Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Assateague Island National Seashore
Brown NJ. 2025. Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Assateague Island National Seashore. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 300161. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
The Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station is located in the southern district of Assateague Island National Seashore (NS) in Accomack County, Virginia. The park was created by Congress in 1965 to preserve the outstanding Mid- Atlantic coastal resources of Assateague Island and its adjacent waters and the natural processes upon which they depend, and to provide high quality resource-compatible recreational opportunities. The Coast Guard decommissioned the Assateague Beach Station in January 1967, and in September 1967 the National Park Service assumed custody of it as part of Assateague Island NS. Lands surrounding the property are owned and managed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service as the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. Located at the southern end of the island, at the turning point of a curve, or “hook” shape, Coast Guard Station No. 150 occupies a narrow strip of land bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and Toms Cove to the west. The most prominent historic resource remaining today is the 2-story Station House, which occupies the site’s highest point (elevation 12 feet) at the center of the property. This building, and the 1-story Garage/Boathouse and 3-story Lookout Tower to the south, date to 1922 and frame an open area, or yard, which likely served as an activity space for drills and possibly recreation. At this time life-saving operations were predominately oriented to the ocean surf to the east, but in the 1930s operations shifted to the calmer waters of Toms Cove to the west. The wooden wharf and T-dock extend around 600 feet into the cove and date to 1931-1935, while the new 2-story Boathouse, marine rail launchway, and breakwater were built in 1938-1939. These additions were in response to natural processes that had moved the ocean shoreline southwesterly and to modern adaptations in life-saving techniques that relied on larger and heavier rescue boats. Recurring storms have severely damaged parts of the wharf and railway, and only the pilings of the dock remain. None of site’s buildings are used today. A 5-foot wide wood walkway connects the Toms Cove facilities to the Station House. Narrow concrete walks wrap around the Station House and connect to a 1-story Generator House built in 1959. Interior roads wrap around the yard and Station House, and parallel the wood walkway; some road segments appear as sand and gravel but others have reverted to grass traces. A two-track sand and grass road enters the site from the southeast, off the ocean-side beach. Vegetation surrounding the Coast Guard Station is of typical beach/dune associations including dwarf shrubland, dune shrubland, and some herbaceous vegetation. Existing junipers that dot the landscape are either volunteer or planted after the date of significance. In 1962-1965 sand fences and man-made vegetated dunes were built to help protect the site from violent storms. These dunes remain today, cloaked in vegetation, and represent the project boundaries of this CLI. They lie beyond the station’s original 5.32-acre boundary, and encompass the adjacent lands that the Coast Guard, and later the Navy, at times made use of to erect various towers and conduct drills. As Assateague Island, and Toms Cove, continue to change dramatically in both shape and size, this will likely have a great impact on the Coast Guard Station property and its features.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Brown, Nancy
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- ASIS
- Keywords
- (Assateague Beach Unit) Chincoteague Coast Guard Station Norfolk District (1940-1941), Architecture, Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station, Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station 6th District (1923-1939), Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station Norfolk District (1939-1940), Assateague Beach Lifeboat Station, Assateague Beach Lifeboat Station Chincoteague Group (1941-1962), Assateague Beach Life-Saving Station 5th District (1874-1914), Assateague Beach Station U.S. Coast Guard 5th District (7/1/62—1/17/67), Coast Guard Facility, Developing the American Economy, Dormitory (Bunkhouse), Expressing Cultural Values, Maritime History, Shipping and Transportation by Water, Ships Boats Lighthouses And Other Structures, U.S. Coast Guard Station No. 150 6th District (1914-1923), Vernacular Landscape