Coast Guard Station Opening
The trustees of the Amagansett Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station Society have invited the community to the grand opening and “commissioning” of the historical 1902 structure on Atlantic Avenue, on Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m.
An extensive restoration and renovation was to be completed yesterday, David Lys and Michael Cinque, the society’s president and vice president, said on Tuesday as they offered a visitor a tour of its three stories. The structure has been transformed, today a near-perfect replica of its original state.
Select artifacts and photographs will be on display, along with an original 1908 Beebe surfboat, identical to the one housed in the station long ago and the last such boat known to exist. As an active rescue boat, it was stationed at the United States Coast Guard’s New Shoreham station on Block Island. It was found in North Carolina and transported to the Amagansett station’s boat room last year, and is on loan from the National Park Service.
The renovated station will also house an office for the town’s ocean lifeguards.
Students from the Amagansett School will sing at the opening, and engraved plaques of recognition will be presented to the builders, electricians, masons, plumbers, and others who donated labor, materials, and time. Residents and visitors who supported the project through its duration will also be recognized.
“It’s been a great community effort,” Mr. Cinque said. “I’ve been on a lot of teams and this one has been great. David Lys has been a hell of a driving force, a great guy to work with.”
Representatives of the Coast Guard, including Andrew Ely, chief of response, Sector Long Island Sound, will attend, as will officials of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, which sent crews of men serving sentences at the county’s Riverhead and Yaphank correctional facilities to help with the project.
Sgt. John Whitehead, who established the county program with Sheriff Vincent F. DeMarco, will attend, Mr. Cinque said. Sergeant Whitehead retired last year. “Thank goodness for the ‘Orangemen,’ ” Mr. Cinque said of the labor crews, many of whom were skilled craftsmen who took to their task with pride and professionalism. “The hours of work they’ve done, we couldn’t have afforded that many man-hours. The fact that they offered that service, and the ability to rehabilitate men or teach them a trade, was special. They showed up to work and left at the end of the day feeling good about themselves.”
The life-saving station was abandoned after World War II. The late Joel Carmichael bought the decommissioned structure from the town in 1966, moving it to a nearby site off Bluff Road for use as his family residence. In 2007, Mr. Carmichael’s heirs donated it to the town, at which time it was returned to its original location. The reconstruction effort began in 2012.
“We’re going to open up the building, and I want to claim it as ‘twice saved,’ ” Mr. Lys said. “But primarily, we want to say thank you to everyone.”
As it has in previous years, the station will be part of the annual re-enactment of the 1942 landing of Nazi saboteurs, part of a plot to destroy infrastructure on American soil and terrorize citizens. A quick-thinking, 21-year-old Coast Guard seaman discovered the saboteurs shortly after they landed on the beach just east of the station, leading to their apprehension. The incident played a small but vital role in America’s victory in World War II.
The society is also planning a fund-raising lobster bake at the station on July 15.