{"nrhp_refnum":"76000164","name":"Chicamacomico Life Saving Station","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NC 12 and SR 1247","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rodanthe","county":"Dare County","state":"NC","lat":35.59517857000006,"lon":-75.46446839127577,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-12-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A complex of lifesaving station buildings at Rodanthe on Hatteras Island, Dare County, North Carolina, including an 1874 board-and-batten station and a Shingle-style main station built in 1911 by contractor Theodore S. Meekins, along with outbuildings.","why_significant":"The station was one of the first seven established in North Carolina by the U.S. Lifesaving Service and has the most complete collection of buildings of any surviving station in the state. Its crew, led by Captain John Allen Midgett, rescued 42 men from the burning British tanker Mirlo in August 1918, earning British and American medals.","narrative":"Chicamacomico Life Saving Station at Rodanthe, on North Carolina's Outer Banks, is a group of buildings that served the U.S. Lifesaving Service and later the Coast Guard. The original board-and-batten station was built in 1874, one of seven established in the state that year. In 1911 contractor Theodore S. Meekins completed a one-and-one-half story Shingle-style station with an observation tower, and the older building was later moved beside it and used as a boathouse. Kitchen, storage buildings, water tanks, a cistern and a flag tower survive, making this the most complete station complex in the state. The crew's best-known act came on August 16, 1918, when Captain John Allen Midgett and the men of surfboat 1046 pulled survivors from the sea around the torpedoed British tanker Mirlo, saving forty-two lives. Britain and the United States honored them with medals. The Coast Guard abandoned the station in 1954, and local preservation plans followed.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Theodore S. Meekins, contractor-1911","architectural_style":"Shingle style (1911 main station); board and batten (1874 station)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Abandoned by the Coast Guard in 1954 and described as falling into disrepair; the form lists it as unoccupied and in good condition, with plans to stabilize and preserve the buildings.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:58.356059-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/3/7199/47719903/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/76000164.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000164/141c7753ac-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000164/141c7753ac-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Elizabeth from burlington","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicamacomico_Life_Saving_Station_02.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Elizabeth from burlington</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicamacomico_Life_Saving_Station_02.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719903","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicamacomico_Life-Saving_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5095920"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/dare-county/chicamacomico-life-saving-station-76000164/"}