{"nrhp_refnum":"81000110","name":"Point Allerton Lifesaving Station","other_names":["Old Point Allerton Coast Guard Station"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Nantasket Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hull","county":"Plymouth County","state":"MA","lat":42.30577165500006,"lon":-70.89966961799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1981-06-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Maritime History","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1 1/2 story Queen Anne style lifesaving station built in 1889 on Stony Beach at Nantasket Avenue and Spring Street in Hull, Massachusetts, at the entrance to Boston Harbor. It was built under the U.S. Corps of Engineers and is owned by the Town of Hull.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the station is significant for its role in Massachusetts maritime history and for its association with Captain Joshua James, its first keeper and the most decorated life saver in U.S. history. It is also described as a link between early and modern U.S. lifesaving and as one of the oldest surviving lifesaving stations in the state.","narrative":"Point Allerton Lifesaving Station is a clapboard-sided, 1 1/2 story Queen Anne building erected in 1889 on Stony Beach in Hull, Massachusetts, at the entrance to Boston Harbor. Built by the U.S. Corps of Engineers, it replaced a small station set up earlier by the Massachusetts Humane Society. Later additions include a two-story rear ell for the station chief, porches, and a small office. The station is tied to Captain Joshua James, its first keeper, who received a special waiver of the age requirement at 62. Between 1890 and 1902, he and his crews rescued people from eighty-six shipwrecks; of 556 people aboard, 16 died. The station remained among the busiest on the East Coast until a new Coast Guard station replaced it in the late 1960s. Of 32 lifesaving stations once in Massachusetts, only eleven remain, and only two are older than this one. The building is now vacant, with boarded windows.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 (specific date 1889)","architect_builder":"U.S. Corps of Engineers","architectural_style":"Queen Anne","criteria":["A","B"],"status_note":"Listed as unoccupied and vacant; no longer in use as a station, with windows boarded up and condition rated fair.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.340941-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/64/7966/63796664/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/81000110.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796664","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Allerton_Lifesaving_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7207935"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/plymouth-county/point-allerton-lifesaving-station-81000110/"}