the roofs were painted as 

well.51

The U. S. Coast Guard and 

Changing Responsibilities 

By 1915, when the Bodie Island Station was 

brought under the command of the Coast 

Guard, forces were already clearly at play 

that would change the type of work, if not 

the mission, of the station’s crew. Radio 

broadcasting, the outboard motor, airplanes, 

and the automobile would all have a major 

impact on the daily activities of the station. 

The mission of the Life-Saving Service was 

first and foremost focused on ship safety and 

rescue. Although the surfmen did provide 

other types of assistance, particularly to 

support neighboring stations or to help get 

horses and supplies across the Oregon Inlet, 

ship assistance was their primary mission. 

Almost every year from 1879 until 1900, 

one or more ships required their help. 

However, between 1900 and 1917, at which 

time the crew went full-time, less than six 

assists were noted. After World War I, the 

station was increasingly called upon to assist 

land rather than sea travelers, as automobile 

drivers chose to use the beach to make the 

run from the paved road near Whalebone 

Junction down to the Oregon Inlet. 

 

 

50 Ibid., July 25, 1919. 

51 Ibid., July 3. 1916; July 23, 1929.

In 1903 the equipment furnished with the 

surfboat included an outboard motor,52 and 

in January of 1907, two powerboats 

participated in assisting a rescue. A new age 

of transportation brought more mobility and 

accessibility. In 1904 a “party of 35 or 40 

picnic [sic] from Roanoke and get caught in 

a squall and stayed at the station for a 

while.”53 Increasingly this land traffic 

demanded more attention. By the end of the 

1920s, vehicles stuck in the sand or ocean 

became a common occurrence. The station 

not only pulled cars out of the inlet and out 

of the sand, but also often provided 

mechanical support to get the vehicles 

running again when they were damaged.54

With the establishment of the Coast Guard 

came a shift from strictly a rescue service to 

a gradual engagement with security and law 

enforcement. The station was issued a thirty 

caliber Springfield Model 1903 rifle and 

later two Colt revolvers. 55 These weapons 

were used to protect cargo and in the 

enforcement of prohibition. When the 

station was brought on line as part of the 

Coast Guard, the crew size remained at eight 

including the Keeper. In 1917, when the 

station’s operations became year round, the 

crew size increased to ten including a fulltime cook.56 During World War I, the 

garrison increased slightly to a high of 

twelve. Duties included watching for 

German submarines and patrolling the shore 

for mines.57 After the war, the crew size 

settled at ten. 

A ten-man garrison continued to operate in 

the 1925 Station until it was 

decommissioned twelve years later on July 

15, 1937. Coincidentally, the next month on 

August 17, 1937, Congress authorized Cape 

 

52 Ibid., Jan.1, 1903. 

53 Ibid., Aug. 11,1904. 

54 Ibid., Dec. 3, 1927. 

55 Journal, Sep. 30, 1918; Feb.21, 1922. 

56 Ibid., Crew list 1917. 

57 Ibid., Aug., 19, 29, 1918. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.A Historical Background & Context 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.A.28 

Hatteras as the first National Seashore, but it 

would take another sixteen years before the 

National Park Service would acquire the 

Bodie Island Station.58 With the entry of the 

United States into World War II in 

December 1941, the station was once again 

brought into service. It is not known what 

the crew size was during this reactivation. 

One can be certain, however, that Bodie 

Island was well integrated into the armed 

forces’ coastal defense system for the 

duration of the war. Subsequently, as part of 

the LORAN navigational aid system after 

the war, the Bodie Island Station once again 

reverted to the role it had had back in 1879 

of providing navigational aid and warning 

off ships from the dangerous coastline of the 

Outer Banks. 

By 1953 the Coast Guard no longer had 

need for the buildings at the Bodie Island 

Station, and the Cape Hatteras National 

Seashore, first authorized in 1937, was 

finally established on January 12 of that 

year. The Bodie Island Coast Guard Station 

was deeded to the National Park Service 

(NPS) on October 15, 1953. At first the 

NPS did not perceive the potential historic 

 

58 William C. Everhart, The National Park Service

(New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972) 33, 147, 258. 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore web site, <www. 

nps.gov/caha/> Jul 24, 2005. 

value of the then seventy-four-year-old 1879 

Station or the twenty-eight-year-old 1925 

Station, but saw them as structures available 

for reuse in meeting needs of the park. For 

the next two decades, major modifications 

affecting the historic character were made to 

both the 1879 and 1925 Stations as they 

were adapted to accommodate changing 

park uses. In 1979, however, the buildings 

were listed on the National Register of 

Historic Places, and by 1984, the General 

Management Plan called for the exteriors to 

be restored, albeit as part of relocation to 

Whalebone Junction for use as a visitor 

information center.59 This concept was 

refined in the 1987 Bodie Island Master 

Plan.60 Further implementation was put on 

hold, however, to allow the Coast Guard to 

reoccupy the 1925 Station for three years 

(1988-91) pending construction of their new 

station on the north side of the Oregon Inlet. 

With the movement of the park’s 

headquarters to Manteo and the vacating of 

the building by the Coast Guard, the 1925 

Station again became vacant. The 1879 

Station with Boat House remains in use as a 

NPS Ranger Station. 

 

59 Cape Hatteras National Seashore, “General 

Management Plan, Development Plan, Amended 

Environmental Assessment” January, 1984, p. 35. 

60 David Heiser, “The Bodie Island Master Plan: A 

Site Analysis and Design Proposal for Visitor and 

Park Facilities,” December 1, 1987. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.29 

B. CHRONOLOGY OF 

DEVELOPMENT AND USE 

On January 28, 1915, the Life-Saving 

Service was combined with the Revenue 

Cutter Service to form the United States 

Coast Guard.61 One of the various stations 

and lighthouses along the Outer Banks of 

North Carolina that was melded into this 

new organization was the Bodie Island LifeSaving Station that had been established in 

1879. For its first thirty-five years, it had 

operated under the leadership of only one 

Keeper – Jesse T. Etheridge. Etheridge had 

left the station in October 1914, transferring 

command to P.H. Etheridge who received 

the rank of Captain and would see the 

transition of the Life-Saving Station into a 

Coast Guard Station.62

P.H. Etheridge served only five months 

before leaving the station under the control 

of Surfman E.M. Midgett.63 With the 

appointment of Capt. Robert L. Wescott as 

Keeper on April 9, 1915, the station finally 

had stable leadership. For the next five 

years Wescott reorganized the station to 

achieve a more orderly appearance suitable 

for the newly formed Coast Guard. His 

accomplishments included building a new 

boat house, acquiring a new surfboat, 

constructing a new water storage tank, 

moving the kitchen to align with the north 

end of the station, placing the oil house in 

the same alignment, adding a fire station, 

and seeing the station through World War I. 

H.C. Smith took over in 1920. 

 

61 Eugene V. York, The Architecture of the United 

State Life-Saving Stations (Master’s Thesis, Boston 

University, 1983), 61. 

62 Oct. 27-28, 1915, entry Tommy H. Jones, notes 

transcribed from Tommy’s Hummock/Bodie Island 

Life-Saving Station Journals in Record Group 26 

National Archives, Atlanta, hereafter cited as Journal. 63 Ibid., Mar. 28, 1915. 

Plans and Construction 

of a New Station 

For the next twelve years, Smith, an enlisted 

man who had been promoted to Chief 

Boatswain Mate, served as Officer-InCharge of the station.64 During these pivotal 

years under Smith’s tenure, the Coast Guard 

committed to construction of a major new 

facility at the site. On April 3, 1923, M.P. 

Hite, Field Assistant, C&R, arrived at 

station to take measurements of the site. 

Three days later, he produced an accurate 

map that depicted not only the extant 

buildings, but also identified a location for a 

new station. He proposed to place it on a 

ten-foot-high rise of land at the northeast 

corner of the original three-acre tract. The 

hill was to be graded to a flat surface with an 

elevation of 6.3 feet.65 The main building 

was to be supplemented by two water 

storage tanks, an oil and storehouse, and a 

freestanding lookout tower.66 By October of 

1923, five sheets of floor plans, elevations, 

sectional views, and details had been 

produced for the “U.S. Coast Guard Bodie 

Island Station – North Carolina.” 67 

 

64 Ibid., May 18, 1920; Jun.11, 1921; Mar. 7, 1932. 

65 The 1923 drawing sheet no. 4 for the new station 

indicates an elevation of eight feet. 

66 “U.S. Coast Guard Bodie Island Station, April 6, 

1923” map by M. P. Hite, copy on file in archives of 

National Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, 

NC. Hite notes that “Map to accompany report of 

April 6, 1923.” That report has not been located, but 

it could contain valuable information about site 

selection as well as the condition of the other 

buildings. 

67 “U.S. Coast Guard Bodie Island Station - North 

Carolina, Oct. 1923” sheet nos. 1-5, copy on file in 

archives of National Park Service, Outer Banks 

Group, Manteo, NC. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.30 

Figure B-1 Site Plan, from Sheet 4 of Construction Documents for new Station, 1923, archives of 

the National Park Service (NPS), Outer Banks Group, HICATS #4GRF-44-4 

These architectural drawings are very 

similar to M. P. Hite’s April 1923 mapping, 

but because they cite that work they cannot 

be attributed to Hite’s office. Rather, the 

design is attributed to Victor Mendleheff 

who became the last architect for the LifeSaving Service in 1896, and continued 

working for the U.S. Coast Guard after the 

consolidation in 1915.68 The 1925 Bodie 

Island Station conforms to Mendleheff’s 

Chatham Type design that was first 

constructed at Chatham, Massachusetts, in 

1914. From 1914 to 1929, twenty-four 

stations of the Chatham Type were built, 

seven of them in North Carolina;69 Bodie 

Island was the sixth. The building form was 

a familiar one by the time it was executed at 

Bodie Island, but because of its late 

construction date, the Bodie Island Station 

 

68 York, 60-61. 

69 Ibid., 239-42. 1916-Cape Lookout, off Harkers 

Island; 1917-Hatteras Inlet, Ocracoke; 1918-Cape 

Fear, Smiths Island off Southport; 1918-Creeds Hill, 

Frisco; 1919-Wash Woods, Corolla; 1925-Bodie 

Island, Nags Head; 1929-Big Kinnakeet, Buxton. 

was slightly modified from the original 1914 

design. 

Mendleheff’s Chatham Type 

Station - Modified 

Victor Mendleheff’s 1914 Chatham Type 

station was an exceedingly plain and simple 

rectilinear two-story framed block covered 

with weatherboard siding. It was capped 

with a gable on hipped roof that created 

usable space in the attic. Centered on the 

roof and flanked by two chimneys was an 

enclosed lookout tower with a pyramidal 

roof and a lightning rod at its peak. On the 

first level, the center three bays of the fivebay fenestration contained doorways. A 

Tuscan columned porch, also with a hipped 

roof, protected these.70

The building designed for Bodie Island 

moved away from this detailing in several 

 

70 Ibid., 164-65. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.31 

significant ways.71 There is no indication 

that a tower was ever considered for this 

building. Instead, at the earliest stages of 

construction, the choice was for a 

freestanding lookout tower placed between 

the station and the ocean. This was one 

aspect of the construction project in which 

the crew was recorded as participating, 

“Omitted all drills. Crew employed boating 

[sic] steel look out tower.”72 A second 

change replaced the porch with a shallow 

portico centered on the front of the building. 

An eight-foot wide porch did run the full 

length of the south side of the building and 

wrapped around the rear to run an additional 

twenty-seven feet. This asymmetrical 

attachment contradicted the overall balanced 

appearance of the building, but it provided 

shade on the most sun-exposed southern and 

western elevations. 

Perhaps one of the more significant 

architectural characteristics of the Bodie 

Island Station was the full basement formed 

by the eight-foot, eight-inch high solid 

concrete walls and floor. This space housed 

advances in technology that confirmed the 

ambitions of the Coast Guard to move the 

service to a higher level with heat, 

electricity, and plumbing. The basement 

contained a laundry, crew’s toilet, electric 

generator and pump room, storm clothes 

room, and a storeroom; but a third of the 

space was dedicated to the boiler room and 

supporting fuel room. With radiant heat 

now available in each room the second 

chimney of the original plan was eliminated, 

and the remaining chimney was used only to 

vent the boiler and the kitchen stove. 

Installation of electricity was another major 

improvement made to the station. By 1930 

an estimated 90 percent of urban Americans 

were served by electric generating plants. 

Because of the expense of running the 

 

71 See note 7. 

72 Journal, July 30, 1924. 

Figure B-2 Bodie Island Coast Guard Station from 

the northwest, c. 1925, unknown photographer; 

NPS archives, Outer Banks Group

Figure B-3 Station Basement Plan, 1925

power lines into rural or remote places like 

the Outer Banks, electricity was slower to 

arrive. To fill this void, Charles F. Kettering, 

an electrical engineer and founder of Dayton 

Engineering Laboratories Co. (DELCO), 

developed the “Delco-Light” line of electricgenerating plants in 1916. These were 

compact and simple single-cylinder, aircooled, gasoline-powered engines that 

charged lead acid storage batteries. When 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.32 

the batteries were fully charged, the engine 

would shut down until the batteries needed 

recharging. Most units produced direct 

current and could operate everything from 

light bulbs to small appliances.73 A Delco 

Motor provided the power to illuminate the 

new station with a light fixture in each room 

– even on the porches.74 On August 27, 

1925, the station received a “refrigerator,” 

which was one of the early benefits of 

having electricity. Franklin D. Roosevelt 

created the Rural Electrification 

Administration (REA) in 1935 which 

quickly captured the market DELCO had 

filled, and in 1947 production of the 

DELCO electric plants ceased. By 1945 

plans were being made to remove the system 

from the Bodie Island Station when a 

reliable external supply of electricity 

became available.75

For the first time, indoor plumbing was 

provided. The site plan drawn by M.P. Hite 

in 1923 showed the location of the privy two 

hundred feet south of the station. The plan 

for the 1924 station, however, showed no 

privy. Two 3,000-gallon water storage tanks 

served the building. One had been relocated 

from the 1879 station.76 These provided 

water for a laundry and the crew’s toilet 

(shower, commode, and two sinks) located 

in the basement and for the Keeper’s toilet 

(shower, commode, and sink) located on the 

first floor. 

A terra-cotta soil pipe took the sewage out 

of the building to a manhole just east of the 

porch and from there to a cesspool one 

 

73 Richard Backus, “Let There Be Light,” Gas Engine 

Magazine (Topeka, KS: Ogden Publications, 2005) 

www.gasenginemagazine.com/archive/0104/story 

74 Ibid., Feb. 13, 1927; Sep. 12, 1927; Dec. 25, 1929; 

Jan. 24, 1930. 

75 “Unit No. 334, Bodie Island NC, Alterations to 

Present Dwelling, United States Coast Guard Civil 

Engineering Norfolk District, Norfolk VA, 6 April, 

1945.” 

76 See note 7. 

hundred feet to the south. The concept was 

progressive; the execution was problematic. 

Within four weeks after moving in, the crew 

had to clean out the cesspool. Two times a 

month, it was not uncommon to find the 

crew “bailing out the cesspool, and burying 

all refuse.”77 In August of the following 

year, a more permanent solution was sought 

by the “crew building a cesspool for new 

station as drainage was not sufficient.”78 

Although this seems to have addressed most 

of the problem, a site map from 1943 still 

depicts a privy located well north of the 

property line but connected to the station by 

a board walkway.79

The north half of the first floor, or middle 

level, was dedicated to a mess room and the 

kitchen with running water and a supporting 

pantry. The south half of the first floor, 

which contained the station’s office and the 

Keeper’s room and bath, was separated from 

the north side by a stair hall. The kitchen 

was accessed from the porch, and the office 

from the porch or the stair hall. Unlike the 

1879 station, there was room enough in the 

new building to differentiate spaces 

according to activities. 

The top floor was divided into four sleeping 

rooms. Sleeping Room A, located on the 

south side of the building, was the largest; 

Sleeping Room B at the northwest corner 

about half the size. A smaller private room 

in the northeast corner of the building was 

specified for the “No. 1 Man,” and south of 

this was the smallest room that was held as a 

spare. There was no toilet on this level. 

Access to a floored attic was via a ladder 

stair that was mounted to the ceiling and 

pivoted from one end down into place. 

 

77 Journal, Dec. 26, 1925. 

78 Ibid., Aug.13; Sep. 2, 5, 8; Dec. 5, 1925; Aug.10, 

1926. 

79 “Bodie Island Lifeboat Station, Plot Plan, United 

Stated Coast Guard Civil Engineering, Norfolk Dist. 

June 11, 1943,” Copy on file in archives of National 

Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.33 

The crew moved from the old 1879 Station 

into the new one on July 16-17, 1925. 

Making Other Improvements 

Several changes and improvements were 

made elsewhere on the site. The 1923 plans 

called for the relocation of the northern 

3,000-gallon water tank from the 1879 

building to the new station. This apparently 

was done, except the two tanks were 

constructed on line north and south (Fig. B2) rather than side-by-side, east and west as 

depicted in the October 1923 drawing. The 

other building to be moved was the oil 

house, which was to be placed just to the 

north of the water tanks. This could have 

occurred during the construction phase, or in 

August 1927 when reference was made to 

the “crew moving house in afternoon.”80 

From a pre-1933 photograph of the site, it is 

clear that these alterations had been 

completed. As part of the changes, the leanto on the old station was removed and a 

larger lean-to was constructed to house a 

stable. In October of 1930 the station 

received a new “steel flag tower,” 

sometimes referred to as a “signal tower.” 

Its height required massive foundations, on 

which work proceeded into 1931. The tower 

was placed between the 1924 lookout tower 

and the 1879 station, probably in 1931; but 

it was certainly in place by the time M.P. 

Hite prepared his April 1935 map and the 

April 2, 1935, photograph of the old station 

was made.81

Most of the crew’s time was spent with 

drills and maintaining the site. Various 

painting projects over the next few years 

included: touch up painting of the green on 

 

80 Journal, Aug. 29, 1927. 

81 U.S. Coast Guard, Site Plan Bodie Island Station, 

Office of Assoc. Civil Engineer M. P. Hite, C&R, 16 

April 1935.” And “Bodie Island Old Station 

Looking North 2 April 1935.” Copies on file in 

archives of National Park Service, Outer Banks 

Group, Manteo, NC. 

Figure B-4 Station First Floor Plan, 1925 

Figure B-5 Station Second Floor Plan, 1925 

window screen frame and then white on 

other window screens; touching up white 

paint on porch; painting oil house roof, 

windows, and door; touching up white on 

station; “painting green on the station”; 

“painting white on the station”; painting 

straw color in the cellar.82 An indication of 

the color palette in 1933 can be seen in the 

paint order received: 

 

82 Journal, Feb. 4, 7, Jul. 6, 1927; May 19, 20, 23; 

Jun. 23, 1930. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.34 

Figure B-6 Station Basement Plan, 1933

“6 gal white inside paint Navy #27 

12 gal spar color paint Navy #7 

6 gal outside white paint Navy #6 

5 gal gray paint Navy # 5 

6 gal petroleum spirits 

6 qts spar varnish”83

Life at the station changed radically on the 

night of September 15, 1933. The day was 

spent preparing for a storm as the surfboat 

and dory were pulled out of the boat house 

and brought up to the station for safety. 

That evening the storm hit hard. At 2 a.m. 

water was all around the station and the oil 

house was washed down. By 6 a.m. water 

had “undermined station causing it to settle, 

leaving it in a very poor condition and not 

safe to live in.”84 At 8:30 a.m. the decision 

was made to abandon the station and go to 

the Bodie Island Lighthouse for safety. 

When they returned to the station at 10 a.m. 

the next morning they “found the station in 

poor condition and not safe to live in.” The 

next day an inspection was conducted, and 

the building was declared unfit. The order 

 

83 Ibid., Aug. 8, 1933. 

84 Ibid., Sep. 15-16, 1933. 

was given to move back into the old 1879 

station. 85

1933/34 Modifications 

If the option of demolishing the 1925 station 

and decommissioning the site was 

considered, it was not selected, for in 

November 1933, M. P. Hite submitted two 

sheets of drawings to rehabilitate the 

building.86 One component was structural 

and involved a complete underpinning and 

strengthening of the foundations. The other 

involved the alteration of some of the floor 

plans. The basement was cleared of much 

of its original use. The boiler remained in 

its original location, but the electrical 

generator was relocated to a small room in 

the northwest corner. The crew toilet was 

removed, as was the storm clothes room. In 

other words, most of the partition walls were 

demolished and only the laundry activities 

were programmed to remain in that space. 

A new chimney was also specified at this 

time, probably because of all the foundation 

work. 

Perhaps in an attempt to make the building 

more watertight, the two outer basement 

windows on the front façade were 

eliminated. The old cellar entrance under 

the porch was also sealed. In its stead, a new 

121⁄2 by 81⁄2 foot stair tower was constructed 

on the location of the old porch stair. This 

enclosure gave protected access into the 

kitchen and controlled access onto the 

porch, but it also eliminated the exterior 

steps onto the porch. 

On the second floor, the northern part of 

Sleeping Room A was converted into a bath 

 

85 Ibid., Sep. 17, 1933. 

86 “U.S. Coast Guard Bodie Island Station: Proposed 

Alterations in Dwelling. Office of Field Assistant M. 

P. Hite, November 1933,” 2 sheets copy on file in 

archives of National Park Service, Outer Banks 

Group, Manteo, NC. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.35 

Figure B-7 “Bodie Island, Looking N.W., 4/2/35,” unknown photographer, NPS archives, Outer Banks Group

complete with a shower, two sinks, and a 

commode. This necessitated the addition of 

a small window on the east façade for both 

light and ventilation. This window seems 

out of place but at this point, maintenance of 

symmetry was hardly a design priority. The 

new restroom, however, must have been a 

welcomed convenience and was accessible 

to all of the sleeping rooms from the landing 

at the top of the stair. This alteration at the 

landing required the removal of some 

shelving and the construction of a new wall 

and doorway. It appears that the pivot 

ladder to the attic was also reworked at this 

time with the installation of a pull-down 

ladder called the “#60 Besselar 

Disappearing Stairway.” 

Exactly one year after the 1933 storm, the 

crew once again moved out of the 1879 

station to take up occupancy of the new 

one.87 The old station would revert to 

storage. Ironically, after all that work and 

less than three years later, on July 15, 1936, 

 

87 Journal, Aug.16, 1934. 

the last journal entry reads, “crew employed 

preparing station to be decommissioned at 

sunset.”88

Renewed Activity 

What happened at the station from the time 

of its decommission to the time the Coast 

Guard reactivated the station is not known. 

However, as Germany stepped up its U-boat 

activities along America’s coast, the old 

station assumed a new and important role in 

coastal defense. 

Several changes occurred at the site during 

this period. It appears that the kitchen and 

mess hall activities were removed from the 

1925 building and returned to the 1879 

station building. As part of that renovation, 

two 8,000-gallon water storage tanks were 

placed beside the 1879 building, one near 

the mess hall and the other near the galley. 

These new tanks replaced the two 3,000-

gallon tanks north of the 1925 building. The 

 

88 Ibid., Jul. 15, 1936. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.36 

Figure B-8 Station from the southwest, c. 1946-47, 

Potts, photographer, NPS archives, Outer Banks 

Group 

Figure B-9 Station First Floor Plan, 1945 

Figure B-10 Station Second Floor Plan, 1945

smaller tanks were subsequently removed.89 

The 1925 kitchen became the “Crew’s 

Quarters,” and the mess hall became a “Day 

Room” furnished with an ordnance locker 

for machine guns, rifles, and pistols.90 This 

arrangement probably reflected an increased 

size in the garrison manning the station 

during the war. 

In the fall of 1944, plans were being made 

that would assure the continuance of the 

Bodie Island Station as an integral part of 

the Coast Guard’s operations. Surveys were 

conducted to enlarge the station’s 

landholding toward the south. In May of 

1945 plans were prepared to renovate the 

entire station.91 The upgrades to the second 

floor of the 1925 building included removal 

of the original wall that separated the No. 1 

Man Room from the Spare Room, thereby 

creating a six-man bunkroom. The toilet was 

enlarged by expanding northward into 

Sleeping Room B. This reduced that space 

so that room could now accommodate only 

four men. Sleeping Room A remained 

unchanged at twelve men. 

On the first floor, the old kitchen pantry was 

supposed to become a new toilet supporting 

a six-man bunkroom where the crew 

quarters had been, but it does not appear that 

this change was made.92 The old Day Room 

also became a six-man bunkroom with the 

 

89 See aerial photographs of site dated “7/14/44” and 

“Sept. 1948.” Copy on file in archives of National 

Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

90 “Bodie Island Lifeboat Station, Location and 

Section of Ordnance Locker, 27 Aug. 1944.” Copy 

on file in archives of National Park Service, Outer 

Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

91 “Unit No. 334, Bodie Island NC, Alterations to 

Present Dwelling, United States Coast Guard Civil 

Engineering Norfolk District, Norfolk VA, 6 April, 

1945.” Copy on file in archives of National Park 

Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

92 J. C. McCabe, Photo No. 4, “Former Kitchen on 

main floor, Bodie Island C.G. Station” dated March 

30, 1954, on file in archives of National Park Service, 

Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. Shows large 

pantry sink still in place. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.37 

removal of the ordnance locker. A new 

opening was cut south of the chimney to 

connect these rooms better. A total of thirtytwo crewmen, not counting the officers, 

could now be housed in the 1925 station 

building. 

On the other side of the stair hall, the Office 

was segregated from the Officer’s Quarters 

with a new partition that formed a passage. 

In the basement, the electric generator and 

batteries were removed indicating a reliable 

exterior source of power was now available. 

By the fall of 1948, it was clear what the 

mission of Bodie Island was to be. The 

main transmitting tower surrounded by a 

field of telephone poles had been erected on 

the site just to the south of the original threeacre tract. This was part of the LORAN 

system that was being installed worldwide. 

LORAN, which means LOng Range Aid to 

Navigation, is a modern electronic means by 

which ship and aircraft navigators can 

determine their positions accurately and 

quickly, day or night, and under practically 

any condition of weather and sea. It was 

created to meet the emergency conditions of 

World War II and during that period was 

used exclusively by military forces. Since 

then, LORAN receiving equipment has been 

available to commercial, as well as military 

ships and aircraft. 

Navigators receive LORAN radio signals 

from stations like the one at Cape Hatteras, 

which can transmit signals over an area 750 

miles by day and 1,400 miles by night. 

Signals from two or thee stations are 

matched for accurate position plotting. 

Since the war, LORAN has made 

tremendous growth. Presently under final 

evaluation is a modified system that will 

provide a more precise method of position 

fixing with greater range. The world-wide 

LORAN system contains some 70 stations 

Figure B-11 “Former Kitchen on main floor,” 

March 30, 1954, J.C. McCabe, photographer, NPS 

archives, Outer Banks Group 

Figure B-12 “Reception Room,” March 30, 1954, 

J.C. McCabe, photographer, NPS archives, Outer 

Banks Group 

Figure B-13 LORAN transmitting tower with Station 

in background, July 14, 1944, NPS archives, Outer 

Banks Group
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.38 

Figure B-14 Station from the northeast, December 

1986, NPS archives, Outer Banks Group

of which 60 are operated by the United 

States Coast Guard.”93

National Park Service 

Takes Possession 

On October 15, 1953, the Bodie Island 

Coast Guard Station was turned over to the 

National Park Service.94 The following 

year, the Park Service began their 

renovations. A new parking lot was built 

near Hwy. 12 and steps up to the porch 

added on the west side at the south end.95 It 

was probably at this time that the old pantry 

was converted to a passage and the window 

enlarged to become what is now the front 

doorway. 

Around 1962 the stair tower was more than 

doubled in size with a nine-foot expansion 

northward to accommodate public 

 

93 United States Coast Guard News Release No. 60-2-

26(jbb), Jun. 3, 1960. 

94 Bodie Island Life Saving/Coast Guard Station 

National Register Nomination. p. 2 prepared March 

1, 1977. This appears to be the same transaction that 

transfers the lands around the Lighthouse to the Park 

Service. 

95 See photograph Neg. No. 54-36 dated: 5/17/54. 

Copy on file in archives of National Park Service, 

Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

restrooms.96 It is probably at this time that 

the stair in the tower leading from the 

basement up to the first floor was removed 

and the doorway connecting the tower to the 

porch closed. Another major alteration 

during this period was the enclosure of the 

south porch. In May of 1962, plans were 

submitted to construct a two-room, onestory lean-to on the front, or seaside, 

elevation. This resulted in the removal of 

the 1925/33 portico. During this period the 

building functioned as the Park 

Headquarters Office. 

The next major change occurred in 1974 

when the upstairs was renovated into 

bedrooms with an upgraded toilet. A modern 

kitchen was installed in the basement, and 

the old Officer’s Quarters was converted 

into a restroom. After these upgrades and 

the subsequent residential use, the building 

was fondly referred to as “The Hilton” by 

the Park Service staff.97

An increased awareness of the historical 

importance of the station was indicated in 

1977 by the submission of a National 

Register Nomination for the original 1879 

station, the boat house, the 1925 station, and 

the lookout tower. During the assessment 

made for this nomination, it was determined 

in October of 1976 that the lookout tower 

needed to be removed from the beach if it 

was to be preserved. 

On April 7, 1977, a Section 106 application 

to remove the tower was submitted and 

approval was granted October 1, 1977. 

 

96 “Bodie Island Headquarters Expansion” c.1962 one 

sheet. Copy on file in archives of National Park 

Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

97 “Bodie Island Building #102, Alterations to Present 

Structure, National Park Service Cape Hatteras 

National Seashore, drawn by Lusa, 1-30-74” in 

archives of National Park Service, Outer Banks 

Group, Manteo, NC. Also, per interview with 

George E. Perrot III, NPS Outer Banks Group April 

19, 2005. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.39 

Unfortunately, delays occurred. The 

situation became critical by February 6, 

1978 when high seas had undercut the 

foundations and the tower was tilting at 

about 85 degrees. The attempt made to 

rescue the tower before it collapsed failed. 

Although the tower was carefully 

documented by HABS, this element of the 

1925 station was ultimately lost.98 In 

February 1979, the original nomination 

which still included the lookout tower was 

approved, and the property was officially 

included in the National Register. 

The Cape Hatteras National Seashore 

General Development Plan of 1984 called 

for moving the 1925 Coast Guard Station to 

Whalebone Junction where the exteriors of 

the building would be restored and the 

interior adapted for use as a visitor center.99 

It was believed that the building was under 

threat from the ocean. In response to this 

plan, David Heiser, North Carolina State 

University, refined the concept in 1987 by 

proposing a specific site just south of the 12 

and 64/264 highways intersection. The 

proposal suggested that the 1925 Coast 

Guard Station be used as a visitor center, the 

Boat House for the storage of maintenance 

equipment, and the first station be restored 

to its original appearance and used to 

interpret the Life-Saving Service.100 As of 

2005 that plan remained under consideration 

as a preservation option. 

 

98 Fredrick E. Kelly, “Cape Hatteras National 

Seashore, Building Number 103, Bodie Island C.G. 

Observation Tower, Historic Structure HS-1C, A 

Review of the Situation Leading Up to the Loss of 

the Structure.” No date, copy in archives of National 

Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

99 Cape Hatteras National Seashore/North Carolina, 

“General Management Plan, Development Concept 

Plan, Amended Environmental Assessment” Jan. 

1984. 35. 

100 David Heiser, The Bodie Island Master Plan: A 

Site Analysis and Design Proposal for Visitor Center 

and Park Facilities, December 1, 1987 pp. II-9, II-10. 

Copy in archives of National Park Service, Outer 

Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

Figure B-15 Lookout tower, February 6, 1978, NPS 

archives, Outer Banks Group

Figure B-16 Station from the south, with relocated 

1879 Life-Saving Station at left, December 1986, 

NPS archives, Outer Banks Group

The U.S. Coast Guard returned to the 1925 

building in 1988.101 The decision had been 

made to abandon their station south of 

Oregon Inlet at the end of Pea Island and to 

 

101 Chenery, 36; also “Assessment of Actions Having 

an Effect on Cultural Resources, December 22. 

1992.” 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.40 

construct a new station north of Oregon Inlet 

on National Park Service land adjacent to 

the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. By 1991, 

however, the building was once again 

vacant, and with maintenance deferred, it 

slowly deteriorated. Permission was 

requested to demolish the 1962 office leanto as the first step toward relocating the 

building to Whalebone Junction. In July 

1993, a determination of no adverse impact 

was made, and permission was granted to 

proceed with demolition as funds were 

available. This work was delayed until 2002 

when the demolition occurred as an 

emergency stabilization measure after the 

addition had been significantly damaged by 

Hurricane Isabel.102 Other than replacement 

of the wood shingle roofing with asphalt 

shingles, little significant maintenance has 

been done on the building in the last decade, 

and it appears to have remained vacant since 

1991 when the Coast Guard completed their 

new station.103

 

102 Listed as “Emergency Stabilization BI CG Station, 

7/1/02” OB Project Compliance Tracking Log. On 

file in the offices of Doug Stover, National Park 

Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

103 “ICAP, Bodie Island Life Saving Station, July 17, 

1992”; also, “Assessment of Actions Having an 

Effect on Cultural Resources, December 22. 1992.” 

National Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, 

NC. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.41 

Timeline 

1850 Twenty-six lifeboats placed along the coast of North and South Carolina, 

Georgia, Florida, and Texas.104

1871 Sumner Increase Kimball initiates reorganization of the Life-Saving 

Service. 

1873 $100,000 appropriated to extend life-saving activities into North 

Carolina.105

1874 Bodie Island Station (1⁄2 mile south of Oregon Inlet) established as one of 

seven stations constructed along North Carolina coast.106 

1875 July J.L. Parkinson appointed Assistant Superintendent of 

Construction.107

1878 June 18 U. S. Life-Saving Service established as agency of the Treasury 

Department under the supervision of Sumner I. Kimball.108 

 July 17 Site of Tommy’s Hummock Station selected.109

 July 25 Land conveyed to U.S. for construction of the station.110 

 Fall-Winter Construction of station by Allen A. McCullough of Norfolk, Virginia.111

1879 Jan. 15 Jesse T. Etheridge was first Keeper of the station.112 

Jan. 16 First crew hired; Tommy’s Hummock Station established as Station #14, 

District 6. 

 

1880 Dec. 31 Station platted as 303 yards from the low watermark, 1 mile “to breast of 

light house.” 

1881 by Mar. Telegraph lines were operational. 

 

104 Eugene V. York, The Architecture of the United State Life Saving Stations (Master’s Thesis, Boston University, 

1983) , 6. 

105 Ibid., 15. 106 Ibid., 195-96, Caffeys Inlet, Duck; Kitty Hawk; Nags Head; Oregon Inlet, Rodanthe; Chicamacomico, Rodanthe; 

Little Kinnakeet, Avon. Also http://www.beachbum.homestead.com/Life-SavingStations/OregonInlet.html (March 

27, 2005) 

107 Ibid., 29. 108 20 Stat. L 163. 

109 Walton and Parker’s Report, National Archives. 110 Dare County Record of Deeds, Book A, page 226 indicates 20-year lease, page 423 indicates a sale from by W.S. 

Stetson. National Register Nomination. 

111 National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Bodie Island Lifesaving/Coast Guard Station. North Carolina 

Department of Archives and History; Raleigh, 1979. 

112 Unless noted otherwise all entries are drawn from Tommy’s Hummock/Bodie Island Life Saving Station 

Journals. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.42 

1883 Tommy’s Hummock renamed Bodie Island Life-Saving Station, as old 

Bodie Island Station became the Oregon Inlet Station.113

1887 Telephone service was available at station, supplementing telegraph.114

1890 Jan. 6-10 Moved telephone/telegraph poles back from beach approximately 400 

yards. 

 Mention of “Halfway House” north of station. 

 Nov. 14 New drill pole. 

 Nov. 19 New flag pole. 

1897 Nov. 9 Put in a breakwater to stop water from running around building. 

1904 Sept. 12-17 Crew worked on boat house. 

1914 Oct. 27 Jesse T. Etheridge, Keeper, departed. 

 Oct. 28 New Keeper P.H. Etheridge arrived. 

1915 Jan. 28 President Wilson signed 38 Stat L 800 combining the Life-Saving Service 

with the Revenue Cutter Service to form the United States Coast Guard.115

Apr. 9 Robert L. Wescott arrives as acting Keeper. 

May 7 Boat house for Jersey Boat declared damaged beyond repair, as was the 

store or oil house, by 7th Dist. Asst. Inspector. 

Pre-Sept. Designated as Station #175 in U.S. Coast Guard District #7. 

Sinking of the Lusitania. 

 Nov. 8 Robert L. Wescott appointed as Keeper. 

1916 Apr. 10- 

May 30 Construction of a new boat house. This work was renewed in August and 

on into November. 

Oct. 28 Demolition of old boat house commenced. Lumber was saved for a new 

storage building. 

1917 Jan. 13 Installed new Beebe McClellan surfboat into the new boat house. 

Apr. 6 U.S. declares war on Germany. 

1918 July 3 Put station numbers [175] on the roof of boat house116 and July 17-18 built 

a platform for station numbers. 

Nov. 11 Armistice declared.

1920 Jan. 16 18th Amendment: Prohibition enacted.

 

113 Tommy H. Jones, introduction to Journal transcription. 114 Authorization for all stations to have a telephone: National Archives, RG 26, Letters Sent Vol.27, 358-359: Letter 

from S. Kimball dated October 6, 1885. 

115 York, 61. 116 See undated photograph of site from the north mounted on linen; numbers “175” painted on roof of boat house on 

file in archives of National Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.43 

1923 Apr. Site plan by M.P. Hite to acquire property, locate proposed station, water 

tanks, oil store house and lookout tower.117

Oct. Plans prepared for new U.S. Coast Guard, Bodie Island Station.118

1924 Construction of the new Coast Guard Station.119 

1925 July 16-17 Moved into new station. 

1926 Aug. 10 Built new cesspool for the new station. 

1930 Oct. 22 Steel flag tower delivered. 

1932 Jan. 31 “Take away pound about old station.” 

 Mar. 7 J. N. Baum put in charge of Bodie Station replacing H.C. Smith. 

Mar. 12 L. A. Hobbs took possession of the government horse. No record of a 

horse at the station after that. 

1933 Sept. 15 Force 12 storm hits; oil house was washed down; “water undermined 

station causing it to settle leaving it in a very poor condition and not safe 

to live in.” 

Sept. 17 1925 station was evacuated and crew reoccupied 1879 station. 

Nov. Plans drawn by M. P. Hite to renovate the 1925 station.120

1934 Aug. 16 Reoccupied the new station. 

 Oct. 22 Remodeled old station kitchen to be used as a tractor garage. 

1937 July 15 Station prepared to be decommissioned at sunset.121

1941 Dec. 7 Pearl Harbor attacked.

1944 1879 Station was serving as a galley and mess hall.122

1945 May 8 VE Day. 

Renovation of the 1925 station and additional land acquired toward the 

south. 

 

117 Ibid. 118 “U.S Coast Guard Bodie Island Station, North Carolina, Oct 1923” Five sheets of drawings are on file in archives 

of National Park Service, Outer Banks Group. No architect is recorded on the drawings, however according to 

Eugene York in The Architecture of the United State Life Saving Stations the Chatham Plan may be attributed to 

Victor Mendleheff, 60. 

119 During the period of September 1924-February 1925 Superintendent of Construction, M. P. Hite, makes monthly 

site visits. 

120 Two sheets of drawings by M. P. Hite on file in archives of National Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, 

NC. 

121 Last entry in Tommy’s Hummock/Bodie Island Life Saving Station Journals, Record Group 26, National 

Archives Atlanta, edited transcription provided to the author by Tommy Jones, National Park Service, Atlanta. 122 “Bodie Island Galley and Mess Bldg., Layout of Existing Floor Plan, United States Coast Guard Civil 

Engineering, Norfolk Dist. Norfolk, VA, Jan. 30 1945.” Copy on file in archives of National Park Service, Outer 

Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.44 

New electrical service to the site allows 

removal of the generators and batteries. 123 

Two new 8,000-gallon water storage tanks constructed at the 1879 

Station.124

1953 Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreation Area established. 

Oct. 15 The Bodie Island Coast Guard Station turned over to the National Park 

Service.125

1954 Mar. 30 1925 building was vacant.126 

May NPS began making renovations for use as headquarters. 

1955 Relocation of the 1879 Station and the 1916 boat house to their present 

location.127

Pre- 1962 South porch of 1925 station was enclosed. Park Service had assigned 

numbers to the buildings: 1879 Station – Bldg. 100; 1916 Boat House – 

Bldg. 100A, 1925 Station – Bldg. 102: Lookout Tower – Bldg. 103. 

1962 Construction of two-story addition to the north side of the 1933 stair 

tower. Two public restrooms were in the basement, and an office was at 

first floor. 

May Two additional first-floor rooms added to the east side of the main block, 

requiring removal of the front portico.128

1974 Jan. 30 Started renovation of the 1925 station with the basement kitchen; and 

enlarged restrooms; ranger office first floor.129 

1978 Feb. 6 Collapse of the 1925 lookout tower.130

 

123 “Unit No. 334, Bodie Island NC, Alterations to Present Dwelling, United States Coast Guard Civil Engineering 

Norfolk District, Norfolk VA, 6 April, 1945.” Copy on file in archives of National Park Service, Outer Banks 

Group, Manteo, NC. 

124 Ibid. “Alterations to Mess Hall and Galley.” 125 Bodie Island Life Saving/Coast Guard Station National Register Nomination. Item Number 8, Page 2 prepared 

March 1, 1977. This appears to be the same transaction that transfers the lands around the Lighthouse to the Park 

Service. 

126 See collection of nine photographs by J.C. McCabe, dated March 30, 1954, on file in archives of National Park 

Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

127 See building and photograph files on Building #100 (1789 Station), Building #100A (1916 Boat House) in 

archives of National Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

128 “United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Operations & Maintenance, Region One Office, 

Room Addition – Admin. Bldg. Bodie Island Cape Hatteras National Seashore” dated May 1962, copy on file 

National Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

129 “Bodie Island Building #102, Alterations to Present Structure, National Park Service Cape Hatteras National 

Seashore, drawn by Lusa, 1-30-74” in archives of National Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. After 

this renovation the building was often called “The Hilton” per interview with George E. Perrot III, NPS Outer Banks 

Group. 

130 Fredrick E. Kelly, “Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Building Number 103, Bodie Island C.G Observation 

Tower, Historic Structure HS-1C, Review of the Situation Leading Up to the Loss of the Structure” N.D. There are 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.45 

1979 Feb. 9 1879 Life-Saving Station, 1925 CG Station, and 1916 Boat House placed 

on the National Register of Historic Places. 

1984 Jan. Cape Hatteras National Seashore General Management Plan called for 

relocation of buildings. 

1987 Whalebone Junction, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Master Plan 

prepared for moving of the buildings to become a welcome center.131

1988 1925 building used by Coast Guard as barracks while the new Oregon 

Inlet Station was being built.132

2002 Demolition of the 1962 addition to the front of the 1925 Station.133

2004 Wood shingle roof removed from 1925 Station; reroofed with asphalt 

shingles. 

 extensive files on this building including photographs and measured drawings in the Blg.103 file in archives of 

National Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 

131 David Heiser, The Bodie Island Master Plan: A Site Analysis and Design Proposal for Visitor Center and Park 

Facilities, December 1, 1987, II-9, II-10. Copy in archives of National Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, 

NC. 

132 Richard L. Chenery III, Old Coast Guard Stations Vol.2, North Carolina (Glen Allen, VA: Station Books, 2000), 

35-36. 

133 Listed as “Emergency Stabilization BI CG Station, 7/1/02” OB Project Compliance Tracking Log. On file in the 

offices of Doug Stover, National Park Service, Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.46 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.B Chronology of Development and Use 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.B.47 

C. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION 

General Description: 

The Station in 2005 

Over the course of the eighty years the 

Bodie Island Coast Guard Station has 

existed, many dramatic changes have 

occurred in both the building and the 

surrounding landscape. Originally set 700 

feet from the beach, and northwest of the 

1879 Station which it replaced in function, 

the 1925 Station once commanded a wide, 

relatively flat expanse of land leading to the 

beach. This exposure proved detrimental in 

1933, when a hurricane undermined the 

concrete basement walls and foundation, 

rendering the building’s base unstable. 

Because of the unsafe condition, the crew 

moved back into the old station building 

while repairs were made. The repairs, 

completed the following year, included a 

complete rebuilding of the foundation and 

raised basement, a rearrangement of 

basement rooms, partial rebuilding of 

interior stairs, an addition of a two-story 

stair tower on the west elevation providing 

secondary access to both the basement and 

the first floor, and addition of a second floor 

bathroom. The building underwent further 

changes during World War II to 

accommodate its use as a Coast Guard 

LORAN station. The most recent chapter in 

the building’s history, the National Park 

Service’s ownership, entailed several more 

additions and changes relating to the new 

uses the building served. 

Creation of man-made sand dunes on the 

Outer Banks began with the Civilian 

Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Plants 

whose form tended to stop and deposit 

blowing sand were cut on the mainland, 

brought to the islands, and stacked in a line 

of mounds opposite the water’s edge. Over 

time, the dunes have grown and the 

shoreline has continued to move westward. 

The site around the station has changed 

significantly. The view of the once broad 

expanse of beach from the original front 

entrance portico is now blocked by large 

sand dunes that stand immediately east of 

the structure. The water’s edge is now just 

beyond the sand dunes. This build-up of 

dunes, coupled with the removal of the 

original portico and the addition of offices 

on the east side in the 1960s, have changed 

the building’s orientation. Today a paved 

drive from Highway 12 leads to a parking 

lot directly west of the building, and this 

elevation appears to be its front facade. 

Figure C-1 Station from the south, showing dunes to 

the east and the relocated 1879 Station to the west 

The station is a large, two-story 

weatherboard on wood-frame building over 

a raised basement, whose perimeter walls 

are made of poured-in-place concrete. A 

gable on hipped roof with asphalt shingles 

covers the main block of the building. A 

wraparound porch extends along the south 

and west elevations; on the west side the 

porch intersects with the circa 1933 stair 

tower addition, which itself was enlarged in 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.48 

1962 to house basement restrooms and a 

first-floor office. The south portion of the 

porch was enclosed by the National Park 

Service at some point between 1956 and 

1962. 

The west elevation, facing Highway 12, now 

serves as the primary entrance to the 

building. At ground floor, a door into the 

stair tower addition provides access to the 

basement. At first floor above, there are two 

four-over-four double hung windows, one in 

the 1933 stair tower addition and the other in 

the 1962 restroom/office addition. Both 

windows are covered on the exterior by 

vented plywood panels, as are all windows 

of the station, for protection from storms and 

vandals. 

Figure C-2 Station from the northwest 

At the basement of the main block, two sixover-six double-hung windows are sheltered 

by the porch. Open stringer wooden stairs 

lead from the parking area to the first-floor 

porch where there are three six-over-six 

double-hung windows and the primary 

entrance doorway. At the second floor are 

four original six-over-six windows and one 

smaller four-over-four window, added in the 

1933 repairs when the bathroom was 

relocated from the basement to the second 

floor. 

The north elevation of the main block of the 

station contains two six-over-six doublehung windows at each of the three floors, 

and an additional small window at the gable 

in the attic. The 1962 restroom addition on 

the west end of the north elevation has two 

wood slab doors leading into the basement 

restrooms, and a single six-over-six window 

centered on the first-floor office wall above. 

The east elevation was originally the front 

elevation of the station; it was a five-bay 

design with a center portico on the first 

floor. Today all five six-over-six doublehung windows are in place on the second 

floor, but only one original opening remains 

on the first floor. The others were enclosed 

in a one-story, shed-roofed 1962 addition 

containing two offices. This addition was 

removed in 2002, and asphalt roll roofing 

was installed on the surface of the original 

wall as a temporary protective covering. 

The basement has two six-over-six doublehung windows, and the concrete portico 

stairs are still in place in the center bay. An 

aluminum two-over-two window is 

contained in the first-floor porch enclosure. 

Figure C-3 Station from the southeast 

The south elevation contains three two-overtwo aluminum windows in the offices 

created when the first-floor porch was 

enclosed; the second floor and basement 

both have two early six-over-six window 

units. On the south side of the stair tower 

addition beyond, there is at first floor one 

pair of aluminum two-over-two windows. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.49 

Construction Characteristics 

Structural Systems 

Foundation and Cross Walls: The main 

block of the station rests on a poured-inplace concrete foundation that dates to 1933, 

when the original concrete foundation was 

undermined during a hurricane. The porch 

piers are also poured-in-place concrete. At 

the basement, steel beams and post run 

north-south at the midpoint of the building. 

Load-bearing frame walls are set 

immediately above at both the first and 

second floors, with the exception of the 

south end of the second floor where a steel 

beam carries the load. 

The stair tower addition, dating to 1933, has 

poured-in-place concrete foundation walls 

that were installed concurrently with the 

new concrete foundation walls poured for 

the original station in the repairs of that 

year. 

The 1962 restroom addition consists of 

concrete block foundation walls. 

Figure C-4 Porch foundation and floor framing 

Floor Framing: The first-floor framing, 

visible from areas of Room 001 below, is 

13⁄4” x 91⁄2” joists running east-west at 16” on 

center. Diagonal tongue-and-groove 

subflooring is also visible. The second-floor 

framing is 13⁄4” x 91⁄2” joists, visible from 

Room 106 below. The attic-floor framing is 

13⁄4” x 91⁄2” at 16” on center. The porch 

framing is 15⁄8” x 73⁄4” at 151⁄2” on center, 

framed every 8’-0” into girders measuring 

25⁄8” x 73⁄4”. Floor framing of other portions 

of the station is inaccessible. 

 

Roof Framing: The gable on hipped roof of 

the main block of the station is framed with 

15⁄8” x 71⁄2” pine, machine planed rafters at 

16” on center. Deck boards measure 1” x 

43⁄8”. Roof framing of other portions of the 

station is inaccessible. 

Exterior Features 

Roof & Rainwater Collection/Dispersal: 

The station has asphalt shingle roofing on all 

roof surfaces; it is in relatively good 

condition. No gutters or downspouts are in 

place, though early photographs show them 

installed on the porch roof and roof of the 

main block. Some fascia boards of the main 

block are currently missing, including an 

approximately 16 feet long section on the 

north elevation, and two sections totaling 

approximately 20 feet on the east elevation. 

Figure C-5 Missing fascia board on the north 

elevation 

Chimney: The station’s chimney intersects 

the ridge line of the roof, and is located near 

the north gable. This single chimney is a 

deviation from the Chatham Type’s more 

symmetrical double chimney design. The 

chimney, rebuilt after the 1933 hurricane, is 

laid common bond brick and does not have 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.50 

any detailed brickwork or corbelling. It 

vents the furnace in the basement. 

Walls: All walls above the basement are 

sheathed in weatherboard siding, now 

painted white and peeling extensively. The 

siding has a 41⁄2” exposure. A wood water 

table with a molded drip cap forms the base 

of the wood siding at its intersection with 

the raised concrete foundation walls. 

Corners meet with 53⁄4” wide by 11⁄8” thick 

flush boards, set vertically, with a 11⁄8” 

quarter round molding at their intersection. 

At the c. 1956-62 porch enclosure, the base 

of the wall consists of a skirt board with drip 

cap created by the overhang of the original 

porch floor. Corners meet with 53⁄4” wide by 

3⁄4” thick flush boards, set vertically, with a 

3⁄4” quarter round molding at their 

intersection. A 1” x 8” board placed 

horizontally at the top of each exterior wall 

of the main block marks the transition from 

weatherboard siding to soffit. V-joint 

tongue-and-groove boards, matching the 

ceiling boards of the porches, form the 

soffit. 

Photographs from c. 1971 reveal, and 

peeling paint on site confirms, that other 

colors were previously used, in a contrasting 

scheme in which the corner boards and trim 

were painted a lighter color than the body of 

the station. Photographs from c. 1925 

indicate that the building was originally 

painted white or a light color, while window 

sash, doors, porch ceiling, gable ends, and 

soffits were painted a dark color. 

Doorways: The current primary entrance to 

the station is on the west elevation; it was 

created from an original window opening at 

some point between 1956 and 1962, when 

the original pantry was converted into an 

entrance hall. It has a sash door now 

covered on both sides with plywood, but 

apparently of 1925 vintage. The secondary 

entrance to the station is at the basement into 

the stair tower; it was installed when the 

Figure C-6 Early photo of station from the southeast 

(CAHA) 

stair tower was built in 1933. It has its 

original sash door with flush board 

surrounds. Two slab doors, also known as 

flush doors, on the north elevation provide 

access to the two restrooms. These doors 

are in very poor condition, having been 

damaged by termites. 

Windows: All but one window of the first 

and second floors of the main block are sixover-six, double-hung wood windows, 

measuring approximately 3’-0” wide by 5’-

6” tall. All appear to be original and share 

common details and construction 

methodology. The exception is a smaller 

but similar four-over-four double-hung 

wood window at the center of the second 

floor of the west elevation added in 1933. 

All windows in the raised basement match 

the originals of the upper two floors in 

design and construction, though they are 

shorter. These too are six-over-six doublehung wood windows measuring 

approximately 3’-0” wide by only 4’-0” tall. 

When the basement was rebuilt after the 

1933 storm, the two outermost window 

openings of the east elevation were not 

included. The 1925 basement windows 

appear to have been reused in the rebuilt 

1933 basement walls. 

Some of these windows have small amounts 

of rot or separated elements, and many have 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.51 

broken sash cords, but in general they are in 

stable condition due in large part to the 

mothballing of the building. 

In the 1933 stair tower, there is one fourover-four double-hung window on the west 

elevation, measuring 2’-0” wide by 5’-6” 

tall, dating to that construction. There is 

also a pair of aluminum two-over-two 

Figure C-7 Six-over-six window and radiator, 

probably both dating to 1925 

windows on the south elevation dating to a 

later modification, probably c. 1950s. 

At the enclosed south section of the firstfloor porch, there are four pairs of aluminum 

two-over-two windows with horizontal 

muntins. Three pairs are on the south 

elevation and one pair is on the east 

elevation. All were installed when this 

section of the porch was enclosed c. 1956-

62. There is on the west wall of this 

enclosure a wood window unit matching 

those of the first floor of the main block. It 

is almost certainly a salvaged unit reused. 

Two four-over-four wood windows are at 

the first floor of the 1962 restroom addition, 

one each in the north and west elevations. 

The west window measures 2’-0” wide by 

5’-6” tall; the north window measures 3’-0” 

wide by 5’-6” tall. Both windows were 

probably salvaged from another building. 

Porches: The first-floor wraparound porch 

on the south and west elevations is an 

original feature. The shallow pitch of the 

hip roof and concrete foundation piers of the 

porch remain unchanged. The south portion 

of the porch was enclosed at some time 

between 1956 and 1962. In 1962, stairs 

were built in their current location off the 

northernmost bay of the west section of the 

porch. Both the stairs and the exposed 

portion of the porch are in poor condition. 

Severely peeling paint has allowed access by 

water, causing the wood to swell and buckle, 

and rot has formed in numerous areas. The 

flooring in the south bay of the west section 

has collapsed. 

Figure C-8 Buckling porch flooring and collapsed 

porch railings 

Interior Features 

Room 001: The area of the kitchen south of 

the staircase measures 14’-0” x 12’-9”. The 

remaining or west section of the L-shaped 

room measures 24’-9” x 12’-0”. The 1933 

“as built” plans show this west section 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.52 

extending even farther north. In 1974 the 

north end was partitioned off to create the 

boiler room (Room 006). 

• Flooring: The floor is a poured concrete 

slab dating to 1933. 

Figure C-9 Southeast corner of Room 001 

Figure C-10 1933 Doorway leading from the added 

west stair tower (Room 007) 

• Walls: The easternmost wall, the south 

wall, and the west wall are made of pouredin-place concrete dating to 1933. The 

imprints of the forms constructed of plank 

boards set horizontally are clearly visible. 

The wall south of the staircase that separates 

it from Room 001 is gypsum board on studs. 

The north wall is 1⁄4” plywood on stud 

framing dating to 1974. 

• Doors: The doorways between this 

kitchen and the stairs (Room 002) and this 

room and the laundry (Room 003) have 

1925-era Type C-1 casings, probably reused. 

The original door to the basement from the 

staircase (Room 002) has been replaced with 

a 1970s vintage hollow-core, slab door with 

same era hardware of two, 3” butt hinges on 

the north jamb and a closet lockset. The 

door to the laundry has a 1925-era, fivepanel door, probably reused. The doorway 

from the 1933 stair tower (Room 007) has 

Type C-2, mitered casings dating to 1933. 

However, the six-light over three-panel sash 

door dates to 1925. Its original mortise lock 

is still in place as are its three original 33⁄4”, 

five-knuckle galvanized butt hinges. The 

door measures 3’-0” x 6’-6” x 13⁄4”, and its 

bottom rail is split. The doorway to the 

boiler room (Room 006) has 1970s-era Type 

C-17 casings and door of the same period. 

• Windows: All five window openings are 

3’-0” wide x 4’-0” tall. They have six-oversix light, double-hung window sash with 

1925-era Type M-1 muntins. All five 

casings are Type C-1, matching the window 

units of the first and second floors. These 

window units probably date to 1925, were 

salvaged after the 1933 hurricane, and 

reused during the subsequent rebuilding. 

Except for minor damage, all are in 

generally sound condition. One muntin and 

four panes are missing from the bottom sash 

on the south window of the east wall. 

There is also termite damage visible on that 

windowsill. The top sash of the window on 

the east side of the south wall was removed 

completely and replaced with a modern, c. 

1974, exhaust fan. The window on the west 

side of the south wall is missing one pane 

from the bottom sash. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.53 

Figure C-11 Early back door’s mortise lock 

Figure C-12 Exhaust fan replaces top sash 

• Ceiling: There is visible termite damage 

to the ceiling joists exposed in the southeast 

corner of the room and the adjoining east 

wall sill plate. The 91⁄2” x 13⁄4” ceiling joists 

are 16” on center and run east-to-west. An 

I-beam that runs from north-to-south for the 

length of the house is visible from the corner 

of the wall south of the staircase to the south 

perimeter wall. On the east side of the Ibeam, the ceiling is sheathed with a gypsum 

or plaster board. On the west side of the Ibeam the ceiling is 1⁄4” plywood, probably 

dating to the 1970s. 

Figure C-13 Termite damage to ceiling joists and 

sill plate 

• Baseboards: The north wall, south of 

the staircase has Type B-1 baseboards, 

dating either to the 1933 rebuilding or to 

1925 and reused in 1933. The north wall 

separating the kitchen from the boiler room 

(Room 006) has the 1970s-era, Type B-14 

baseboard. A painted baseboard 

representation is on the remaining walls. 

• Finishes: The walls, the floor, the 

ceiling, and the trim are all painted and are 

peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: A 

cast iron 1’-8” x 7’-0” radiator is mounted 

on the ceiling in the eastern quadrant of the 

room. A similar 1’-8” x 4’-8” radiator is 

mounted in the southwest corner of the 

ceiling. Electrical wiring is in surfacemounted conduit. Rectangular 

discolorations on the ceiling mark where 

two 1960s-era fluorescent ceiling lights, 

now missing, were mounted. A 220V outlet 

is in the middle of the south wall. A 

thermostat is on the north wall. 

• Other Features: None are present. 

Room 002: This room, housing the staircase 

from the basement to the first floor and 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.54 

measuring 6’-7” x 11’-9”, was originally 

designed in 1925 to open directly into the 

basement through a cased opening. A door 

was added in the 1933 repairs to separate the 

two areas. 

Figure C-14 Landing between first floor and 

basement 

• Flooring: The floor of the bottom 

landing and intermediate landing are

poured-in-place concrete slabs dating to 

1933. 

• Walls: The north, west, and south walls 

of the basement are gypsum or plaster board 

on stud framing. The east wall is poured-inplace concrete up to the level of the 

intermediate landing; gypsum or plaster 

board on studs are above. 

• Doors: The doorway from this room to 

the kitchen (Room 001) has 1925-era Type 

C-1 casings, mitered at the corners. It is 

probably reused. 

• Windows: None are present. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board.

• Baseboards: The Type B-2 baseboard, 

slightly different from that of the upper two 

stories of the staircase, probably dates to 

1933. 

• Finishes: The walls, floor, and ceiling 

are all painted and are peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: 

Mounted on the east wall of the landing is a 

24-fin, 1’-8” x 4’-6” wall radiator. Above 

the landing is a 1970s-vintage ceiling light 

missing the globe. 

• Other Features: The staircase consists 

of a poured-in-place concrete intermediate 

landing. There are wood treads and risers 

from the intermediate landing to both the 

first floor and the basement. The lower run 

has a galvanized 11⁄4” pipe handrail on the 

north side and a wood handrail on the south 

side, apparently more recent by its lack of 

wear.

Room 003: The 11’-3” x 12’-4” laundry 

room was not used for this purpose until 

1974. The 1923 plans identify this area as 

the “Store Room,” with the laundry 

relegated to the southwest quadrant of the 

basement. This room has remained 

relatively unchanged through the building’s 

many renovations and repairs. According to 

the 1945 alteration drawings, an additional 

closet was added north of the original closet 

that occupies the southeast corner. This 

closet, however, does not show up again in 

the 1972 drawings, so presumably it was 

removed that year in the alterations. 

• Flooring: The floor is a poured-in-place 

concrete slab dating to 1933. 

• Walls: The east wall is 1933-vintage, 

poured-in-place concrete while the others 

are gypsum or plaster board on stud framing. 

There is extensive damage (rot) to the wall 

plate on the east wall and to the reused 1925 

window casing. 

• Doors: The doorway from Room 001 to 

Room 003 has original 1925 Type C-1 

casings with mitered corners, and a 1925-

vintage, five-panel door. Two early, 31⁄4” 

butt hinges are in place; however, the 

latching mechanism is missing. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.55 

• Windows: There is one six-over-six 

light window with Type M-1 muntins on the 

east wall, probably a reused 1925 window 

unit. One pane of glass is missing from the 

top sash and four panes from the bottom 

sash. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board.

• Baseboards: The baseboards are the 

early Type B-1. There are poor replications 

of this baseboard along the southeast corner, 

probably dating to the 1972 repairs. All of 

the baseboards have a 3⁄4”, quarter-round 

shoe molding. The shoe molding along the 

north wall has extensive rot. 

• Finishes: The walls, floor, and ceiling 

are all painted and are peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: 

1950s-vintage, electrical metal conduit is 

mounted on the walls. Marks on the ceiling 

indicate that one fluorescent ceiling light is 

missing. 

Figure C-15 Tank in Room 003 

• Other Features: In the northeast corner 

of the room, part of the metal tank from the 

adjacent room is visible. 

Room 004: This 8’-9” x 12’-4” room 

occupying the northeast corner of the 

basement was historically know as the “Fuel 

Room” or the “Coal Bin.” The earliest 

drawings, dated 1923, and photographs 

confirm that there were originally two 

windows in this room, one on the north wall 

and another on the east wall. In the repairs 

that followed the devastating 1933 

hurricane, the original concrete foundation 

walls were replaced with the existing 

poured-in-place concrete walls, and the east 

window was eliminated. In 1923 the room 

was also larger than it is today. The west 

wall was originally designed to be several 

feet west of its current position where it has 

been since 1933, under the sections of Ibeam that run north-south for the length of 

the station at its center. 

• Flooring: The floor is a poured-in-place 

concrete slab dating to the 1933 repairs. 

• Walls: The north and east walls are 

poured-in-place concrete of the 1933 repairs. 

The west wall is 1⁄4” plywood on stud 

framing. This wall was probably rebuilt 

when the fuel oil system was installed at a 

date which has not been determined. 

According to NPS drawings, the tank was 

not installed when the 1974 repairs were 

conducted. The south stud wall is sheathed 

in 51⁄2” wide tongue-and-groove plank 

boards laid horizontally. A wall in this 

location was initially constructed in 1933. It 

may have been dismantled to install the 

tank. 

• Doors: The doorway from Room 004 to 

the boiler room (Room 006) has been 

lowered for overhead piping. The door 

casing is original, Type C-1, although cut 

down to fit the modified doorway 

dimensions. The door itself is made of 

plywood, a modern addition which probably 

occurred when the fuel oil system was 

installed. 

• Windows: The room’s one window, a 

six-over-six light window with Type M-1 

muntins, is on the north wall and has the 

original 1925-vintage Type C-1 casings. Its 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.56 

Figure C-16 Northeast corner of Room 004 

bottom sash is missing all three muntins and 

all of its panes of glass. 

• Ceiling: 41⁄4” x 3⁄4” tongue-and-groove 

pine boards are laid north-to-south. The 

ceiling is crisscrossed with radiator pipes. 

There is an exposed I-beam along the west 

edge of the ceiling with a 6” web and 4” 

flange. 

• Baseboards: None are present. 

• Finishes: The walls, ceiling, and floor 

and plywood tank covering are painted and 

are peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: A 

ceramic light fixture is mounted on the 

ceiling along with remnants of electric wire 

conduit and plastic-wrapped Romex.

• Other Features: Along the entire east 

side of the room there is a cylindrical metal 

tank, presumably for fuel oil storage, and a 

plywood enclosure, both of unknown 

construction date. The paint on the tank 

enclosure is in much better condition than in 

the rest of the room. 

Room 005: Through the 1925-era five-panel 

double doors on the north wall of the boiler 

room (Room 006), is this small, 4’-5” x 12’-

0” room. Containing electrical panels when 

created in 1933, it was identified for 

containing the electric generator and pump. 

• Flooring: The floor is a poured-in-place 

concrete slab dating to 1933. 

• Walls: The 1933 north and west walls 

are poured-in-place concrete. The east wall 

is 1⁄4” plywood on stud framing. 

• Doors: The casing around the double 

doors, opening into the boiler room (Room 

006) is original, 1925-vintage, Type C-1, 

apparently reused. It is a modern wall 

rebuilt at an unknown date. 

• Windows: There is one six-over-six 

light window on the west wall with 1925-era 

Type M-1 muntins and Type C-1 casings, 

apparently reused in the 1933 repairs. The 

window is missing one pane of glass from 

the top sash and four panes from the bottom.

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board. In the northwest 

corner there is a 2’-0” x 1’-0” opening of 

unknown purpose. 

• Baseboard: A section of Type B-1 

baseboard, dating to 1925/1933, is on the 

south wall, west of the door from Room 006, 

and shows signs of rot. On the other wall 

sections, painted simulations of baseboards 

have been applied. 

• Finishes: The walls, floor, ceiling, and 

trim are all painted and are peeling 

extensively.

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: Four 

electrical panels, one for fuses and three for 

breakers, are mounted on the south wall. 

One ceramic light fixture is mounted on the 

ceiling. 

• Other Features: There are two poured 

concrete equipment platforms rising several 

inches above the floor. 

Room 006: The room now called the boiler 

room is approximately 8’-10” x 12’-4”. 

• Flooring: The floor is a poured-in-place 

concrete slab.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.57 

Figure C-17 Electrical Panels in Room 005 

• Walls: The west wall is poured-in-place 

concrete dating to 1933. The framed north 

and east walls were constructed in 1933; the 

elevations facing Room 006 now have 

modern 1⁄4” plywood sheathing. The south 

wall first appears on a 1962 NPS inventory 

and again on 1975 repair drawings, but as a 

straight wall, not set at an angle as it is now; 

it now has modern 1⁄4” plywood sheathing 

also. These walls may have been 

dismantled, at least partially, when the fuel 

oil tank was installed, a date apparently after 

1974. 

• Doors: A 2’-4” x 6’-2” doorway 

connects to Room 004. It has original, 

1925-vintage, Type C-1 mitered casings that 

have been cut down to a reduced height. A 

door constructed of plywood is currently in 

place. The original doorway was apparently 

reduced when the overhead oil boiler and 

pipes were installed. The casing on the door 

to the kitchen (Room 001), probably dating 

to the 1974 remodeling, is Type C-17, with 

square-cut corners. Centered on the north 

wall is a pair of 1925-vintage, double doors, 

each five-panel and 2’-0” x 6’-6”. The 

doors have a mortise lock, 31⁄2” five-knuckle 

butt hinges, and stile-mounted overhead and 

foot locks. The casing is also 1925-vintage, 

reused Type C-1. 

• Windows: There is one six-over-six 

light window with Type M-1 muntins and 

Type C-1 casings in the northwest corner of 

the west wall. The window is missing one 

pane of glass from the top sash and four 

panes from the bottom sash. 

Figure C-18 Reused 1925 double doors from Room 

005 (L) and shortened doorway from Room 004 with 

modern door (R). 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board.

• Baseboards: The east wall beside the 

chimney has the original, Type B-1 

baseboard installed in 1933. The other walls 

have painted-on baseboard representations. 

• Finishes: The walls, floor, ceiling, and 

trim are all painted and are peeling 

extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: An 

inoperative oil boiler made by American 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.58 

Radiator and Sanitary Corporation is in the 

southeast corner of the room. The model is 

A-3 # A35P series 1B J1. It is vented into 

the chimney with a 6” galvanized vent pipe. 

Production of this oil boiler stopped in 1968, 

when the company ceased operation. The 

company records no longer exist. The 

installation date is not known. The large 

fuel oil tank does not appear on the last NPS 

drawings of 1974. Electric wiring in flexible 

metal conduit is exposed on the walls. One 

ceramic ceiling light fixture is in place. In 

the northwest corner of the room is a Rheem 

Figure C-19 Oil Boiler in Room 006 

brand, 65-gallon electric water heater serial 

number R 048 8C02249 model 81V-66D; 

according to company records, the unit was 

constructed in April 1988. 

Room 007: Room 007 is a 4’-0” x 11’-9” 

hallway created in 1933 when a back 

stairwell between the basement and the first 

floor was added to the west elevation of the 

station. From outside, the hall leads onto a 

poured-in-place concrete landing, down 

Figure C-20 Electric water heater in Room 006 

• Other Features: None are present. 

several stairs, into the basement. A closet 

running along the north wall of the hall 

would have been under the stairs to the first 

floor. The stairs to the first floor were 

removed in 1974; a small frame closet at the 

landing was added at that time. 

• Flooring: The floor is a poured concrete 

slab. On the west side of the hallway three 

concrete stairs lead up to a concrete landing. 

Wooden steps to the first floor have been 

removed. 

• Walls: The south, west, and north walls 

are made of poured-in-place concrete. The 

wall creating the closet once beneath the 

stairs is a stud wall sheathed with pine 

tongue-and-groove boards of random widths 

ranging from 43⁄4” to 53⁄4” in 1⁄4” increments. 

When the steps were removed in 1974, a 

stud wall, sheathed in 41⁄4” pine tongue-andgroove boards, enclosed the remainder of 

the space where the stairs had been located. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.59 

Figure C-22 Public Restrooms 

Figure C-21 Room 007 

• Doors: Ghost marks of small 31⁄4” hinges 

on the Room 007 side of the doorway to the 

kitchen (Room 007) indicate there was once 

a lightweight door, such as a screen door, in 

this location. The doorway has 1933-

vintage Type C-4 door casing. A 1933-

vintage, four-panel door with a mortise lock 

and missing doorknobs opens from the 

closet that was once beneath the stairs going 

up to the first floor. The doorway has a 37⁄8” 

rounded door surround, the only one of its 

kind in the house. At the intermediate 

landing on the west wall is a reused 1925-

vintage sash door. It is missing its original 

locking mechanism, but its three 41⁄2”, fiveknuckle, butt hinges are in place. The door 

has a 1933-vintage Type C-4 door casing. 

At this landing on the north wall, a 1’-11”x 

5’-5” plywood door with original 

galvanized, strap hinges opens from the 

1974 closet into the hall. It is cased with 3 

1⁄2” x 3⁄4” square-edged planks with squarecut corners. 

• Windows: None are present. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is made of 1⁄4” 

plywood, probably installed when the stair 

was removed in 1974. 

• Baseboards: The baseboards are painted 

on. 

• Finishes: The walls, ceiling, and trim 

and floor are painted. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: The 

wall light on the north wall is missing. In the 

closet beneath the stairs is a ceramic light 

fixture in place with plastic-wrap, Romex 

wiring. 

• Other Features: There is a closet on the 

north wall off the landing. 

Room 008: This, the men’s public 

restroom, was built along with the adjacent 

women’s public restroom in 1962 when the 

station served as park headquarters for Cape 

Hatteras National Seashore. It measures 9’-

21⁄2” x 5’-7”. 

• Flooring: The floor is a poured-in-place 

concrete slab. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.60 

• Walls: The south wall is formed from 

the earlier perimeter poured-in-place 

concrete wall of the stair tower. The north 

and west walls are concrete block. The east 

wall is a stud wall with 1⁄4” plywood 

sheathing. 

• Doors: A wood slab door provides 

access from the exterior. The door has 

severe water and termite damage. 

• Windows: None are present. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is acoustical tile. 

• Baseboards: None are present. 

• Finishes: The walls are painted and 

peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: 

Electrical fixtures are missing. 

• Other Features: A ceramic sink is on 

the east wall. One ceramic toilet and one 

ceramic urinal are located along the south 

wall. 

Room 009: This room was built as a 

women’s public restroom in 1962. It 

measures 9’-21⁄2” x 5’-71⁄2”. 

• Flooring: The floor is a poured-in-place 

concrete slab. 

• Walls: The east and south walls are the 

poured-in-place concrete walls of the station 

and stair tower, respectively. The north wall 

is concrete block. The west wall, separating 

this from the men’s public restroom, is a 

stud wall with 1⁄4” plywood finish. 

• Doors: The wood slab door providing 

access from the exterior is severely damaged 

by water and termites. 

• Windows: No exterior windows are 

present, though a reused 1925-vintage 

window is in place on the east wall of this 

room, in the rebuilt 1933 perimeter wall of 

the station. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is acoustical tile. 

• Baseboards: None are present. 

• Finishes: The walls are painted and 

peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: 

Electrical fixtures are missing. 

• Other Features: A ceramic sink is on 

the east wall. Two ceramic toilets are 

located along the south wall. 

Room 101: This 14’-0” x 12’-5” room, now 

called the living room, was originally used 

as an office. A chart case occupied the 

entire north wall but was removed in 1974; 

ghost marks are visible at the walls and 

baseboards. In 1945 a hallway was 

partitioned off of the northwest quadrant of 

the room extending from the stair hall 

(Room 102) to Room 108, which was then 

used as the officer’s quarters. The hall was 

removed in the 1974 alterations when Room 

108 was converted into a large bathroom. 

• Flooring: Modern, commercialgrade, wall-to-wall carpeting is on top of 

1925-era tongue-and-groove 21⁄4” wide 

wood flooring, laid north-to-south. Tongueand-groove 41⁄2” x 1” subflooring laid 

diagonally can be seen through a hole in the 

ceiling of the room below. 

• Walls: All of the walls are gypsum or 

plaster board on stud framing. On the west, 

south, and part of the east wall are the 

original 1925-era 33⁄4” chair rails. The north 

wall has no chair rail since the large chart 

case formerly occupied the entire wall. 

• Doors: The doorway leading to the stair 

hall (Room 102) has been reworked. It is 

noted on the 1945 drawings that the original 

door was relocated when the new hallway 

was constructed to connect the stair hall 

(Room 102) to Room 108, then the Officer’s 

Quarters. The door is now a modern, 2’-8” x 

6’-8” x 11⁄4” hollow-core slab door. The 

casing has the same rounded edges of the 

1925 and 1933 casings, but only part of it is 

likely to be early. The top of the casing is 

43⁄4” wide, probably an original piece, while 

the casing on the east side of the door 

measures 41⁄2” wide, probably a 1945 

modification. The doorway to the bathroom 

(Room 108) on the west wall has 1925-era 

Type C-1 mitered casing. The doorway to 

Room 112, one of the rooms created by 

enclosing the side porch, is a 1925 feature; it 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.61 

originally connected to the open south 

porch. The doorway retains its 1925 Type 

C-1 mitered casing. The current door is also 

a modern, 2’-8” x 6’-8” x 1 1⁄4” hollow-core 

slab door. 

Figure C-23 Southeast corner of Room 101 with 

original window converted to an open bookcase 

Figure C-24 Room 102 with plywood ceiling 

medallion and central light, staircase newel, 

balustrade, handrail, and pendants 

• Windows: The room’s one remaining 

window, a six-over-six light, 1925-era 

window with Type M-1 muntins, is on the 

east wall and is missing all of its muntins on 

the lower sash. A second window opening 

on the east wall was closed in 1962 when 

the east addition was constructed. Cracks in 

the gypsum or plaster board interior wall 

patch still indicate its original location. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board and has extensive 

water damage. 

• Baseboards: The baseboard along the 

east wall is the original, 1925-era Type B-3, 

as is the baseboard on the east side of the 

door to Room 112 and the north side of the 

door to Room 108. The baseboards in the 

southwest corner of the room between the 

two doors are 1925-era, Type B-4. The 

baseboards on the north wall are Type B-11 

from a 1974 repair. 

• Finishes: The walls, ceiling, and trim are 

all painted and are peeling extensively.

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: 

Surface-mounted wire molding is on the 

walls. The ceiling fixture is missing. There 

is one 1925-era cast iron 16-fin radiator with 

the dimensions 2’-1” x 3’-4” x 8” under the 

window. A galvanized, reflective heat 

shield is on the wall behind the radiator. 

There are two radiator pipes going up the 

east wall to the second floor. 

• Other Features: An open shelf between 

this room and Room 111 is located in the 

original window opening on the south wall. 

Room 102: The stair hall measures 

approximately 7’-1” x 14’-4”. The major 

change to this room occurred in 1974 when 

a doorway was constructed in the west wall 

connecting to Room 106, a former closet 

that was in turn converted to the main 

entrance hall. 

• Flooring: Modern, 12”-square vinyl 

tiles, probably dating to the 1974 

modifications, are on top of sheet linoleum. 

These tiles continue into the entrance hall 

(Room 106). 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.62 

• Walls: The north and south walls are 

gypsum or plaster board on stud framing. 

The west wall is sheathed with plywood, 

probably dating to the 1974 modifications. 

Chair rails, 1925-vintage, are on parts of the 

south, west, and north walls. 

• Doors: The doorways leading to Room 

103 on the north wall and Room 101 on the 

south wall have 1925-era, mitered Type C-1 

casings. The doors to both are missing. The 

doorway to Room 101 has two 31⁄2”, fiveknuckle butt hinges in place on the north 

side of the west jamb; marks on the south 

side of the same jamb indicate that the door 

was once hinged on the opposite side. The 

doorway from the entrance hall, Room 106, 

is 2’-5” x 6’-6” with two modern 31⁄2”, fiveknuckle butt hinges in place, but the door is 

missing. The casing is Type C-7, with 

square-cut corners, installed in 1974 when 

the doorway was created. 

• Windows: None are present. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board. 

• Baseboards: Baseboards on the stringers 

and all walls are 1925-vintage, Type B-2. 

• Finishes: The walls, ceiling, trim, 

staircase, and the plywood medallion on the 

ceiling are all painted and are peeling 

extensively.

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: There 

is one ceramic light fixture mounted on the 

ceiling. An unadorned round plywood 

medallion 1⁄4” thick with a diameter of 2’-0” 

frames the room’s single light. 

• Other Features: The staircase has a 

square newel with a pyramidal cap, 1” 

square balustrade, molded handrail, and 

conical pendants. 

Room 103: This 4’-0” x 12’-0” hallway was 

partitioned off of Room 104 in 1974 when 

Room 104 was converted from a bunk room 

into a kitchen. 

• Flooring: Modern, commercial-grade, 

wall-to-wall carpeting is on top of 12” 

square, vinyl tiles, which are on top of sheet 

linoleum. 

• Walls: The north and west walls are 

sheathed with 1⁄4” plywood. The south and 

north walls are gypsum or plaster board on 

studs and have original chair rails. 

• Doors: The doorway from Room 102 to 

Room 103 is missing its 2’-8” x 6’8” door. 

Two 31⁄2”, five-knuckle hinges are in place 

on the west jamb of the door. There are 

indentations for 4” butt hinges also on this 

jamb. On the east jamb there are marks for 

31⁄4” butt hinges that are left from when the 

swing of the door was reversed as shown in 

the drawings for the 1945 alterations. The 

1974 drawings depict this doorway as a 

cased opening so the door was presumably 

taken off at the time the 1974 alterations 

were made. A doorway for a 3’-0” x 6’-8” 

door is on the east wall of the hall. This 

doorway has Type C-10 mitered casing. 

• Windows: None are present. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board. 

• Baseboards: The east and south walls 

have 1925/1933-era Type B-3 baseboards. 

The north and west walls have Type B-12 

baseboards dating to 1974. 

• Finishes: The walls, ceiling, and trim are 

all painted and are peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: One 

1970s-vintage light is mounted on the 

ceiling. One water pipe is exposed on the 

east wall. 

• Other Features: None are present. 

Room 104: This 12’-8” x 12’-0” room was 

used as a mess room in the 1925 and 1933 

plans, then as a bunk room in 1945, and 

finally, in a reduced size, as a kitchen in 

1974. For much of its life it had three 

windows; the two windows that were on the 

east side were eliminated during 

construction of the 1962 two-room addition 

to the east elevation. 

• Flooring: Modern commercial-grade 

wall-to-wall carpeting in poor condition is 

on top of 1925-era 21⁄4” wide tongue-andgroove wood flooring laid north-to-south. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.63 

• Walls: The walls are gypsum or plaster 

board on stud framing. The original 1925 

chair rails are on the north and east walls. 

At the west wall, on the north side of the 

closet, the original chair rail continues; 

however, on the south side of the closet is a 

modern 4” x 3⁄4” square-cut chair rail. The 

south wall has no chair rail as it was added 

in 1974 to create a hallway to the 1962 east 

addition. A modern, wooden crown molding 

runs throughout the room. 

• Doors: The closet has an original, 1925-

era five-panel door. It has original 1925-era 

Type C-1, mitered casing. The doorway to 

Room 104 has Type C-1 casing as well. 

• Windows: The room’s one remaining 

window is on the north wall and has the 

same 1925-era Type C-1 casing as the doors. 

It is a 1925-era six-over-six light window 

with 1925-era Type M-1 muntins. The 

window’s bottom sash and top rail are 

cracked and out of alignment. One pane of 

glass is missing from the bottom sash.

• Ceiling: The gypsum or plaster board 

ceiling has been covered at an unknown 

time by modern 12” square, acoustical 

ceiling tiles. 

• Baseboards: Original 1925, Type B-3 

baseboard is in place throughout the room 

except for the added south wall, which has a 

section of modern Type B-12 baseboard. 

Modern 3⁄4” quarter-round shoe molding, 

installed with the modern carpet, is also 

along every wall. 

• Finishes: The walls and trim are painted 

and are peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: 

Outlets are on the south wall only and there 

is no ceiling light fixture. One 1925-era 20-

fin cast iron radiator with the dimensions 1’-

7” x 4’-1” x 91⁄2” is under the window. A 

galvanized, reflective heat shield is on the 

wall behind the radiator. There are three 

exposed radiator water pipes on the east wall 

connecting to the second floor room above. 

• Other Features: The room’s one closet 

is located on the west wall just south of the 

door to Room 104. Original baseboards 

Figure C-25 Original window, Room 104 

Figure C-26 Closet in Room 104 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.64 

were used to create shelves at some point. 

All three walls of the closet have 1925-era 

Type B-3 baseboards and early 3⁄4” quarterround shoe moldings. 

Room 105: This 17’-0” x 11’-5” room was 

designated as the ranger’s office in the 1974 

plans. It was used in 1925 and again in 

Figure C-27 Room 105 

Figure C-28 Section of chart case in Room 105, 

originally located in Room 101 

1933 as a kitchen, and in 1945, as a bunk 

room. 

• Flooring: Modern commercial-grade 

wall-to-wall carpeting is on top of 1925-era 

tongue-and-groove 21⁄4” wide wood flooring, 

laid north-to-south. 

• Walls: Modern, 1970s-vintage, walnutveneer paneling in 4’ x 8’ sheets covers all 

of the walls. Gypsum or plaster board is 

exposed on the north and west walls beneath 

the paneling as well as the original 1925 

chair rails. 

• Doors: All four doorways in this 

room have 1925-era, Type C-1 casing with 

mitered corners. The door from Room 104 

measures 2’-8” x 6’-71⁄2” x 11⁄4” and is a 

five-panel door with 33⁄4”, five-knuckle butt 

hinges. It is, however, missing its original 

locking mechanism. The door from the 

entrance hall has the same dimensions as the 

previous door, however, the original door 

was replaced by a 1970s-era hollow-core 

slab door with a 1970s-era mortise lock and 

4” five-knuckle butt hinges. The door from 

the office (Room 109) is missing. Three 

33⁄4” five-knuckle butt hinges remain on the 

jamb, however. The door from the ranger’s 

office (Room 110) is a 1970s-era, six-panel 

wood door measuring 2’-8” x 6’-7” x 11⁄4”. 

• Windows: The room’s one window, a 

1925-era six-over-six light window with 

Type M-1 muntins, is on the north wall. It 

has 1925-era Type C-1, mitered casings.

• Ceiling: The early gypsum or plaster 

board ceiling has been covered by modern 

12” square, acoustical ceiling tile added at 

an unknown date. The gypsum or plaster 

board is exposed in the southeast quadrant 

where a plumbing leak occurred. An 

exposed waste pipe is on the east wall of the 

room. 

• Baseboards: The 1925-era, baseboard 

Type B-3 is exposed on the north and west 

walls behind the paneling. 

• Finishes: The walnut veneer paneling is 

varnished, factory-applied. The original 

chart case is painted. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.65 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: One 

1925-era 14-fin cast iron radiator with the 

dimensions 1’-7” x 2’-10” x 91⁄2” is under 

the window. A galvanized, reflective heat 

shield is mounted on the wall behind the 

radiator. There is a smoke detector mounted 

on the ceiling. 

• Other Features: A section of cabinets 

identified as one of two types of “cupboard” 

units on the 1923 elevational drawings and 

described as a “chart case” on the floor plans 

of the same, has been moved from its 

original location along the north wall of 

Room 101 to the south end of Room 105’s 

east wall. From the 1923 drawings it is clear 

that the cabinet has been inverted when 

reinstalled. 

Room 106: This 4’-0” x 10’-2” room was 

converted from a pantry to an entrance hall 

sometime between March 1954 and 1962. 

An original window on the west elevation 

was made into a door opening onto the 

porch. A door to the stair hall (Room 102) 

was installed on the east wall of the room at 

the same time, in effect creating a central 

hallway. 

• Flooring: 12” square vinyl tiles, 1970sera, cover 1⁄4” plywood underlayment. 

• Walls: 1970s-era, 4’-0” x 8’-0”, veneer 

wood panels of beaded-board design are on 

all four walls. 

• Doors: The opening to the stair hall 

(Room 102) has Type C-6, mitered casing 

unique to this room. The casing was 

installed with the creation of the doorway 

which occurred between March 1954 and 

1962. The door is missing. The doorway to 

Room 105, an original 1925 doorway, has 

1925-era, Type C-1 casing. The doorway to 

the porch on the west wall of the entrance 

hall has 51⁄2”, square-edge Type C-5 casing 

and has square-cut corners. This casing 

dates to the conversion of a 1925 window to 

a doorway sometime between 1954 and 

1962. The door measures 2’-8” x 6’-8” x 

13⁄4”. The door may be a 1925-era sash door 

but it is currently covered on both sides by 

plywood for protection. It has two 31⁄2”, 

five-knuckle, butt hinges. There is a place 

for a third hinge but it has been patched with 

a dutchman repair. 

• Windows: None are present. 

• Ceiling: Modern acoustical ceiling tiles, 

12” square, have been laid over 1x nailers, 

which are over gypsum or plaster board. 

The tiles probably date to the 1954-62 

period when the room was converted to an 

entrance hall. Exposed through a hole in the 

ceiling are 13⁄4” x 91⁄2” ceiling joists. 

• Baseboards: Baseboards are Type B-8, 

unique to this room, with 3⁄4”, half-round 

shoe molding. 

• Finishes: Exposed door trim is painted. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: One 

modern light fixture is in place. 

• Other Features: None are present. 

Room 107: This room contains two toilet 

stalls installed in 1974 and opens off of 

Room 108. It measures approximately 5’-8” 

x 8’-3”. 

• Flooring: Modern sheet vinyl flooring 

over wafer board, probably dating to the 

1974 remodeling, continues from Room 

108. 

• Walls: The walls are covered in 

laminated 4’-0” x 8’-0” panels and have 

modern wooden crown molding. These 

elements probably date to 1974. 

• Doors: A 2’-6” x 6’-0” cased opening 

connects this room and Room 108. 

• Windows: One 1925-era six-over-six 

light window, with Type M-1 muntins and 

Type C-1 casing, is on the west wall and in 

good condition. 

• Ceiling: Modern acoustical ceiling tiles, 

12” square and probably dating to the 1974 

remodeling, are laid over gypsum or plaster 

board. There are several exposed ceiling 

joists with 91⁄2” depth. 

• Baseboards: The baseboards, 

apparently dating to 1974, are Type B-13. 

• Finishes: The ceiling and trim are 

painted and are peeling extensively. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.66 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: There 

is one fluorescent ceiling light. 

• Other Features: This room has two toilet 

stalls with laminate partitions. 

Room 108: This room, measuring 10’-1” x 

12’-0”, was converted to a bathroom in 

1974. In earlier plans it was designated the 

“Keeper’s Room” and “Officer’s 

Headquarters.” 

• Flooring: Modern sheet vinyl flooring, 

probably dating to 1974, is over wafer board 

in the bathroom. Early twentieth-century 

sheet linoleum is in the closet. 

• Walls: The walls are covered in laminate 

4’-0” x 8’-0” panels and have modern wood 

crown molding. These elements probably 

date to the 1974 remodeling. 

• Doors: The door from the living room 

(Room 101) is a 1970s-era, hollow-core slab 

door with modern, 31⁄2” butt hinges. The 

surround for this door and for the door to the 

toilet room (Room 107) is 1974-era Type C11 and has square-cut corners. A 2’-6” x 6’-

8” cased opening provides access to Room 

107. The doorway from the small closet on 

the north wall is 2’-6” x 6’-8”. 

• Windows: The room’s one window, a 

1925-era six-over-six light window with 

Type M-1 muntins and Type C-1 casing, is 

in good condition.

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board. 

• Baseboards: Baseboards apparently 

dating to 1974 are Type B-13 in the 

bathroom and its closet. Modern shoe 

molding is along all walls while early shoe 

molding of the same design is in the closet. 

• Finishes: The ceiling and trim are 

painted and are peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: None 

are present. 

• Other Features: Two molded-plastic 

shower units consisting of three sides and a 

top are along the south wall of the room. 

The plumbing fixtures are 1970s-era 

stainless steel. These features appear to date 

to the 1974 remodeling. 

Room 109: This 7’-3” x 11’-11” office was 

created in 1962 by modifying the stair tower 

that had been added in 1933. 

• Flooring: Modern, commercial-grade, 

wall-to-wall carpeting in poor condition is 

on top of 1933-era 21⁄4” tongue-and-groove 

wood flooring running north-to-south. 

• Walls: The walls are gypsum or plaster 

board on studs. There is a patch in the south 

wall for the 1962 doorway onto the porch. 

• Doors: The doorway to Room 105, 

originally an exterior door to the porch, has 

Type C-1, mitered casing. 

Figure C-29 Paired windows in the 

south wall of Room 109 

• Windows: One pair of 1974-era twoover-two aluminum windows measuring 2’-

4” x 3’-2” is on the south wall. It has 1974 

Type C-11, mitered casing. One 1933-era 

four-over-four double-hung wood window 

with Type M-1 muntins and 1933 Type C-4 

casing is on the west elevation. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board. 

• Baseboards: Type B-10, 1962-era 

baseboards are on all walls. 

• Finishes: Walls, ceiling, floor, and trim 

are painted. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: There 

is surface-mounted wire molding leading up 

to the ceiling, but no light fixture is 

mounted. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.67 

• Other Features: There is a pass-through 

opening that measures 2’-4” wide x 2’-10” 

tall, which was originally a window, on the 

wall between this room and Room 110. Its 

surround has four mitered corners. A raised 

platform in the southeast corner provides 

head height for the entrance door in Room 

007 below. 

Room 110: This 9’-3” x 11’-11” ranger’s 

office is the first floor space of a two-floor 

addition constructed in 1962. Immediately 

Figure C-30 Northwest corner of Room 110 

below, two public restrooms were 

constructed, Rooms 008 and 009. 

• Flooring: The floor has modern, 

commercial-grade, wall-to-wall carpeting in 

poor condition on top of 21⁄4” tongue-andgroove flooring running north-to-south. 

• Walls: On the east wall there are 

exposed diagonal boards, the original wall 

sheathing with weatherboard ghost marks. 

The diagonal boards are tongue-and-groove, 

41⁄4” pine. The other walls are gypsum or 

plaster board over studs. On the south wall 

there is a pass-through opening to the 

adjoining office (Room 109). There is water 

damage to the wall material under the 

windows on the north and west walls. 

• Doors: The doorway from Room 105 

has 1933-era Type C-4 casing with mitered 

corners. 

• Windows: On the west wall there is one 

four-over-four light window with Type M-2 

muntins. On the north wall there is a reused 

1925-era six-over-six Type M-1 window.

• Ceiling: The ceiling is made of modern 

12” square, acoustical tiles. There is 

rainwater damage in the northeast corner of 

the room. 

• Baseboards: The baseboards are Type 

B-10 dating to 1962. 

• Finishes: The walls, trim, and ceiling are 

painted. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: There 

is surface-mounted wire molding leading up 

to the ceiling, but the ceiling fixtures are 

missing. There are remnants of a thermostat 

on the east wall. A wall heater is on the 

south wall under the opening, and appears to 

date to initial construction of the room in 

1962. 

• Other Features: None are present. 

Room 111: This 7’-6” x 7’-2” room was one 

of three created sometime between 1954 and 

1962 by enclosing the side porch on the 

south elevation. 

• Flooring: The floors have modern, 

commercial-grade, wall-to-wall carpeting 

over plywood underlayment. Beneath that is 

the wood porch deck. 

• Walls: The north wall is the house’s 

weatherboard with an exposure of 41⁄4” and a 

thickness of 5⁄8”. The west wall is 1⁄4” 

plywood on studs. The east and south walls 

are gypsum board over studs. 

• Doors: The door is missing from the 

doorway from Room 112. The casing is 

Type C-8 with mitered corners. 

• Windows: The east and south walls have 

1950s-era two-over-two, paired aluminum 

double-hung windows. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum board. 

• Baseboards: The baseboards on the 

south, east, and west walls of the room are 

Type B-9 with a 3⁄4” quarter-round shoe 

molding. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.68 

Figure C-31 Bookshelf created in original window 

opening in Room 111 

• Finishes: The walls, ceiling, and trim are 

painted and peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: The 

room was lit by one fluorescent, ceilingmounted light fixture. 

• Other Features: An open bookshelf is 

located between this room and Room 101 in 

the original window opening on the north 

wall. 

Room 112: This 7’-6” x 8’-4” room was one 

of three created sometime between 1954 and 

1962 by enclosing the side porch on the 

south elevation. This room is the only one 

of the three that has a doorway into the main 

house. 

• Flooring: The floors have modern, 

commercial-grade, wall-to-wall carpeting 

over plywood underlayment and wood porch 

deck below. 

• Walls: The north wall is the house’s 

weatherboard with an exposure of 41⁄4” and a 

thickness of 5⁄8”. The east wall is sheathed 

with of 1⁄4” plywood, while the south and 

west walls are gypsum board on studs. 

• Doors: The cased opening to Room 111 

has Type C-8 casing with mitered corners. 

The doorway to Room 113 has Type C-9 

casing that has square cut corners. 

• Windows: The south wall has one pair 

of two-over-two, aluminum double-hung 

windows. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum board. 

• Baseboards: The baseboards on the 

south, east, and west walls of the room are 

Type B-9 with a 3⁄4” quarter-round shoe 

molding. 

• Finishes: The walls, trim, and ceiling are 

all painted and are peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: There 

is one fluorescent ceiling light. There is an 

Figure C-32 Room 112 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.69 

electric wall heater on the south wall. 

• Other Features: None are present. 

Room 113: This 7’-6” x 8’-3” room was one 

of three created sometime between 1954 and 

1962 by enclosing the side porch on the 

south elevation. 

• Flooring: The floors have modern 

commercial-grade wall-to-wall carpeting 

over plywood underlayment with wood 

porch deck below. 

• Walls: The north wall is the house’s 

weatherboard with an exposure of 41⁄4” and a 

thickness of 5⁄8”. The east, south, and west 

walls are of gypsum board on stud framing. 

• Doors: The door from Room 112 is 

constructed of plywood on a 2” x 4” frame 

with 1960s-era, 3”, five-knuckle hinges. 

The door casing is Type C-9. 

• Windows: The south wall has 1950s, 

two-over-two, paired windows. The west 

wall has a 1925-era six-over-six Type M-1 

window that was probably relocated from its 

original opening in the north wall of this 

room. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum board. 

• Baseboards: The baseboards are Type 

B-9 with 3⁄4” quarter-round shoe molding 

• Finishes: The walls, trim, and ceiling are 

all painted and are peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: The 

ceiling light is missing. There is an 

electrical panel on the east wall. 

• Other Features: The original window 

opening on the north wall has been 

converted to a bookshelf closed to the 

adjacent room. 

Room 201: This room is the largest room in 

the station, measuring 14’-0” x 24’-10”. It 

was originally even larger as it included the 

majority of what is today Room 206 forming 

an L-shape in plan. In 1933 the northwest 

portion of the L-shape was partitioned off to 

create a bathroom. The new room, Room 

206, was entered through a new doorway 

from the stair hall, Room 202. 

• Flooring: There is modern, commercialgrade wall-to-wall carpeting in poor 

condition in this room. 

• Walls: The walls are sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board on stud framing. 

There is a crack extending from the west 

corner of the doorjamb to the ceiling. Water 

damage is visible below the northernmost 

window on the east wall. 

• Doors: The door from the stair hall, 

(Room 202) is a modern, hollow-core slab 

door that is 2’-8” x 6’-7”. It has 1970s-era 

locking hardware and 31⁄2”, five-knuckle butt 

hinges. This doorway has 1933-era Type C4 casing with mitered corners. 

Figure C-33 Room 201 

• Windows: The room’s six windows are 

the original 1925 six-over-six Type M-1 

windows, each with original Type C-1 

mitered casings. All window units measure 

3’-0” x 4’-6”. The northernmost window on 

the east wall is missing its south section of 

casing, its apron, and two panes of glass. 

The southernmost window on the east wall 

has the bottom rail out of position in both 

sashes. The easternmost window on south 

wall is in good condition, while the 

westernmost is leaking above the lintel. The 

southernmost window on the west wall is 

missing one pane of glass from both the top 

and bottom sash. The northernmost window 

on the west wall is in good condition. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.70 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board. There is an I-beam 

running north-to-south just west of the 

doorway, boxed-in with gypsum or plaster 

board. There is a patch, approximately 3’-0” 

square, in the west section of the ceiling. 

• Baseboards: The baseboards are 1925-

era Type B-5 with modern 3⁄4”, quarterround shoe molding securing the 1970s-era, 

wall-to-wall carpet. 

• Finishes: The walls, ceilings, and trim 

are all painted and peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: 

Surface-mounted metal conduit and outlet 

boxes are present. One 1970s-era, 

fluorescent light is mounted on the west 

portion of the ceiling. A rectangular 

discoloring on the ceiling marks where 

another fluorescent light once was on the 

east section. The room has two radiators, 

one under the southernmost window on the 

east wall and one under the westernmost 

window of the south wall. A galvanized 

metal heat shield backs both radiators. 

• Other Features: None are present. 

Room 202: The stair hall measures 7’-1” x 

12’-4”. 

• Flooring: The same modern, 

commercial-grade, wall-to-wall carpeting 

that appears in Room 201 is present and is 

also in poor condition. 

• Walls: The walls in Room 202 are 

sheathed with gypsum or plaster board. The 

west wall has an opening for plumbing 

access; its panel is missing. 

• Doors: The cased opening to a west side 

vestibule (Room 203) on the north wall has 

1974-era Type C-14 casing with mitered 

corners. The doorway on the south wall to 

Room 201 also has 1974-era casing 

members, with a west jamb and top casing 

of Type C-11, and an east jamb of Type C15. The doorway to Room 206, however, 

has 1933-era Type C-4 casing with mitered 

corners. 

• Windows: One 1925-era six-over-six 

Type M-1 window is on the east wall above 

the stair landing between the first and 

second floors. There is water damage to the 

wall material below the window. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board. There is a crack in 

the ceiling 5” from the north wall, near the 

west wall, corresponding to the location of 

the original attic hatch. 

• Baseboards: The baseboards and stair 

stringer are 1925-era Type B-6, except for 

the section south of the door to Room 206, 

which is 1925-era Type B-5. The Type B-6 

sections have a 1” quarter-round shoe 

molding, while the Type B-5 section has a 

3⁄4” shoe molding.

• Finishes: The walls, ceiling, and trim are 

painted and peeling extensively.

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: No 

electrical outlets or fixtures are present. 

There is one light switch. 

Figure C-34 Drop-down, folding attic stair in 

Room 202 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.71 

• Other Features: The staircase has a 

plain 5” square newel post with a pyramidal 

cap. The balusters are 1” square and 31⁄2” on 

center. In the ceiling in front of the door 

leading to Room 201 is a hatch framed with 

Type C-5 casing covering a 1970s-era dropdown folding attic stair. There are ghost 

marks of the earlier, presumably 1933-era 

ladder, on the hatch framing. 

Room 203: Gypsum board on stud walls 

were added north of the doorways to Room 

204 and Room 205 in 1974 creating this 

small 4’-4” x 4’-5” vestibule between the 

bedrooms. 

• Flooring: Modern, commercial-grade, 

wall-to-wall carpeting is on top of sheet 

linoleum. 

• Walls: The walls are sheathed with 

gypsum board. 

• Doors: Leading from Room 204 is a 

reused 1925-era five-panel door measuring 

2’-8” x 6’-7”, with modern 33⁄4” butt hinges. 

The modern doorway has C-13 casing. The 

cased opening to the stair hall (Room 202) 

has modern Type C-12 casings with mitered 

corners. In the doorway to Room 205 the 

north jamb is 4 1⁄2” and its south jamb is 4 

3⁄4” with square edges and mitered corners. 

• Windows: None are present. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board. 

• Baseboards: Modern Type B-10 

baseboards are along the east wall and south 

of the doorway from Room 204. A section 

of original Type B-5 baseboard is on the 

west wall. East from the cased opening to 

Room 202 is another section of Type B-5 

baseboard, continuing until a seam 

approximately halfway along the wall where 

a section of Type B-10 baseboard begins. 

• Finishes: The walls, ceiling, and trim 

are painted and are peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: One 

ceramic fixture is mounted on the ceiling.

• Other Features: None are present. 

Room 204: Originally, this large bedroom 

was subdivided into two rooms, a “Spare 

Room” and a “No.1 Man’s Room,” and a 

connecting hall. In 1945 the walls 

partitioning the room and the hall were 

taken out, the floor was repaired, and the 

now one large room became a six-man bunk 

room. In 1974 the bunk room was 

subdivided again when the vestibule (Room 

203) was constructed. This room measures 

approximately 17’-0” x 12’-0”. 

• Flooring: Modern, commercial-grade, 

wall-to-wall, carpeting in poor condition is 

on top of 21⁄4” tongue-and-groove, flooring 

running north-to-south. 

Figure C-35 Room 204 

• Walls: The stud walls are sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board. 

• Doors: The doorway to Room 203 has 

Type C-16 casings that have square-cut 

corners, dating to 1974. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.72 

• Windows: The room’s three windows, 

one on the north wall and two on the east 

wall, are the 1925 six-over-six Type M-1 

windows. Both of the sashes are in place on 

the window on the north wall, but there is 

extensive water infiltration at the sill and 

damage to the wall below the window. The 

northernmost window on the east wall is 

missing three panes of glass from its top 

sash. The southernmost window on the east 

wall is missing a section of casing on the 

south jamb apron, its bottom rail is out of 

position, and its sash is out of square. The 

bottom sash is missing six panes of glass. 

This window also shows signs of water 

infiltration at the sill. All three windows 

have 1925-era Type C-1 casings. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board. It has a crack 

running east-to-west that corresponds to 

cracks on the east and west walls, and 

patches in the baseboards along those walls, 

where a dividing wall was removed in 1945. 

• Baseboards: The baseboard on the south 

wall, north of the doorway is the 1970s-era 

Type B-10. The other baseboards in the 

room are 1925-era, Type B-5. 

• Finishes: The walls, ceiling, and trim are 

painted and are peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: There 

are two 1925-era cast iron radiators, each 

centered under a window of the east wall. 

The northernmost is a 14-fin radiator and the 

other is a 9-fin radiator. Each radiator has a 

galvanized metal heat shield behind it. 

Although there are no light fixtures, there 

are two ceiling junction boxes, surfacemounted metal conduit, and one outlet box.

• Other Features: A previous leak around 

the chimney stack has damaged the 

surrounding ceiling and associated wall 

elements. 

Room 205: This bedroom was slightly 

downsized to its current dimension of 12’-7” 

x 12’-4” in 1945 when the adjacent 

bathroom (Room 206) was enlarged. 

• Flooring: Modern, commercial-grade, 

wall-to-wall carpeting in poor condition is 

on top of 21⁄4” tongue-and-groove flooring 

laid north-to-south.

• Walls: The walls are sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board. There is water 

damage to the walls in proximity to the 

chimney stack on the west wall. Water 

damage is also present below the windows 

on the west and north wall elevations. 

• Doors: The one doorway accessing the 

room is from the vestibule (Room 203). The 

door casing is 1925-era Type C-1 with 

mitered corners. A 1970s-era, 2’-8” x 6’-7”, 

hollow-core slab door now swings into the 

room. It has 31⁄2” modern butt hinges; 

however, it is missing its modern locking 

mechanism. 

Figure C-36 Chimney in Room 205 

• Windows: The room’s two windows, one 

on the west wall and one on the north, are 

both 1925-era six-over-six Type M-1 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.73 

windows. At the window on the north wall, 

the bottom rail of both sashes are damaged. 

The west casing is 1933-era Type C-4 while 

the east and the head casing are 1925-era 

Type C-1. The window on the west wall’s 

top sash is out of place, and its casing is 

uniformly the original Type C-1. 

• Ceiling: The ceiling is sheathed with 

gypsum or plaster board. 

• Baseboards: Original Type B-5 

baseboards occur throughout the room 

except on the east wall, north of the 

chimney, which has a Type B-10 baseboard 

as a modern repair. All baseboards have a 

1970s-era, 3⁄4” quarter-round shoe molding. 

• Finishes: The walls, ceiling and trim are 

painted and are peeling extensively. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: None 

are present. 

• Other Features: None are present. 

Room 206: This bathroom is now L-shaped 

in plan, measuring 10’-4” x 12’-0”. In 1933 

it was partitioned off of Room 201 to form a 

long, rectangular bathroom, and a small 

window was added on the west elevation to 

provide natural light. In 1945 the room was 

enlarged to its present size, acquiring part of 

Room 205. 

• Flooring: Sheet vinyl flooring is over 

vinyl, which is on top of plywood 

underlayment.

• Walls: Laminate panels are on all of the 

walls. 

• Doors: The doorway at the stair hall 

(Room 202) has 1933 Type C-4 casings, 

mitered at the corners. The door is a 1970sera, hollow-core slab door with modern 3”, 

five-knuckle butt hinges. There are scars on 

the casing indicating that the previous 

hinges were 31⁄2” butt hinges. 

• Windows: Room 206 has one 1925-era, 

six-over-six Type M-1 window, and one 

1933-era, four-over-four Type M-2 window. 

The six-over-six window has a modern 45⁄8” 

x 3⁄4” square-edge mitered casing, unique to 

this window, and all glass is in place. The 

Figure C-37 Room 206 

four-over-four window has 1933-era Type 

C-4 mitered casings. 

• Ceiling: Modern acoustical ceiling tiles, 

12” square, are laid over gypsum or plaster 

board. 

• Baseboards: All baseboards are 1933-

era Type B-7, with 3⁄4” shoe molding. 

• Finishes: The ceiling and trim are 

painted. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: One 

fluorescent light fixture is over each toilet 

stall and another is on the ceiling at the 

entrance to the room. 

• Other Features: In the southwest corner 

of the room are two laminate toilet stalls 

across from a vanity with steel cabinets. 

Two cast fiberglass shower units are on the 

south wall just east of the toilet stalls. Each 

shower unit consists of three sides and a top. 

The plumbing fixtures in the room are 

1970s-vintage chrome. The toilets have 

1970s flush tanks. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.74 

Room 301: The attic is a rectangular, 

unfinished room that is centered over the 

original, rectangular-shaped portion of the 

building. The 1923 plans show, and physical 

evidence confirms, that the ceiling access 

opening was originally oriented in the stair 

hall (Room 202) below perpendicular to its 

current configuration, so that when 

descending from the “scuttle and ladder,” 

one would continue directly onto the 

staircase below. In 1933 the older opening 

was patched. A new opening with a “#60 

Besselar Disappearing Stairway” that folded 

down perpendicular to the stairs in Room 

202 was installed. This, the third folding 

stair, was installed presumably in the 1970s 

and has been in place since. 

• Flooring: Pine tongue-and-groove 

flooring runs north-to-south. 

• Walls: The knee wall is sheathed in 1” x 

43⁄8” tongue-and-groove pine boards running 

horizontally. Just north of the opening in the 

floor for the stairs, a stud wall covered with 

wire mesh bisects the room from east-towest. 

Figure C-38 Attic, Room 301 

• Doors: None are present. 

• Windows: The attic has two windows in 

small gables extending above the hipped 

roof, one on its north end and the other on 

its south end. Both the sash and subsill are 

out of place in the north window; water 

damage to the surrounding framing is 

visible. The south window’s top sash is in 

place; however, the bottom sash has been 

replaced with a ventilation cover. The 

original sash is stored in the attic. There is 

some water penetration and minor damage at 

the window’s subsill. 

• Ceiling: The exposed roof rafters are 

71⁄2” x 15⁄8” at 16” on center, machine-planed 

pine boards. Deck boards are exposed and 

are the same 1” x 43⁄8” tongue-and-groove 

pine boards as the knee wall. 

• Baseboards: None are present. 

• Finishes: None are present. 

• Mechanical & Electrical Systems: No 

light fixtures are in place; however, 

electrical wiring in conduit is present. 

• Other Features: A folding ladder 

provides access to the attic from the second 

floor. A brick chimney stack, apparently 

sound and venting the basement furnace, 

extends through the attic space. 

Figure C-39 Window in attic gable 

Utility Systems 

Although there are remnants of electrical 

and mechanical systems, none are 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.75 

operational. Any reuse of this building will 

require complete replacement of 

mechanical, electrical, and plumbing 

systems. 

Summary of Conditions 

With vented coverings at the windows and a 

relatively new composition shingle roof, the 

building has been successfully mothballed 

for future reuse. 

In general, the building is stable. However, 

prolonged deterioration of the painted 

surfaces, both interior and exterior, is now 

jeopardizing the capacities of the building 

materials to maintain integrity. Repainting 

of the exterior is desperately needed to 

maintain a weathertight seal. 

There is evidence of termites, especially in 

the basement area of the 1962 addition. But 

no active termites were observed. There is 

rot in the sill plates and some floor joists, 

especially along the east perimeter wall. 

These sections may need to be stabilized 

prior to any attempt to move the frame 

structure. These areas, as well as a 

perimeter section encircling the building at 

sill plate height, should have weatherboard 

and other surfaces removed to allow a 

comprehensive inspection and evaluation in 

preparation for relocation. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part I.C Physical Description 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I.C.76 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.A Introduction 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.A.77 

PART II: TREATMENT & USE 

A. INTRODUCTION 

When the federal government officially 

assumed maritime life-saving 

responsibilities at mid-nineteenth century, 

the Treasury Department coordinated these 

activities through its Life-Saving Service 

division. Quite soon the advantages of 

having standardized designs for the lifesaving stations were recognized. Over the 

next half-century, until the Coast Guard took 

over these maritime responsibilities in 1915, 

Treasury Department architects prepared 

several basic design types. 

First was the 1871 Type, named for the year 

in which it was conceived. All of the 

facilities with this design were built in New 

England. Simple and efficient, it established 

a pattern of room configuration that 

continued in later design types. The 1874 

Type, also called the Chandler Type for its 

architect, used the established spatial layout, 

but its ornate exterior was detailed in the 

Carpenter Gothic style. Seven stations of 

this design were built in North Carolina. 

The 1875 Type, which followed, took the 

same basic form as the previous two designs 

Figure A-1 1874 Type at Little Kinnakeet, c. 1890s 

(North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences) 

but was executed in the Stick Style. No 

1875 Type stations were built in North 

Carolina. 

The 1876 Type was much the same as the 

previous design except that the Stick Style 

details were simplified. Eleven stations of 

this design were built in North Carolina 

during 1878-79. In this group was Tommy’s 

Hummock Life-Saving Station, which 

opened in January 1879 and was later 

renamed Bodie Island Station. 

Figure A-2 1876 Type at Big Kinnakeet, unknown 

date (Outer Banks History Center) 

The next version, the 1882 Type, retained 

the basic form of the previous design but 

replaced the open observation platform with 

an enclosed tower and added a lean-to at the 

entrance on the long façade. That these 

were useful improvements was confirmed 

by the decision to add both features to the 

recently constructed Bodie Island Station. 

The lean-to was added soon after initial 

construction, and modifications for an 

enclosed lookout tower were made to the 

station in 1900. Seven 1882 Type stations 

were constructed in North Carolina. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.A Introduction 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.A.78 

The next generations of station types 

departed from the basic form of the first 

designs. Quonochontaug, Chicamacomico, 

and Southern Pattern type stations were built 

in North Carolina between 1894 and 1913. 

Of the thirteen of these three types built in 

North Carolina, two are now owned by the 

National Park Service, a third by a private 

historical association, and another by Dare 

County; each of the three station types is 

represented in this group. 

Figure A-3 1882 Type at Cape Lookout, c. 1893 

(Cape Lookout National Seashore Collection) 

Figure A-4 Southern Pattern Type at Little 

Kinnakeet, 1935(US Coast Guard) 

The last design of the Life-Saving Service 

before merging with the Revenue Cutter 

Service to form the U.S. Coast Guard in 

1915 was the Chatham Type, first built in 

1914 in Chatham, Massachusetts. It was a 

greatly enlarged and improved design, 

reflecting decades of evolving responses to a 

persistent need. Among the improvements 

were indoor plumbing, radiant heat, 

electrical lighting, and a kitchen. This 

design continued to be implemented by the 

Coast Guard until the late 1920s. Seven of 

the Chatham Type of life-saving stations 

were built in North Carolina. One of these 

was the Bodie Island Coast Guard Station 

which opened in 1925, a short distance from 

the 1879 Life-Saving Station of the 1876 

Type which it replaced and 1916 Boat 

House. 

Figure A-5 Chatham Type at Cape Lookout, 1917 

(Cape Lookout National Seashore Collection)

Coast Guard staff operated out of the 1879 

Station until the larger and more accommodating 1925 Station was finished. They also 

returned to the 1879 Station when a 1933 

hurricane severely damaged the new 

Chatham Type station, forcing it to close for 

repairs. The following year, the staff moved 

back into the partially rebuilt Chatham Type 

station. The 1879 Station and the Boat 

House once again served in various ancillary 

roles to the main operations housed in the 

1925 Station. 

These two Coast Guard stations, located 

about one mile north of the Bodie Island 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.A Introduction 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.A.79 

Lighthouse, are both listed on the National 

Register of Historic Places, and contribute 

greatly to the maritime heritage of what is 

now Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The 

following sections will address recommendations and alternatives for treatment and use, 

in order to maximize the interpretive value 

of these stations in the context of the park 

and the Outer Banks as a whole.

BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.B Ultimate Treatment and Use 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.B.81 

B. ULTIMATE TREATMENT 

AND USE 

The two station buildings at Bodie Island, an 

1876 Type station completed in 1879 and a 

Chatham Type station completed in 1925, 

are tangible records of the evolving response 

of the Life-Saving Service to a then-urgent 

public need: rescuing the survivors of 

shipwrecks. Though each building was later 

adapted for other uses, the original purpose 

for each building established its period of 

greatest significance. 

Both of these station types are now rare. 

This scarcity adds to their interpretive value 

and adds urgency to the need to preserve and 

restore each building. 

Site 

The well-being of the 1879 Life Saving 

Station (1876 Type) /1916 Boat House and 

the 1925 Chatham Type Station at Bodie 

Island is especially precarious. Beach 

erosion has been a problem since the earliest 

days of the Life-Saving Service. Attempts 

at hardening the shorelines to slow or 

reverse the process have been unsuccessful, 

and current National Park Service policy and 

North Carolina state law forbid the practice. 

These buildings, now very close to the 

rapidly advancing ocean, are, to quote one 

park official, “just one hurricane away from 

being lost.” Relocation appears to be the 

only option for saving these buildings from 

imminent destruction. 

The 1984 Cape Hatteras National Seashore 

General Management Plan (GMP) 

recommended relocation of the buildings to 

the north entrance of the park, along the 

west side of North Carolina 12, near 

Whalebone Junction. This parcel is about 

six miles north of the current site. The plan 

further recommended using the structures as 

a visitor center complex. No action was 

taken, and finally a new visitor center was 

constructed on the site. In addition, that area 

has undergone extensive development in the 

intervening twenty years. This setting is 

now distinctly urban, and traffic is very 

heavy. 

Of paramount concern in considering a site 

for relocation of an historic structure, is the 

need to replicate site characteristics similar 

to those present during the structure’s period 

of significance. In the case of these 

structures, the predominant characteristic 

has always been the openness of the 

undeveloped coast line. 

Orientation and visual relationships to major 

area features, which are also important in 

site selection, are especially critical for these 

station buildings. A natural feature, the 

ocean, is the sole purpose for their being. 

As for man-made features, the Bodie Island 

Lighthouse is the only historical structure 

that dominated the original landscape. 

In the broader context of location, it is 

important to remember that these stations 

were originally placed at regular intervals 

along the coastline; therefore, placement in 

close proximity to their historical location 

is also important. 

Once visual relationships are honored and a 

specific site is chosen, directional 

orientation to reproduce sun angles, wind 

directions, and other conditions is important. 

Again, for these station buildings that were 

specifically designed with such conditions in 

mind, orientation is paramount. In addition, 

orientation and proximity of the stations to 

one another are considerations that are vital. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.B Ultimate Treatment and Use 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.B.82 

Given these considerations, it is 

recommended, regardless of the chosen 

treatment to the buildings themselves, that 

the buildings be relocated at the entrance to 

the Bodie Island Lighthouse. This site 

would have the following advantages: 

• Continues the open, undeveloped, 

coastal setting consistent with the 

historical periods; 

• Continues the same orientation and 

visual relationship to the major 

natural feature, the ocean; 

• Continues the same orientation and 

visual relationship to the major manmade site feature of the historical 

period, the Bodie Island Lighthouse; 

• Continues the historical pattern of 

placement of stations at four- to fivemile intervals along the coastline; 

• Reestablishes the historic directional 

orientations of the relocated 

buildings; 

• Establishes a more historically 

accurate proximity of the buildings 

to one another; 

• Places major tourism destinations 

(the life-saving stations and the 

lighthouse) in close proximity to one 

another, thus encouraging visitation 

to both; 

• Provides additional opportunities for 

interpreting the Bodie Island 

Lighthouse by providing auxiliary 

space nearby for administrative 

activities; 

• Provides opportunity to view a 

variety of historic building types 

(1876 Type Life-Saving Station, 

Lighthouse, Light Keeper’s 

Residence, Boat House, and 

Chatham Type Station) in proximity 

to a modern building type (United 

States Coast Guard Station at Oregon 

Inlet), all constructed as responses to 

evolving maritime needs; 

• Avoids nearby sensitive marshlands; 

• Utilizes electricity and water lines 

that already are established on site; 

• Utilizes an access road already in 

place. 

There are possible disadvantages, as well: 

• Placing the stations in closer 

proximity to the lighthouse could 

detract from the historical setting of 

both; 

• Creates additional traffic loads at the 

entrance to the Bodie Island 

Lighthouse; 

• Requires installation of a septic/drain 

field; 

• Requires paved parking area. 

Station Buildings 

Bodie Island’s 1879 Life-Saving Station 

(1876 Type)/ 1916 Boat House and 1925 

Chatham Type Coast Guard Station are links 

in a chain of responses by the federal 

government to a persistent public need – 

life-saving assistance for navigators of 

treacherous waters off the North Carolina 

Outer Banks. The two stations, sequentially, 

were the center of this life saving effort on 

Bodie Island. During a brief period after a 

1933 hurricane rendered the newer Chatham 

Type Station unusable, the 1879 Station was 

re-occupied. However, upon completion of 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.B Ultimate Treatment and Use 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.B.83 

repairs, the staff returned to the larger, more 

sophisticated station. 

The two stations, then, are tangible artifacts 

of specific and separate epochs of this 

federal effort on Bodie Island. Their 

importance is formally recognized by their 

inclusion on the National Register of 

Historic Places. 

Both retain considerable amounts of 

physical building fabric from their 

respective early periods. Also, these stations 

in their earliest years are well-documented, 

including iconographic information. After 

they were decommissioned in 1937, there is 

a gap in documentation, corresponding to 

the World War II years when the stations 

were used in a then-classified network of 

LORAN navigational sites. The abundance 

of both physical evidence and contemporary 

documentation for the early periods, can be 

supplemented with additional investigation 

using paint and finish analyses and selective 

demolition to uncover more data, in order to 

accomplish credible restorations of the 

exteriors and interiors to their early periods, 

the respective eras of greatest significance 

for these buildings. 

As building types, their value is enhanced by 

their increasing rarity in North Carolina, 

most pronounced for the 1876 Type station. 

Of the eleven stations built on the Outer 

Banks, at least seven have been destroyed. 

Less threatened but worthy of notice is the 

dwindling number of Chatham Type 

stations. Three of the seven built have been 

lost. 

It is important to note that most of the 

remaining stations of these two types have 

moved out of the public domain into private 

ownership. Thus, there are no guarantees for 

continued stewardship or protection of their 

historic character. Of the four 1876 Type 

stations believed to exist, three are privately 

owned. Two are retail shops or offices; the 

third cannot be located, underlining another 

Figure B-1 Privately owned 1876 Type station in 

Corolla, now a real estate office 

(John Larson, September 2005) 

Figure B-2 Privately owned Chatham Type station 

at Creed’s Hill, Frisco, now a residence 

(© Stephen Wilmoth, October 2004) 

potential risk in private ownership – removal 

to another location. The one remaining 

1876 Type station in public ownership is the 

one at Bodie Island, adapted in 1955 by the 

National Park Service for a residence and 

currently used as a ranger station. Of the 

four Chatham Type stations that survive, 

two are privately owned. The other two in 

the public sector are owned by the National 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.B Ultimate Treatment and Use 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.B.84 

Park Service. The one at Cape Lookout is 

an early version of the Chatham Type 

station (1916) and, under a special use 

permit, houses the Cape Lookout Studies 

program for environmental education, 

research, and conservation. The program is 

administered by the North Carolina 

Maritime Museum, a state agency, and the 

nonprofit Friends of the North Carolina 

Maritime Museum. NPS maintains the 

buildings and site. The other Chatham Type 

station is a later version of the design and 

remains at Bodie Island. This station has 

been vacant since 1991, and though 

mothballed, is in a deteriorated state. 

Figure B-3 Chatham Type station at Cape Lookout 

(Cape Lookout Studies website) 

Of these three stations that remain in the 

public sector, none is restored to reflect the 

important chapter in Outer Banks maritime 

history in which it served. The early 

Chatham Type station at Cape Lookout best 

maintains its original character. This 1916 

building is largely intact and retains its 

distinctive enclosed observation deck atop 

its roof. The later 1925 Chatham Type 

station at Bodie Island used a free-standing 

observation tower, now gone, instead of an 

attached observation deck. This station and 

the sole remaining 1876 Type station in the 

public domain, also at Bodie Island, have 

both been so altered over the years that the 

public cannot readily discern the important 

early elements of these historical buildingartifacts. 

Presently interpreting Life-Saving Service 

activities is a Quonochontaug Type Station 

built in 1894 and maintained by the National 

Park Service as part of Portsmouth Village. 

It is open to the public, although Portsmouth 

Figure B-4 Quonochontaug Type Station at 

Portsmouth Village (Portsmouth Village website, 

CALO) 

Figure B-5 1874 Type station at Little Kinnakeet 

(© Stephen Wilmoth, October 2004) 

Island is not an easily accessible site. NPS 

is also planning to move and restore the 

1882 Type station with its 1920s boat house 

at Cape Lookout. At Little Kinnakeet, NPS 

has an 1874 Type Stick style station and a 

larger Southern Pattern Type station, 

constructed in 1874 and 1904 respectively. 

Both apparently retain a large amount of 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.B Ultimate Treatment and Use 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.B.85 

their original architectural character, though 

they are not restored. Placed together, they 

are visible behind a chain link fence. 

Among private-sector groups, the 

Chicamacomico Historical Association, a 

nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, owns and 

maintains two restored stations, an 1874 

Chandler Type and a Chicamacomico Type 

constructed in 1911. 

Figure B-6 Chicamacomico Type station at 

Chicamacomico (New England Lighthouse Lovers 

website) 

With these limited opportunities to 

experience the history of maritime lifesaving in mind, the recommended Ultimate 

Treatment includes the exterior and interior 

restoration of the 1879 Life-Saving Station 

(1876 Type) to its 1885 appearance and the 

Boat House to its 1916 appearance, and the 

exterior restoration of the 1925 Coast Guard 

Station (Chatham Type) to its 1925 

appearance with rehabilitation of its interior. 

It should be noted that the limited space of 

the Bodie Island Lighthouse relocation site 

and budgetary constraints probably will 

preclude precise replication of the space 

between the stations and boat house or 

reconstruction of the full complement of 

ancillary buildings that normally would be 

found. In actuality stations, boat houses, 

and the many ancillary buildings of the latenineteenth century were frequently flooded, 

washed off their short piers, or blown down. 

They were frequently rebuilt, put back on 

piers, or moved. This was an accepted fact 

of beach life. The purpose of the new site, 

then, is to provide an appropriately open 

beach setting, not to attempt a recreation of 

the site at a particular point in time. 

This approach would have the following 

advantages: 

• Re-establishes the historical 

directional orientations of the 

buildings; 

• Approximates the historical 

placement of the buildings on the site 

and the spacing of the structures 

between one another; 

• Preserves and restores characterdefining exterior elements of the 

1879 Station (1876 Type) /1916 Boat 

House and 1925 Station (Chatham 

Type) to their respective periods of 

greatest significance; 

• Preserves and restores characterdefining interior elements of the 

1879 Station (1876 Type) /1916 Boat 

House to allow a more complete 

understanding of the buildings as 

building type artifacts and of the 

activities of the staff who occupied 

them; 

• Preserves and restores the exterior of 

one of only two surviving Chatham 

Type stations in North Carolina in 

the public sector and the only late 

version of this type, thus providing 

groundwork for its continued 

preservation in its prime historical 

appearance; 

• Illustrates the importance of building 

design in facilitating the professional 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.B Ultimate Treatment and Use 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.B.86 

duties of a station staff, and enhances 

the visitor’s understanding by 

tangible experience; 

• Enhances understanding of the 

constant influence of the ocean on 

the activities of the station staff by 

experiencing the open observation 

deck on the 1879 Station; 

• Increases energy efficiency of the 

1879 Station by utilizing the lean-to 

as an airlock; 

Figure B-7 c. 1885 appearance of Bodie Island LifeSaving Station, unknown date (Outer Banks History 

Center) 

• Rehabilitates the interior of the 1925 

Chatham Type Station to house NPS 

management, interpretation, and 

support activities. The basement can 

be easily modified to provide 

wheelchair access, handicapped 

accessible public restrooms, an 

elevator or lift, mechanical/electrical 

rooms, and storage areas. The first 

floor can accommodate interpretive 

display areas, a gift shop, storage rooms 

and other ancillary spaces. The 

second floor can accommodate 

offices, staff restrooms, break room, 

storage areas and other ancillary 

spaces. 

• Allows an opportunity to interpret 

later uses of the buildings, for which 

there is less documentation and less 

significance, through photographs, 

models, and narratives that will not 

sacrifice interpretation of the period 

of greatest significance. 

Figure B-8 1925 appearance of Bodie Island Coast 

Guard Station, c. 1925 

There would be disadvantages to this 

restoration approach as well: 

• Diminishes, depending upon design 

of the adaptive-use scheme, the 

public’s opportunity to understand 

the daily experiences of the 1925 

Chatham Type Station staff through 

personal experience of the interior 

spaces. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.C Requirements for Treatment 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.C.87 

C. REQUIREMENTS FOR 

TREATMENT 

The 1879 Life-Saving Station (1876 Type)/ 

1916 Boat House and 1925 Chatham Type 

Coast Guard Station are addressed as a 

single complex in the park’s General 

Management Plan of 1984. 

The National Park Service Cultural 

Resources Management Guideline (DO-28) 

requires planning for the protection of 

cultural resources on park property. 

In addition, Section 106 of the National 

Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) mandates 

that federal agencies, including the National 

Park Service, take into account the effects of 

their actions on properties listed or eligible 

for listing in the National Register of 

Historic Places and give the Advisory 

Council on Historic Preservation a 

reasonable opportunity to comment. 

Treatment of the building and site are to be 

guided by The Secretary of Interior’s 

Standards for Historic Preservation 

Projects, the Americans with Disability Act, 

and the International Building Code. 

Threats to public life, safety, and welfare are 

to be addressed; however, because this is an 

historic building, alternatives to full 

legislative and code compliance are 

recommended where compliance would 

needlessly compromise the integrity of the 

historic building. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.C Requirements for Treatment 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.C.88 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.D Alternatives for Treatment 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.D.89 

D. ALTERNATIVES FOR 

TREATMENT 

In addition to the Ultimate Treatment 

discussed in Section II.B above, two other 

alternatives are discussed below: 

Alternative # 1: Restore the exteriors and 

interiors of the 1879 Life-Saving Station 

(1876 Type)/1916 Boat House and the 

1925 Chatham Type Coast Guard Station 

to their appearances in 1953. 

The year 1953 is the last year that the 

buildings were administered by the United 

States Coast Guard, the successor agency to 

the United States Life-Saving Service. This 

later period of use reflects a new mission of 

the Coast Guard in relation to national 

security, as technological advances made the 

original life-saving goal obsolete. 

This approach would have the following 

advantages: 

• Restores the physical characteristics 

of each building to the era when last 

officially under the administration of 

the United States Coast Guard; 

 • Presents each building in its evolved 

state of use with all its physical 

additions and deletions at that point 

in time. 

There would be disadvantages to these 

treatments as well: 

• Restores the interior and exterior 

appearances of the buildings to a 

period of lesser importance; 

• Restores the buildings to a period for 

which there is the least available 

documentation; 

• Presents a conglomeration of 

physical parts that are confusing 

without reliance on a substantial 

amount of secondary devices of 

photographs, models, and narratives 

to explain the history of each 

building; 

• Presents each building in an era for 

which there is very little available 

information about the crews, their 

daily activities, their organization 

and use of the spaces; 

• Relies upon secondary devices of 

photographs, models, and narratives 

to interpret the most important 

periods; 

• By reducing the opportunities to 

experience the early spaces of the 

stations, reduces to some degree the 

public’s opportunity to understand 

the daily experiences of the staffs 

during the respective periods of 

greatest significance; 

• Reduces to some degree the 

opportunity for the public to 

experience the interior spaces of the 

1879 Station, and thus understand 

that the design of the building was 

predicated by its function and 

relationship with the natural setting; 

• Misses the opportunity to restore the 

1879 Station to its early design as the 

only example of the type in the 

public sector in the Outer Banks. 

Alternative # 2: Restore the exteriors and 

interiors of the 1879 Life-Saving Station 

(1876 Type)/1916 Boat House and the 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.D Alternatives for Treatment 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.D.90 

1925 Chatham Type Coast Guard Station 

to their appearances in 1925. 

The Chatham Type station was the last type 

designed for the Life-Saving Service and 

provided major improvements affecting the 

daily lives of the staff. At this point, the 

previous station became excess space. It 

retained many of its original 1876 Type 

design characteristics, while undergoing 

some major changes as well. It became 

storage space for tractors and a stable for the 

government horse when the new station was 

opened. 

This approach would have the following 

advantages: 

• Preserves and restores characterdefining exterior and interior 

elements of the 1925 Chatham Type 

Station for its period of greatest 

significance; 

• Increases energy efficiency of the 

1879 Station by utilizing the lean-to, 

which was modified and enlarged in 

1923, as an air lock and foyer; 

• Provides the public opportunity to 

understand the daily activities of the 

1925 Station’s staff by experiencing 

the same configuration of physical 

spaces; 

• Increases public’s understanding of 

the evolution of the 1879 Station as 

it met changing needs; 

• Enhances the public’s opportunity to 

understand that the 1879 Station 

design was predicated by its function 

and relationship with the natural 

setting. 

This treatment approach would have the 

following disadvantages: 

• Preserves and restores characterdefining exterior and interior 

elements of the 1879 Station at a less 

significant period of service; 

• Preserves and restores characterdefining exterior and interior 

elements of the 1879 Station in a 

form that more closely resembles the 

1882 Type station design already 

represented by another surviving 

station in the public sector at Cape 

Lookout; 

• Sacrifices efficiency of function and 

underutilizes some interior spaces of 

the 1925 Station where the 

interpretive value is minimal; 

• Misses an opportunity to restore the 

1879 Station to its early design as the 

only example of its type in the public 

sector on the Outer Banks. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.E Recommendations 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.E.91 

E. RECOMMENDATIONS 

General 

It is recommended that a new site possess 

the same qualities that the original site had 

during the buildings’ periods of importance 

– open beach terrain close to the ocean and 

largely free of major urbanization. It is also 

important that the new site be close to the 

original site in order to maintain the historic 

pattern of stations placed at regular intervals 

along the coastline. It is advisable to 

maintain the buildings’ historic visual 

connection to the major natural feature of 

the area – the ocean – and to the major manmade feature of the area – the Bodie Island 

Lighthouse. 

At the new site, it is recommended that the 

buildings be placed with the same 

directional orientation as they had originally, 

and be oriented to one another and to the 

major natural and cultural features as they 

were historically. 

It is recommended that the buildings be 

viewed as an inseparable group. They all 

respond to the common need for maritime 

life-saving services. While each building is 

a component of the group, each is an artifact 

with original elements and layers of 

accretions, not all of which are of equal 

historical and cultural value. 

It is recommended that the educational 

function of historical interpretation be 

balanced with the practical need for costeffective housing for other park functions. 

Whatever the chosen treatment(s) for the 

buildings themselves, it is recommended 

that prior to the relocation, the complex be 

fully documented in accordance with 

Historic American Building Survey (HABS) 

and Historic American Landscape Survey 

(HALS) standards. It is further 

recommended that a Historic Paint and 

Finish Analysis be completed for each 

building both to document the finishes 

before they incur any additional damage 

during the move and to guide the further 

restoration and interpretive efforts. 

Specific Recommendations 

Site 

It is recommended that the buildings be 

relocated as a group at the entrance to the 

Bodie Island Light Station, the property that 

appears to have the greatest number of 

desirable site characteristics. 

The 1879 Station (1876 Type) - 

Exterior Restoration to 1885 

Soon after construction the station acquired 

a significant addition – a one-story, lean-to 

extending over the main pedestrian entrance. 

This feature provided several improvements. 

The roof shielded the entry from damaging 

rain, a significant maintenance concern. The 

enclosure created an air lock that served as a 

buffer against extreme outside weather 

conditions. Functioning as a sort of foyer, 

the lean-to allowed the crew to change gear 

before reentering the station during 

inclement weather. 

This modification was a standard feature in 

the next generation of station designs, the 

1882 Type station. Otherwise, the 1879 

Station retained its distinctive 1876 Type 

building form until 1900, when its open 

observation platform was replaced with an 

enclosed tower. 

Actions to be taken include: 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.E Recommendations 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.E.92 

• Remove the 1955-vintage breezeway 

connecting the Station and the Boat 

House; 

• At first floor, west side of north 

elevation, remove the 1955-vintage 

exterior chimney, its mantel and 

firebox; install double-hung sash 

window unit to match original 

(removed in 1955); patch exterior 

with board-and-batten and wood 

shingle siding matching the original; 

• At first floor, east side of north 

elevation, re-open original window 

opening; install double-hung sash 

window unit to match original 

(removed in 1955); 

• Remove mismatched, 1955-vintage, 

wood shingle siding first floor, east 

side, north elevation (excess area 

around original window unit 

removed in 1955) and replace with 

wood shingles matching original; 

• Reconstruct interior chimney and 

associated elements of the original 

design; 

• Remove three paired and three single 

window units installed in 1955, first 

floor, east and west elevations; label 

and store on site (attic?); install 

double-hung sash window unit to 

match original in earliest location on 

east and west elevations; install 

wood shingle siding matching the 

original over closed fenestration; 

• Remove one paired window unit 

installed in 1955, first floor, center of 

south elevation; label and store on 

site (attic?); enlarge opening and 

install double-door unit for rescue 

boat to match original removed 

between 1935 and 1945; 

• Reconstruct and install entrance boat 

ramp at south elevation to match 

original removed between 1935 and 

1945; 

• Remove two door units at first floor, 

east elevation, one installed in 1955 

and the other between 1935 and 

1945; label and store on site (attic?); 

install wood shingle siding matching 

the original over closed openings; 

• Reproduce and install exposed 

framing members in the gables; 

• Reconstruct lean-to on west 

elevation and reopen original 

doorway into station; 

• Reconstruct open observation tower; 

• Install wood shingle roofing 

matching evidence of original 

design; 

• Return window sash and other 

window elements to original 

locations as determined by Historic 

Paint and Finish Analysis; 

• Apply finishes as determined by 

Historic Paint and Finish Analysis. 

The 1879 Station (1876 Type) – 

Interior Restoration to 1885 

In 1885 the plaster was removed from the 

interior wall and ceiling surfaces and 

replaced with beaded boards. The beaded 

boards are still exposed in the closets and 

are beneath at least some of the 1955-

vintage paneling and drywall installed by 

NPS. A restoration date of 1885 allows reexposure of this earliest extant historic 

interior wall and ceiling surface material. 

Also with an 1885 restoration date, the 

building retains its 1876 Type floor plan 

with the addition of the lean-to. 

Actions to be taken include: 

• Remove at first floor the 1955-

vintage partition walls that form the 

south and west walls of the kitchen 

and the north, east, and south walls 

of the bathroom; remove associated 

1991-vintage cabinets, shelving, 

counter tops, fixtures, and 

appliances; 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.E Recommendations 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.E.93 

• Remove at first floor the 1991-

vintage gypsum board from all 

ceilings and 1955-vintage pine 

paneling, baseboards, and trim from 

all remaining wall surfaces to expose 

1885-vintage beaded board finish 

surface; patch-in matching 

replacement boarding where 

missing; 

• Remove 1955-vintage staircase 

between first and second floor; 

• Remove at first floor the modern 

sheet vinyl flooring of the bathroom 

and kitchen; expose original 

flooring; 

• Remove at first floor the 1955- 

vintage pine flooring; expose 

original flooring; 

• Reconstruct wall at first floor 

subdividing the space into two large 

rooms according to original plans; 

install doorway between the two 

rooms according to original plans 

and uncovered physical evidence; 

• Reconstruct doorway at first floor of 

west wall leading to reconstructed 

lean-to in accordance with original 

plans and uncovered physical 

evidence; 

• Reconstruct original stairway 

between first floor and second floor 

according to original plan and any 

physical evidence; reconstruct 

partition wall enclosing stairs at first 

floor; reconstruct first-floor doorway 

leading to stairs; 

• Remove at second floor, south room, 

the 1955-vintage partition walls that 

form the attic on the east side and 

closets on the north side; 

• Remove at second floor, middle 

room, west side, the 1991-vintage 

bathroom fixtures and associated 

cabinets and shelving; 

• Remove at major rooms of second 

floor the 1991-vintage gypsum board 

from the ceilings and 1955-vintage 

pine paneling, baseboards, and trim 

from wall surfaces to expose 1885-

vintage beaded board finish surface; 

patch-in matching replacement 

boarding where missing; 

• Remove at second floor the modern 

sheet vinyl flooring of the bathroom; 

expose original pine flooring; 

• Remove at second floor the modern 

sheet oak flooring of the major 

rooms; expose original pine flooring; 

• Repair original pine flooring found 

in second floor closets; 

• Reconstruct doors and casing 

appropriate to the original design and 

install at the second floor in each 

major room and the closet of the 

north room; 

• Reconstruct interior access to 

observation tower according to 

original plan and uncovered physical 

evidence; 

• Remove elements of modern 

mechanical, electrical, and plumbing 

systems; 

• Apply finishes as determined by 

Paint and Finish Analysis. 

The Boat House – Exterior 

Restoration 

Actions to be taken include: 

• Remove modern garage door and 

associated modifications; reconstruct 

original boat entrance doorway; 

• Reconstruct boat ramp; 

• Remove electrical wiring and 

fixtures; 

• Apply finishes as determined by 

Paint and Finish Analysis. 

The Boat House – Interior 

Restoration 

Actions to be taken include: 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.E Recommendations 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.E.94 

• Remove electrical wiring and 

fixtures; 

• Patch-in beaded board material 

where missing and mismatched; 

• Apply finishes as determined by 

Paint and Finish Analysis. 

The 1925 Chatham Type Station – 

Exterior Restoration to 1925 

After a devastating hurricane in 1933, the 

basement level foundation was 

reconstructed, again using formed concrete. 

The replacement foundation design had 

several modifications including a reduction 

in the number of perimeter window 

openings, installation of a second-floor 

window unit for an added bathroom, and 

creation of an attached west-side stair tower 

connecting the exterior grade with the 

basement to replace a direct connection 

between interior and exterior at grade. 

Otherwise, the rebuilt exterior appeared very 

much as it did in 1925. In fact, door and 

window units were probably reused at all 

three levels of the rebuilt 1933 building, not 

just at the first- and second-floor wood 

frame portions. 

The Chatham Type station represents the 

last architectural design from the LifeSaving Service (1914) before transfer of 

those activities in 1915 to the Coast Guard. 

Also, when adapting the facility for modern 

uses, it is noteworthy that the 1925 exterior 

configuration offers some distinct 

advantages in ingress/egress over the 1933 

design. 

It is probably not feasible to retain portions 

of the 1933-era concrete foundation and 

basement level flooring. Rather, this 

historic feature will likely need to be 

reconstructed at the new site. The frame and 

weatherboard structure of the first- and 

second-floor levels with attic above can be 

moved, as a single unit or in sections. 

Actions to be taken include: 

• Reconstruct concrete foundation and 

basement floor to match original 

1925 construction; repair and reuse 

existing fenestration elements; 

• Install ramp for the handicapped at 

west elevation basement doorway; 

• Remove 1962 addition of basement 

restrooms and first-floor office; 

return first-floor door to window; 

• Remove 1933 stair tower; 

reconstruct missing section of west 

side porch; 

• Return west side, first floor doorway, 

1956-62 vintage, to window; 

• Remove enclosures of south porch 

section; reinstall window sash in two 

existing window openings; repair 

open porches; 

• Reconstruct original main entrance 

door and portico on east elevation; 

• Remove temporary cover where 

1962 addition on east side of the first 

floor was removed; reinstall two 

window units; install weatherboard 

to match original; 

• Remove 1933 window on second 

floor of west elevation; patch with 

weatherboard siding to match 

original; 

• Reinstall original window sash in 

two gable ends of attic; 

• Install shingle roof comparable in 

appearance to original asbestoscement shingle; 

• Apply finishes as determined by 

Paint and Finish Analysis. 

The 1925 Chatham Type Station – Interior 

Rehabilitation 

The floor plans of the first and second floors 

are largely intact from the 1925 era. The 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.E Recommendations 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.E.95 

configuration of ancillary rooms of the 

basement was simplified in 1933. The 

floor plans at all three levels can be 

sensitively adapted to house new functions 

unobtrusively. 

Actions to be taken include: 

• Remove modern kitchen cabinets 

and associated fixtures from 

basement; 

• Remove modern bathroom fixtures 

and associated cabinets from first 

and second floors; 

• Remove, after recording, modern 

water heater and exhaust fan from 

basement; retain for interpretation or 

reuse the 1925-era, cast-iron, wall 

and ceiling radiators of the basement, 

and floor radiators of the first and 

second floors; after testing, consider 

reuse or interpretation of associated 

equipment; 

• Replace entire electrical system to 

accommodate new building uses; 

retain disconnected portions of 

system at all levels for 

documentation and, in some 

locations, interpretation; 

• Construct new basement partition 

walls to accommodate public access 

to the building, a handicappedaccessible elevator or lift, and 

handicapped-accessible public 

restrooms; also, to accommodate 

mechanical, electrical, and plumbing 

systems and storage areas; 

• Retain basic room layouts of the first 

and second floors; use ancillary 

spaces or create additional ancillary 

spaces for locating an elevator or lift 

with access to the first floor, or to the 

first and second floors; also use 

ancillary spaces or create additional 

ancillary spaces for mechanical, 

electrical, and plumbing system 

chases; 

• Retain and repair 1933-era wall and 

ceiling material (plaster board?) of 

the first- and second-floor levels; 

remove and replace later materials 

such as modern acoustical tiles and 

wood-veneer wall panels; 

• Retain and repair 1925-era wood 

flooring of the first and second 

floors; remove modern flooring 

materials of carpet and sheet vinyl; 

• Remove modern electrical fixtures; 

install period lighting appropriate to 

the 1925-era as evidence dictates and 

supplement with modern fixtures as 

needed for modern functions; 

• Place gift shop, interpretive display 

rooms, and support areas on the first 

floor; 

• Place administrative and ranger 

offices, staff break room, staff 

restrooms, copy room, and other 

staff support areas on the second 

floor; 

• Utilize attic for mechanical 

equipment; 

• Install insulation in attic and between 

floor joists of first floor; 

• For interior spaces that may contain 

UV-sensitive materials, install UVfiltering film or other screening 

devices at windows; 

• Install fire and security systems; 

• Consider using results of Paint and 

Finish Analysis to return window 

and door units to their 1925 

locations; 

• Consider applying finishes according 

to Paint and Finish Analysis. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Part II.E Recommendations 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page II.E.96 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC References 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. 

REFERENCES 

Bachman, Karen. The Insider’s Guide to the 

 Outer Banks 25th. Guilford CT: 

 Globe Pequot Press, 2004. Web site: 

 <http://www.insiders.com/outerbank

 s/main-history2.htm#Heading1>.

Barnes, Jay. North Carolina's Hurricane 

 History. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 

 1995. 

Bishir, Catherine W. Architects and 

 Builders in North Carolina: A 

 History of the Practice of Building. 

 Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1990. 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore web site, 

 <www.nps.gov/caha/>, Jul 24, 2005. 

Chenery, Richard L. III. Old Coast Guard 

 Stations Volume Two North 

 Carolina. Glen Allen, VA: Station 

 Books, 2000. 

DeBlieu, Jan. Hatteras Journal. Winston-

 Salem, NC: John F. Blair Publisher, 

 1998. 

Everhart, William C. The National Park 

 Service. New York: Praeger 

 Publishers, 1972. 

Hairr, John. Images of America, North 

 Carolina Lighthouses and Lifesaving 

 Stations. Charleston: Arcadia 

 Publishing, 2004. 

Heiser, David. “The Bodie Island Master 

 Plan: A Site Analysis and Design 

 Proposal for Visitor and Park 

 Facilities” unpublished manuscript, 

 Raleigh: North Carolina State 

 University, 1987. 

Jones, Tommy H. Historic Structure Report,

Cape Lookout Life-Saving Station. 

 Cape Hatteras National Seashore, 

 North Carolina: National Park 

 Service, 2004. 

National Park Service. Historic Structure 

 Report, Bodie Island Lighthouse & 

 Oil House. Cape Hatteras National 

 Seashore, North Carolina, 2004. 

McNaughton, Marimar. Outer Banks 

 Architecture: An Anthology of 

 Outposts, Lodges and Cottages. 

 Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair 

 Publisher, 1998. 

Mobley, Joe. Ship Ashore: The U.S 

 Lifesavers of Coastal North 

 Carolina. Raleigh, NC: Department 

 of Cultural Resources, Division of 

 Archives and History, 1994. 

Noble, Dr. Dennis L. “A Legacy: The 

 United States Life-Saving Service” 

 November 2001 U.S. Coast Guard 

 web site: <www.uscg.mil/hq/g-

 cp/history/h_USLSS.html> . 

National Register of Historic Places 

 Nomination: Bodie Island Life 

 Saving/Coast Guard Station National 

 Register. Nags Head, NC. Raleigh, 

 NC: North Carolina Division of 

 Archives and History, Department of 

 Cultural Resources, 1977. 

Pilkey, Orrin H., and Neal, William J. eds. 

The North Carolina Shore and Its 

 Barrier Islands. Restless Ribbons of 

 Sand. Durham, NC: Duke University 

 Press, 1998. 

Powell, William S. The North Carolina 

 Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Tar Heel 

 Places. Chapel Hill, NC: UNC 

 Press, 1968. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC References 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. 

Shanks, Ralph, and Wick York. The U.S 

 Life-Saving Service. Petaluma, 

 California: Costano Books, 1996. 

Stick, David. ed. An Outer Banks Reader. 

 Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1998. 

__________. Graveyard of the Atlantic: 

 Shipwrecks of the North Carolina 

 Coast. Chapel Hill: UNC Press. 

 1952. 

__________. The Outer Banks of North 

 Carolina 1584-1958. Chapel Hill: 

 UNC Press, 1958. 

Tate, Elizabeth. “The Life Saving Service.” 

 In Local History: Heritage of 

 Currituck County, North Carolina 

 1670-1985. Currituck County 

 Historical Society, 1985. 

Torres, Louis. “Historic Resource Study of 

 Cape Hatteras National Seashore.” 

 Unpublished manuscript, Branch of 

 Planning Southeast/Southwest Team, 

 U.S. Department of the Interior, 

 National Park Service, Denver 

 Service Center, n.d. 

York, Eugene V. “The Architecture of the 

 United States Life-Saving Stations.” 

 MA thesis, Boston University, 1983. 

U.S. Coast Guard web site: 

 <www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/ 

 OrganizationIndex.html> (May 2005). 

Williamson, Clifford. Unsung Heroes of the 

 Surf. Marshallburg, NC: Grandma 

 Publications, 1992. 

Wilmoth, Stephen. The Beach Bum’s Site, 

 <www.beachbum.homestead.com>. 

 (August 2005) 

Zepke, Terrance, Coastal North Carolina: 

 Its Enchanting Islands Towns and 

 Communities Sarasota, FL: 

 Pineapple Press, Inc., 2004. 

Material on file at in archives of National 

Park Service, Outer Banks Group, 

Manteo, NC. 

Building and photograph files on Building 

 #100 (1879 Station), Building #100A 

 (1916 Boat House), Building #102 

 HQ (1925 Station, “the Hilton”), 

 Building #103 Lookout Tower. 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore/North 

 Carolina, “General Management 

 Plan, Development Concept Plan, 

 Amended Environmental 

 Assessment” Jan. 1984. 

“Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Building 

 Number 103, Bodie Island C.G 

 Observation Tower, Historic 

 Structure HS-1C, Review of the 

 Situation Leading Up to the Loss of 

 the Structure” N.D.

“Emergency Stabilization BI CG Station, 

 7/1/02” OB Project Compliance 

 Tracking Log.

“ICAP, Bodie Island Life Saving Station, 

 July 17, 1992”; also, “Assessment of 

 Actions Having an Effect on Cultural 

 Resources, December 22. 1992.” 

Kelly, Fredrick E., “Cape Hatteras National 

 Seashore, Building Number 103, 

 Bodie Island C.G. Observation 

 Tower, Historic Structure HS-1C, A 

 Review of the Situation Leading Up 

 to the Loss of the Structure.” No date 

Perrot, George, “Bodie Island Lifesaving 

 Station. Foundation Repair and 

 Replacement. Completion Report” 

 March 16, 1999. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC References 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. 

Report of Building Inspection, Several 

 Buildings, Cape Hatteras National 

 Seashore, August 21, 1989” 

 conducted by A.D. Energy Engineers 

 Limited. VIP Residence section, no 

 page numbers. 

“Rehabilitation of VIP House – Quarters 

 100” Description of work, schedule 

 and budget; also “Weekly Field 

 Reports - Bodie Island VIP Quarters 

 #100” #1-15 on file in Building 100.

 “Tommy’s Hummock/Bodie Island Life 

 Saving Station Journals”, Record 

 Group 26, National Archives, 

 Atlanta. Covers the period 15 Jan. 

 1879 through July 15, 1937. A 

 selected Journal transcription 

 prepared by Tommy H. Jones. 

United States Coast Guard News Release 

 No. 60-2-26(jbb), June 3, 1960. 

Maps & Drawings: 

“U.S Coast Guard Bodie Island Station, 

 April 6, 1923” by M. P. Hite. 

“U.S Coast Guard Bodie Island Station 

 North Carolina Oct. 1923” sheets 

nos.1-5. 

 

“U.S. Coast Guard Bodie Island Station: 

 Proposed Alterations in Dwelling. 

 Office of Field Assistant M. P. Hite, 

 November 1933” 2 sheets. 

 “U.S. Coast Guard, Site Plan Bodie Island 

 Station, Office of Assoc. Civil 

 Engineer M. P. Hite, C&R, 16 April 

 1935.” 

“Bodie Island Lifeboat Station, Plot Plan, 

 United Stated Coast Guard Civil 

 Engineering, Norfolk Dist. June 11, 

 1943.” 

“Bodie Island Lifeboat Station, Location and 

 Section of Ordnance Locker, 27 

 Aug. 1944.” 

“Bodie Island Galley and Mess Bldg., 

 Layout of Existing Floor Plan, 

 United States Coast Guard Civil 

 Engineering, Norfolk Dist. Norfolk, 

 VA, Jan. 30, 1945.” 

“Unit No. 334, Bodie Island NC, Alterations 

 to Present Dwelling, United States 

 Coast Guard Civil Engineering 

 Norfolk District, Norfolk VA, 6 

 April, 1945.” 

“Bodie Island Headquarters Expansion” 

 c.1962, one sheet. 

United States Department of the Interior, 

 National Park Service, Operations & 

 Maintenance, Region One Office, 

 Room Addition – Admin. Bldg. 

 Bodie Island Cape Hatteras National 

 Seashore” dated May 1962. 

“Bodie Island Building #102, Alterations to 

 Present Structure, National Park 

 Service Cape Hatteras National 

 Seashore, drawn by Lusa, 1-30-74.” 

Walton and Parker’s Report, July 17, 1878, 

 National Archives. 

Photographs: 

“Bodie Island Old Station Looking North 

 2 April 1935” 

J. C. McCabe, Photo Nos. 0-6, dated March 

 30, 1954. 

N. Howell Subject: Bodie Island LSS- Roof 

 Damaged by Lightning Strike Date: 

 June ’79. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC References 

 2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix A 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page A-1 

APPENDIX A 

1925: Probable Floor Plans 

A.1 Basement Floor Plan 

A.2 First Floor Plan 

A.3 Second Floor Plan 





BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix B 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page B-1 

APPENDIX B 

1933: Probable Floor Plans 

B.1 Basement Floor Plan 

B.2 First Floor Plan 

B.3 Second Floor Plan 





BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix C 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page C-1 

APPENDIX C 

1945: Probable Floor Plans 

C.1 Basement Floor Plan 

C.2 First Floor Plan 

C.3 Second Floor Plan 





BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix D 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page D-1 

APPENDIX D 

1962: Probable Floor Plans 

D.1 Basement Floor Plan 

D.2 First Floor Plan 

D.3 Second Floor Plan 





BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix E 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page E-1 

APPENDIX E 

2005: As-Found Measured Drawings 

E.1 Basement Floor Plan 

E.2 First Floor Plan 

E.3 Second Floor Plan 

E.4 Attic Floor Plan 

E.5 Baseboard Profiles 

E.6 Baseboard Profiles 

E.7 Baseboard Profiles 

E.8 Window and Door Casing Profiles 

E.9 Window and Door Casing Profiles 

E.10 Window and Door Casing Profiles 

E.11 Chair Rail and Window Muntin Profiles 

E.12 Exterior Details 













BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-1 

APPENDIX F 

Historic Construction Documents 

1. 1923: Original Construction 

F1.1 Floor Plans and Cupboard Sections 

F1.2 Building Elevations and Section 

F1.3 Stair Section and Details 

F1.4 Site Plan and Site Details 

F1.5 Door and Window Details 

2. 1933: As-built Drawings for new foundation and stair tower addition 

F2.1 Floor Plans and Entrance Section 

F2.2 Foundation Plan, Foundation Details, and Elevation 

3. 1944/45: Ordnance Locker Drawing and Proposed Alterations 

F3.1 Ordnance Locker Drawing 

F3.2 Alterations to Present Dwelling 

4. 1962: Drawings for NPS Additions 

F4.1 Floor Plans – Building Inventory 

F4.2 Plan and Elevations for East Addition 

F4.3 Plan and Elevations for Public Restroom addition 

5. 1974: Alterations 

F5.1 Floor Plans 

BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-2 

 F1.1 1923 Floor Plans and Cupboard Sections 

Source: Cape Hatteras NS Archives (CAHA), HICATS #4GRF-44-1 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-3 

F1.2 1923 Building Elevations and Section 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4GRF-44-2 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-4 

F1.3 1923 Stair Section and Details 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4GRF-44-3 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-5 

F1.4 1923 Site Plan and Site Details 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4GRF-44-4 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-6 

F1.5 1923 Door and Window Details 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4GRF-0-34 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-7 

F2.1 1933 Floor Plans and Entrance Section 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4GRF-10-1 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-8 

 F2.2 1933 Foundation Plan, Foundation Details, and Elevation 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4GRF-10-2 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-9 

F3.1 1944 Ordnance Locker Drawing 

Source: CAHA 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-10 

F3.2 1945 Alterations to Present Dwelling 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4GRF-11-2 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-11 

F4.1 1962 Floor Plans 

Source: CAHA 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-12 

F4.2 1962 Plan and Elevations of East Addition 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4GRF-0-126 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-13 

F4.3 1962 Plan and Elevations of Public Bathroom Addition 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4GRF-42-1 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix F 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page F-14 

F5.1 1974 Alterations to Present Structure 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4GRF-43-1 

BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix G 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page G-1 

APPENDIX G 

Historic Maps / Site Plans 

G.1 Walton & Parker’s Report, Tommy’s Hummock site selected July 17, 1878 

G.2 Map of Bodie Island Station, April 6, 1923 

G.3 Plot Plan from drawings for new Coast Guard Station, November 1923 

G.4 Site Plan of Bodie Island Station, April 16, 1935 

G.5 Bodie Island Lifeboat Station Plot Plan, June 11, 1943 

G.6 Topographic Survey of Lifeboat Station, August 26, 1944 

G.7 Bodie Island Lifeboat Station Map of Proposed Area to be Acquired, September 

9, 1944 

G.8 Bodie Island Plot Plan, February 3, 1945 

G.9 Whalebone Junction Master Plan (Proposed), August 1987

BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix G 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page G-2 

G.1 Walton & Parker’s Report, Tommy’s Hummock site selected July 17, 1878 

Source: Cape Hatteras NS Archives (CAHA) 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix G 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page G-3 

G.2 Map of Bodie Island Station, April 6, 1923 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4MAP-0-68 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix G 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page G-4 

G.3 Plot Plan from drawings for new Coast Guard Station, November 1923 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4GRF-44-4 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix G 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page G-5 

G.4 Site Plan of Bodie Island Station, April 16, 1935 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4MAP-0-81 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix G 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page G-6 

G.5 Bodie Island Lifeboat Station Plot Plan, June 11, 1943 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4MAP-0-80 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix G 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page G-7 

G.6 Bodie Island Topographic Survey, August 26, 1944 

Source: CAHA 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix G 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page G-8 

G.7 Bodie Island Lifeboat Station Map of Proposed Area to be Acquired, 

September 9, 1944 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4MAP-3-1 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix G 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page G-9 

G.8 Bodie Island Plot Plan, February 3, 1945 

Source: CAHA, HICATS #4MAP-8-02 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix G 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page G-10 

G.9 Whalebone Junction Master Plan (Proposed), August 1987 

Source: CAHA 

BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-1 

APPENDIX H 

Historic Photographs 

H.1 1925 Station from the northeast ca. 1928. 

H.2 1925 Station from the southeast ca. 1928. 

H.3 1925 Station from the southwest ca. 1928.

H.4 1925 Station from the northwest ca. 1928. 

H.5 View of Station from the south ca. 1930. 

H.6 View of Station from the north ca. 1930. Corresponds to image number H5.

H.7 1925 Station from the southwest dated 1935. 

H.8 1925 Station from the lookout tower, dated 1944

H.9 Aerial view of Station, 14 July 1944 from the northeast.

H.10 Bodie Island LORAN Station, 14 July 1944, from the southeast

H.11 1925 Station from the southwest, ca. 1946

H.12 Aerial view of Station, September 1948, from the northeast.

H.13 Aerial view of Station, September 1948, from the north.

H.14 1925 Station from the west March 30, 1954.

H.15 1925 Station from the west, March 30, 1954.

H.16 1925 Station north wall southeast room first floor, March 30, 1954.

H.17 1925 Station stair to second floor, March 30, 1954. 

H.18 1925 Station doorway into northeast room first floor, March 30, 1954.

H.19 1925 Station kitchen in northwest corner of first floor, March 30, 1954.

H.20 1925 Station looking north into generator room basement level, March 30, 1954.

H.21 1925 Station from the west, March 1954.

H.22 1925 Station from the southwest, May 1956.

H.23 1925 Lookout Tower, July 1963.

H.24 1925 Station from the west, ca. 1971.

H.25 1925 Station from the southwest, ca. 1971. 

H.26 Crane in a failed attempt to save the 1925 Lookout Tower, Feb. 6, 1978.

H.27 1925 Station view, Dec. 1986. Shows north and east facades, with the 1962 leanto addition to the front to the building.

H.28 1925 Station view from the south, Dec. 1986. 

[All images unless noted otherwise in the NPS archives, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, 

Outer Banks Group, Manteo, NC] 

BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-2 

H.1 1925 Station from the northeast ca. 1928. One of a series of four images taken at the 

same time. Journal entry for July 7, 1928 notes that Frank L. Toon arrived to take 

picture of the station and crew. Shows station as originally constructed with four 

basement windows on east elevation, water storage tanks aligned north-south, and the 

oil house to the north.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-3 

H.2 1925 Station from the southeast ca. 1928. Number 2 of 4 possible Frank L. Toon 

photographs. Shows station as originally constructed, east (front) and south 

elevations.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-4 

H.3 1925 Station from the southwest ca. 1928. Number 3 of 4 possible Frank L. Toon 

photographs. Shows station as originally constructed, west and south elevations with 

wraparound porch and basement entrance on west façade.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-5 

H.4 1925 Station from the northwest ca. 1928. Number 4 of 4 possible Frank L. Toon 

photographs. Shows station as originally constructed, north and west elevations with 

water storage tanks.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-6 

H.5 View of Station from the south ca. 1930. Shows 1925 Station, lookout tower, 

kitchen, 1879 Station, privy, and 1916 boat house.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-7 

H.6 View of Station from the north ca. 1930. Corresponds to image number 5.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-8 

H.7 1925 Station from the southwest dated 1935. Label –“Bodie Island Station Looking 

N.W. 4/2/35” Shows telephone lines in the foreground, only two windows in the 

front façade basement level, the oil house just to the right and an unidentified 

building to the far right.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-9 

H.8 1925 Station from the lookout tower, dated 1944. Label: “U.S.C.G L/B & LORAN 

Station #175, Bodie Island, N.C. Unit #334, 5th C.G. District, 7/14/44”
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-10 

H.9 Aerial view of Station, 14 July 1944 from the northeast. Label: “U.S.C.G. L/B & 

LORAN Station #175, Bodie Island, NC, Unit #334, 5th C.G. District 7/14/44.”
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-11 

H.10 Bodie Island LORAN Station, 14 July 1944, from the southeast. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-12 

H.11 1925 Station from the southwest, ca. 1946. Label: “The barracks from the west side. 

1946-47 photo by Charles D. Potts, 13 Alton Ct. Newark DE. 19711 Donated to 

CAHA 8/73. Former U.S. Coast Guard Stn. now NPS Ranger Stn. Bodie Island.” 

Shows 1933 stair tower and added window into bathroom on second floor.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-13 

H.12 Aerial view of Station, September 1948, from the northeast. Shows LORAN system 

in place, and larger dunes between the 1879 Station and 1925 Station.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-14 

H.13 Aerial view of Station, September 1948, from the north. Shows LORAN system in 

place. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-15 

H.14 1925 Station from the west March 30, 1954 by J.C. McCabe, Photo no. 8. Label: 

“Looking East from Highway at exterior of Bodie Island C.G. Sta. Stakes in the 

foreground and center of photo indicate boundaries of proposed parking area.” 

Shows dunes larger, such that 1879 Station in its original location was partially 

obscured from Highway 12.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-16 

H.15 1925 Station from the west, March 30, 1954 by J.C. McCabe, Photo no. (blank). 

Label: “Looking north west at Bodie Island Coast Guard Station.”
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-17 

H.16 1925 Station north wall southeast room first floor, March 30, 1954 by J.C. McCabe, 

Photo no. 1. Label: “Reception Room Bodie Island G.G. Station. (Park 

Headquarters).” Shows cabinets in original location.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-18 

H.17 1925 Station stair to second floor, March 30, 1954 by J.C. McCabe, Photo no. 2. 

Label: “Stairway in Bodie Island Coast Guard Station.”
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-19 

H.18 1925 Station doorway into northeast room first floor, March 30, 1954 by J.C. 

McCabe, Photo no. 3. Label: “Hallway on main floor - Bodie Island C.G. Stn.”
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-20 

H.19 1925 Station kitchen in northwest corner of first floor, March 30, 1954 by J.C. 

McCabe, Photo no. 4. Label: “Former kitchen on main floor, Bodie Island C.G. 

Station.” Shows large utility sink in area that would later become the entry hall for the 

NPS.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-21 

H.20 1925 Station looking north into generator room basement level, March 30, 1954 by 

J.C. McCabe, Photo no. 5. Label: “Basement, Bodie Island C.G. Sta.”
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-22 

H.21 1925 Station from the west, May 1954. Label – “Neg. No: 54-36, Date: 5/17/54, Print 

File: St/A, General Description, Location, Other pertinent Data: Looking east from 

Highway at Headquarters Building at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. (Formerly 

Bodie Island Coast Guard Station. Negative by: ___ .” Shows parking lot under 

construction, new set of stairs to the porch level at the south end of west façade. 1879 

Station visible to the right.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-23 

H.22 1925 Station from the southwest, May 1956. Label – “Neg. No: 56-204, Date: 5/4/56, 

Print File: St/A, General Description, Location, Other pertinent Data: Cape Hatteras 

National Seashore Headquarters, Negative by: W. V. Watson, Large Print: No” 

Shows stairs to porch added by NPS, and existing door into stair tower.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-24 

H.23 1925 Lookout Tower, July 1963. Label – “Neg. No: 36-2, Date: 7-63, Print File: 

A/V,1, General Description, Location, Other pertinent Data: Visitors climbing 

lookout tower behind former Bodie Island Coast Guard Station (Presently park head 

quarters), Negative by: Jack Williams.” 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-25 

H.24 1925 Station from the west, ca. 1971. Label “CG Station (Ranger Station) 1971.” 

Shows restrooms added north of stair tower, stair to porch relocated northward, porch 

on south façade enclosed.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-26 

H.25 1925 Station from the southwest, ca. 1971. Label: “HS-1A Bodie Island Life Saving 

Service/Coast Guard Station Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Bodie Island, North 

Carolina.” Shows two windows on south wall of old stair tower, and door adjacent in 

west wall of station where a window was once located. The lookout tower is visible 

to the right.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-27 

H.26 Crane in a failed attempt to save the 1925 Lookout Tower, Feb. 6, 1978. 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-28 

H.27 1925 Station view, Dec. 1986. Shows north and east facades, with the 1962 lean-to 

addition to the front to the building.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix H 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page H-29 

H.28 1925 Station view from the south, Dec. 1986. Shows the 1962 lean-to addition to the 

front to the building, and the c. 1956-62 enclosure of the south porch.
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix I 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I-1 

APPENDIX I 

Life-Saving Station Statistics 

North Carolina Life-Saving Station Status 

Bodie Island Life-Saving Station Keepers 

Bodie Island Life-Saving Crew Membership 

BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix I 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I-2 

North Carolina Life-Saving Stations Status 

1876 Type In North Carolina - J. L. Parkinson

1878 Deal’s Island (Wash Woods) Corolla; Destroyed 

1878 Currituck Inlet (Penny’s Hill) Corolla; Destroyed (burned 1970s) 

1878 Poyner’s Hill, Corolla; Destroyed (burned 1989) 

1878 Paul Gamiels Hill, Duck; Destroyed (burned) 

1878 Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk; Moved (Corolla office) 

1878 Cedar Hummock (Gull Shoal), Waves; Destroyed (hurricane 1944) 

1878-9 Bodie Island, Nags Head; Moved (NPS, office) 

1878-9 Pea Island Rodanthe; Moved to Salvo (residence) 

1878-9 Big Kinnakeet, Buxton; Destroyed 

 

1878-9 Creeds Hill, Frisco; Destroyed 

1878-9 Durant, Hatteras; Destroyed (2003) 

Chatham Type Stations In North Carolina – Victor Mendleheff

1916 Cape Lookout, off Harkers Island; Extant (NPS owned) 

1917 Hatteras Inlet, Ocracoke; Destroyed (1955) 

1918 Cape Fear, Smiths Island off Southport; Destroyed 

1918 Creeds Hill, Frisco; Moved (privately owned) 

1919 Wash Woods, Corolla; Extant (privately owned) 

1925 Bodie Island, Nags Head; Extant (NPS owned) 

1929 Big Kinnakeet, Buxton; Destroyed 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix I 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I-3 

Bodie Island Life-Saving Station Keepers 

15 Jan. 1879 Jesse T. Etheridge

27 Oct. 1914 J. T. Etheridge leaves station 

28 Oct. 1914 P. H. Etheridge arrived 

28 Mar. 1915 P. H. Etheridge departs 

 Station turned over to Surfman Ebenezer M. Midgett (acting) 

 9 Apr. 1915 Robert L. Wescott arrived (acting) 

 8 Nov. 1915 Robert L. Wescott permanent appointment 

 1 Jan. 1918 Robert L. Wescott leaves for Station 172 

 S. D. Guard acting 

1920 Herman C. Smith acting Keeper 

18 May 1920 Keeper H. C. Smith promoted to Chief Boatswain Mate 

 7 Mar. 1932 H. C. Smith transfer to Core Banks Station 

 Isaac N. Baum put in charge 

28 May 1933 Isaac N. Baum fails physical & discharged 

30 Jun. 1933 H. G. Dorsey officer in charge 

30 May 1934 John Wescott in charge 

15 July 1937 Decommissioned 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix I 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I-4 

Bodie Island Life-Saving Crew Membership 

(Extracted from Journal Transcript; see separate list of Keepers) 

1879 1880 1882 

Midgett Ward J.W. Dough 42 

Tillitt Tillit Spencer Etheridge 37 

Dough Dough R. S. Midgett ` 20 

Montague SM Daniels Thos, Baum 20 

Daniels B Daniels J.A. Etheridge 

Borthers Wescott S. M. Etheridge 25 

Montague alt. Tilman Tillitt 20 

 J. R. Ancil 23 for JA Etheridge 

1883 1884 1885 

J. R. Ancil for JA Etheridge J.G. Tillit RS Midgett Discharged 

 R. Sandling J.G. Tillit “ 

 W.L. Meekins 

 C.L. Johnson 

 S. Etheridge will not return (May) 

 A.H. Etheridge (drunk) 

 Dough 

 C. D. Wescott 

1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 

A. H. Etheridge discharged Dough C.C. Johnson 

C.C. Johnson Davis 

Thomas Baum W.S. Hooker 

A. D. Midgett 

1891 1892 1893 

J. T. Daniel discharged 1. H.B. Ward (discharged – drunk) Johnson

 2. J.D. Johnson Gaskill 

 3. W.S. Hooker 

 4. B.E. Davis 

 5. A.D. Midgett 

 6. H.S. Hooks 

 7. C.Z. Forbes 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix I 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I-5 

1896 1897 1898

W.S. Hooker (rheumatism) David Tolson W.H Baum sick Feb. 

 W.H Baum 1. O.J. Wescott 

 2. D.E. David 

 3. A. D. Midgett 

 4. P.D. Midgett 

 5. David Tolson 

6. E. Y. Etheridge acting for Baum 

returns in May 

 7. J. A. Etheridge 

1898 1899 1900 

Fall only four hired T.H Baum sub keeper summer 

Wescott W.H. Baum 

Midgetts (2) 

D.E. Davis 

1903 1905 1908 1909 

1. D.E. Davis 1. D.E. Davis 1. D.E. Davis 

2. A.D. Midgett 2. E. M. Midgett 2. E.M. Midgett same 

3. P.D. Midgett 3. P.D. Midgett 3. P.D. Midgett 

4. David Tolson 4. F.H. Midgett 4. A.D. Midgett 

5. W.H Baum 5. J. M. Rogers 5. J. M. Rogers 

6. J.M Rogers 6. O. C. Ward 6. O.C. Ward 

7. L.D. Quidley 

1912 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915

 Robert L Wescott 

1. D. E. Davis 1. Ebenezer M. Midgett, Manteo 

2. E.M. Midgett 2. Peleg D. Midgett, Wanchese 

3. P.D. Midgett 3. Otho C. Ward, Manteo 

4. A.D. Midgett 4. George B. Midgett, Wanchese 

5. O.C. Ward 5. Appolos D. Midgett, Manteo 

6. L.D. Quidley 6. Lenard D. Quidley, Manteo 

7. E. W. Etheridge 7. Hal S. Ward, Manteo 

Sub R.L Wescott, Manteo 

Sub J.W. Davis Wanchese 
BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix I 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page I-6 

1916 (8) 1917 (10) 

Robert L Wescott Robert L Wescott 

1. Ebenezer M. Midgett, Manteo Ebenezer M. Midgett, Manteo 

2. Peleg D. Midgett, Wanchese Peleg D. Midgett, Wanchese 

3. Otho C. Ward, Manteo Otho C. Ward, Manteo 

4. George B. Midgett, Wanchese George B. Midgett, Wanchese 

5. Clinton H. Barnett (A.D. Midgett disabled) Clinton H. Barnett 

6. R.L Wescott Jr. (son?) Aaron O’Neal, Wanchese 

7. Hal S. Ward, Manteo H.S. Ward, Manteo 

 A. J. Daniels, Wanchese 

 Graves Midgett, cook Salvo 

1918 (12)

Robert L. Wescott, Cpt. 

S. D. Guard acting while W is gone G. Bright Midgett, Wanchese 

R. J. Wescott, Manteo H.H Twiford Manteo 

P.D. Midgett, Manteo Dan C. Midgett, cook, Rodanthe 

G.B Midgett, Wanchese 

C.H Barnett, Manteo 

H.S. Ward Manteo 

A. J. Daniels Wanchese 

Claud T. Williams, cook Avon 

1919 1920 (10) 

 H. C. Smith acting keeper 

 W.G. Etheridge 

3 CH Barnett P. D. Midgett (Retires 1921, hurt playing baseball) 

4.HS Ward C. H. Barnett 

5. AJ Daniels H. S. Ward 

6. G. Bright Midgett AJ Daniels 

7. C.T. Williams C.T. Williams 

8. D.C. Midgett D.C. Midgett 

9. Lyton Roswell Daniels – cook Lyton Roswell Daniels – cook 

H.A. Etheridge – cook 

1922 (9) 1932 1933 

H.C. Smith I. N. Baum placed in charge H. G. Dorsey acting 

E. G. Tillet J. D. Midgett courts marshaled 30 june 

H.S. Ward F.H. ??? “ “ 

A.J. Daniels 

C.T. Williams 

H. N. Etheridge 

J. L. Beacham 1937 

D. B. Midgett 

J. B. Gray Funeral for L.D. Quidley 

BODIE ISLAND COAST GUARD STATION HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, NC Appendix J 

2005 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page J-1 

APPENDIX J 

Relocation Options 

Previously studied by Cape Hatteras National Seashore 

1

BODIE ISLAND LIFESAVING

AND

COAST GUARD STATIONS

RELOCATION OPTIONS

JUSTIFICATION

The Bodie Island Life-Saving/Coast Guard Station complex is 

listed on the National Register. The ocean beach adjacent the 

complex is rapidly eroding and threatens to destroy these 

structures. NPS policy and North Carolina law do not allow 

hardening shorelines as a means of protection. 

Relocation is the remaining measure available to 

insure protection of these structures. Following 

relocation, the buildings will be stabilized 

and restored. 

SITE A: WHALEBONE INTERSECTION (EAST SIDE)

GMP: NO, but in the general area

PREVIOUSLY DISTURBED AREA: NO 

FLOOD AREA: YES, but has some high grounds. 

WETLANDS: NO 

SAFETY: Heavy traffic on NC 12,. 

USES: Administrative use; Ranger Station; Eastern 

National offices; seasonal housing; resource management 

field office; research facility; permitted to park partner; 

Group HQ while FORA site is restored. 

UTILITIES: Electric/water/phone nearby 

PROS: Close proximity to Nags Head and Group 

Headquarters. 

CONS: Left turn into this location may mean modification of the existing entrance road. 

SITE B: WHALEBONE JUNCTION INTERSECTION (WEST SIDE EXISTING AREA)

GMP: YES

PREVIOUSLY DISTURBED AREA: YES 

FLOOD AREA: YES, but has some high grounds. 

WETLANDS: YES 

SAFETY: Heavy auto traffic park entrance location. 

USES: Administrative; visitor orientation; Ranger Station; 

hunter contact station; permit to park partner, EN office. 

UTILITIES: Electric, water, septic, phone service in place 

PROS: Would function as a true entrance station into the 

National Seashore; trail to historic US Coastal Survey 

Marker nearby; current agreement with OBVB could be 

extended; Ranger Station closer to community. 

CONS: Vehicle parking requires expansion; increased traffic congestion; existing structures 

would have to be removed. 
2

SITE C: BODIE ISLAND FIRING RANGE/OLD GROUND WATER TANK AREA

GMP: NO 

PREVIOUSLY DISTURBED AREA: YES 

FLOOD AREA: YES, sound-side flooding 

WETLANDS: NO 

SAFETY: Isolated area subject to vandalism, water line for fire suppression system necessary. 

USES: Administrative use; Ranger Station offices; seasonal/VIP housing; a field resource 

management district office could be located here; all firearms and ammunition storage at Group 

HQ could be stored here in closer proximity to the firing range; a small employee training area 

could be developed here. 

UTILITES: None. Electricity service stops at the Navy Tower. Existing road is dirt. 

PROS: This location would indeed afford privacy if converted to housing or office facility. 

CONS: Isolated (vulnerable to theft and vandalism), existing water supply not available for 

structural fire fighting and personal consumption, septic/drain field, parking area needed; high 

cost to construct road/utilities infrastructure development; water tank must be razed. 

SITE D: BODIE ISLAND LIGHT STATION ENTRANCE AREA/INTERSECTION WITH NC12 

GMP: NO 

PREVIOUSLY DISTURBED AREA: NO 

FLOOD AREA: YES, over wash 

WETLANDS: NO 

SAFETY: The intersection of NC12 and the 

Lighthouse road is heavily used and somewhat 

hazardous. 

USES: The BICG (Hilton) structure could be 

used as a Ranger Station; EN office. The BILSS 

(Qtrs. 100) could become a small museum with 

bookstore and exhibits introducing the 

USLSS/USCG story on the Outer Banks. 

UTILITES: Existing electric/water lines 

underground, along NC12 and entrance road. 

PROS: This option would free the existing BI Lighthouse Keepers Quarters to be converted to 

museum space to tell the story of the Lighthouse. BILSS could continue as a Ranger Station. 

More centrally located in the BI district.

CONS: Mixing two interpretive stories in such close proximity could confuse visitors; existing 

water supply not sufficient for structural fire fighting; septic/drain field needed; paved vehicle 
3

parking areas needed; vehicle traffic patterns would have to be studied and the intersection 

redesigned; overhead power line would hamper move and would interfere with the new setting. 

SITE E: BODIE ISLAND LIGHT STATION (OUTSIDE THE HISTORIC DISTRICT)

GMP: NO 

PREVIOUSLY DISTURBED AREA: NO 

FLOOD AREA: NO 

WETLANDS: NO 

SAFETY: BI Lighthouse entrance road does not 

meet DOT standards. 

USES: Visitor center/bookstore/museum with 

exhibits introducing the USLSS/USCG story on 

the Outer Banks; Ranger Station; EN offices. 

UTILITES: Existing electric/water along the 

entrance road. 

PROS: This option would free BI Lighthouse 

Keepers Quarters to be converted to museum 

space interpreting the story of the BI Lighthouse. 

BILSS could continue as a Ranger Station.

CONS: Confusing to visitors, mixing story of Lighthouse and LSS in such close proximity. 

Existing water supply not sufficient for structural fire fighting, septic/drain field will be needed, 

paved vehicle parking areas would have to be constructed. Entrance road would have to be 

widened to meet DOT standards. 

SITE F: OREGON INLET CAMPGROUND

GMP: NO

PREVIOUSLY DISTURBED AREA: YES 

FLOOD AREA: YES, but has some high grounds 

WETLANDS: NO 

SAFETY: Heavy auto traffic on Highway 

12. 

USES: Relocate one or both buildings 

to serve as campground entrance 

station; Ranger Station; seasonal 

housing; limited interpretive functions, 

environmental education/evening 

programs 

UTILITIES: Electric, water, phone in 

place, septic needed 

PROS: Current fee booth is single use; 

structures could potentially could serve 

multiple functions (such as combining 

Ranger Station and Campground 

functions) has the potential to utilize 

personnel more efficiently. 

CONS: Eventually this area will erode as well; additional parking is needed. 
4

SITE G: OREGON INLET FISHING CENTER

GMP: NO

PREVIOUSLY DISTURBED AREA: YES 

FLOOD AREA: YES 

WETLANDS: NO 

SAFETY: Heavily used auto/trailer traffic 

USES: Relocate one or more buildings 

for use as Ranger Station, seasonal 

housing, and/or concessioner office space 

UTILITIES: Electric, water, septic, phone 

in area. 

PROS: Current concession facility has 

limited office space; potential 

exists for income generation 

through franchise fees that 

park could utilize in resource 

management program. 

Concessioner could be 

responsible for renovation 

costs and facility upgrade and 

maintenance 

CONS: Space is area is 

limited, area is already a 

multiple use area. 

COMPLIANCE: TO SEPARATE THE STRUCTURES OR NOT

Environmental Assessment will need to be done on all alternative locations. Contracting an EA 

will take 3-4 months, cost $ 4,000.00. 

Keeping both the BICG Station (Hilton) and BILSS (Ranger Station – Qtrs. 100) together as a 

complex affords the opportunity to interpret the history of the US Lifesaving Service and of the 

continued mission of the Coast Guard on the Banks. Little Kinnakeet will eventually tell this story. 

Chicamacomico tells part of it now. 

Separating the BILSS and the BIGC Station would have to be evaluated through compliance by 

SHPO, to determine if the buildings must remain within a district or the building’s be separated in 

different locations. 

PROS: Either structure can be used for stand-alone operations either open to the public or not. 

CONS: Additional costs associated with site preparation for two separate complexes. Loss of 

interpretation of the USLSS/CG story and different architecture of USLSS vs. CG. 
5

Preferred Alternative

The preferred alternative is to utilize two locations, a combination of Sites A and 

B. Relocate the Bodie Island Coast Guard Station for administrative use to the 

East side of the Whalebone Junction Intersection and relocate the Life Saving 

Station to the West side of Whalebone Junction within the existing contact station 

complex area. At this site the LSS could be serve either of two functions. 

Function 1 (Whalebone West Side) 

Remove the existing small contact station. Replace it with the LSS and garage. 

The public restroom structure would remain as is. The Outer Banks Visitors 

Bureau, under permit, could occupy the downstairs of the new space and provide 

orientation services to visitors traveling south. 

Or EN could occupy the space and open a small sales station in the garage. EN 

personnel would provide information to travelers. EN would occupy office space 

upstairs. 

Or the NPS could use the entire facility for interpretive purposes. The main 

structure’s interior could be remodeled, interiors walls removed, and the space 

opened to appear as it was originally constructed. This open interior space could 

offer non-personal Seashore orientation information through wall hung exhibit 

panels and could also be outfitted as an auditorium. Short video presentations 

could run continuously. One of the two lifeboats in storage might fit in the garage 

in this scenario. 

Or the entire downstairs space in the LSS could be converted to EN small sales 

space with offices upstairs and storage in the attached garage. 

Function 2 (Whalebone West Side) 

Leave the current contact station in place, locate the LSS and garage 

immediately south of the public restroom and continue to utilize this structure as 

the District Ranger Station. 

Bodie Island Coast Guard Station East Side 

Relocate the Coast Guard Station to the East Side of Whalebone for 

administrative purposes. Locate the structure so that visibility from Highway 12 is 

limited. Locate the District Ranger Station downstairs and seasonal housing 

upstairs. This use would necessitate a small footprint to include a septic system 

and limited parking. Entry from the street through the parking lot of Catholic 

Church could be negotiated. In return, the small NPS parking area could be 

utilized by the Catholic Church as overflow for their weekend services. 

As the nation’s principal conservation agency,

the Department of the Interior has

responsibility for most of our nationally owned

public lands and natural resources. This

includes fostering sound use of our land and

water resources; protecting our fish, wildlife,

and biological diversity; preserving the

environmental and cultural values of our

national parks and historical places; and

providing for the enjoyment of life through

outdoor recreation. The department assesses

our energy and mineral resources and works to

ensure that their development is in the best

interests of all our people by encouraging

stewardship and citizen participation in their

care. The department also has a major

responsibility for American Indian reservation

communities and for people who live in island

territories under U.S. administration.

NPS D-224 November 2005