Historic Coast Guard Station Still Survives in Sea Isle

By Donald Wittkowski Vintage postcards and faded black-and-white photos on display at the Sea Isle City Historical Museum show an old building that looks vaguely familiar these days. A closer inspection of the photos confirms that yes, indeed, the historic structure pictured so many years ago is the same U.S. Coast Guard station that overlooks Landis Avenue between 81st and 82nd streets in Sea Isle’s Townsends Inlet section. All of the hurricanes and floods that ravaged Sea Isle in the past 130 years or so couldn’t bring it down. Perhaps even more remarkable, the quaint house-like building survived Sea Isle’s construction booms that resulted in so many old structures being demolished to make way for upscale vacation homes. “It’s quite possibly the first building in Townsends Inlet,” Bob Thibault, a volunteer at the Historical Museum, said of the Coast Guard station. “It is one of the few surviving buildings from the 1880s.” It is so old that not even the records kept at the Historical Museum give an accurate date when the station was built. One binder filled with historical documents, old photos and a 1906 postcard of the station indicates it was constructed in 1872. Yet the date 1872 is followed by a question mark in the museum’s records. However, the Coast Guard’s historical records say the station dates to 1886. The existing building followed another Coast Guard station that was built in Sea Isle in 1849 – the same time as the famed California Gold Rush. A vintage photo shows what the station looked like in the early days. (Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard) In 1906, the location of the Coast Guard station temporarily thwarted the construction of two new streets in Townsends Inlet because the building did not fit squarely in the block of land. The block, though, was later changed to allow the station and the new streets to co-exist. “After some creative political problem-solving, the block was redefined and the station and the thoroughfares lived in harmony,” according to the book, “Images of America: New Jersey Coast Guard Stations and Rumrunners.” To this day, the station remains the only building that occupies the entire block bordered by Landis and Pleasure avenues between 81st and 82nd streets. The expansive property is surrounded by a white fence and also includes a grass lawn, basketball court, gazebo and parking lot. The value of the land would be extraordinary if it were privately owned, especially in a beach town where so many homes are crowded together on prime property. The Coast Guard owns the property. The U.S. Coast Guard logo is painted on a small utility building on the property. Currently, the old building serves as a recreational facility rented out at discounted rates to Coast Guard families and former and active members of the military. Coast Guard families get an extra discount from the already discounted prices. “Pretty much it’s a vacation rental property with reduced rates as a way of thanking members for their service and providing them and their families with a place to relax without a huge financial burden,” said Lt. j.g. Nate Giorgio, a Coast Guard spokesman. There are other similar historic Coast Guard facilities throughout the country that are used for the same purpose. Cuttyhunk Island Recreational Lodging in Massachusetts is a similar facility, Giorgio noted. Giorgio said the building is always completely booked during the summer months. Activity slows down during the winter. The money from renting it out goes directly back into the building for repairs and maintenance. The two-story building resembles a stately seashore home. It has gone through renovations through the years, as would be expected for a historic structure. The exterior of the present-day house is reminiscent of the original building, but is nowhere near identical. Now, the building is painted completely white. In the old photos, it appears to have been covered with a darker, cedar shake siding. Abby Powell, left, president of the Sea Isle City Historical Museum, and museum volunteer Alexis Keefer display a 1906 postcard of the Coast Guard station. The Coast Guard has decommissioned the station from active use, but still practices lifesaving and rescue drills each year at Sea Isle’s beaches a block away from the building, Giorgio said. “For example, we swim out to a raft through the waves a good distance from the beach and some of us even get hoisted by the helicopter to see what it’s like from the other side,” he said. Giorgio said he highly doubts the Coast Guard would ever reactivate the station for coastal storms or other emergencies. It wasn’t used during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, he pointed out. But, he added, “You never know.” “That’s why we are always ready for the call,” he said of the Coast Guard. And that’s why the old Coast Guard station was built in the first place, 132 years ago. An old photo shows some of the crew members who served at the station decades ago. (Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard)