Lobster Bake for Life-Saving Station
One year ago, an extensive renovation of the Amagansett Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station’s exterior was nearing completion and attention was turning to its interior. Today, with the interior renovation almost complete, the 1902 structure’s restoration committee is “down to a little bit of detail work,” said David Lys, the chairman of the committee and president of the Amagansett Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station Society.
With that in mind, the society will host the second annual lobster bake on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the station. The event will serve as a fund-raiser for the restoration, which includes specially made doors and windows that should arrive by the end of next month. The lobster bake will also help to fund the design and installation of a museum dedicated to the United States Life-Saving Service, which merged with the Revenue Cutter Service in 1915 to form the United States Coast Guard.
Bostwick’s, Amagansett Wine and Spirits, Balsam Farms, Gosman’s Dock, the Montauk Brewing Company, Stuart’s Seafood Market, and Amber Waves Farm are among the purveyors supplying food and beverages. Stephen Marzo and Matt Pizzorno will provide live music.
Tickets for the lobster bake cost $150 for adults and $75 for children 12 and younger. They can be purchased in advance at Amagansett Wine and Spirits, on the events page at amagansettlss.org, or by sending a check made out to the Amagansett L.S. & C.G. Station Society to P.O. Box 51, Amagansett 11930. Ticket buyers have been asked to include all contact information including mailing address. The rain date is Sunday.
The society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has paid close attention to features of the original station, which was abandoned after World War II, auctioned by the Coast Guard in 1966, purchased by the late Joel Carmichael and moved to Bluff Road for use as his family’s residence, then donated to the town and returned to its original location in 2007. “We had everything, as far as the details of the building, in plans or sketches,” Mr. Lys said.
The restoration is guided by a historic structure report prepared in 2011 by Bob Hefner, a historic-preservation consultant. While it has benefited from donated materials and services, costs have nonetheless been substantial. The restoration called for antique heart pine, all of it now shining with multiple coats of varnish, to match, as closely as possible, the original longleaf yellow pine. Also acquired were $1,800 worth of rosettes and doors costing a total of $47,000. “They’re all specially milled, all antique heart pine,” Mr. Lys said of the doors. “That’s the only thing we’re waiting for to finish it off.”
New flooring, also antique heart pine, was added where needed, and crews serving sentences in Suffolk County correctional facilities installed wallboard. The renovated structure will provide an office for John Ryan, who heads the town’s ocean lifeguard staff, Mr. Lys said.
The society hopes to endow the station with a director and provide educational tours for schools and other groups. It continues to pursue antiquity acquisitions such as the original 1908 Beebe surfboat acquired last year. Built in Greenport, it is the last such boat known to exist. It was located in North Carolina and transported to the Amagansett station’s boat room, and is on loan from the National Park Service.
The station played a small but important role in World War II: In June 1942, four Nazi saboteurs landed on the ocean beach near Atlantic Avenue and were intercepted by a 21-year-old coast guardsman patrolling from the station, an event that is commemorated at the site every year. The society hopes that the building will ultimately be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.