{"id":19709,"date":"2024-01-10T11:51:37","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T16:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=18936"},"modified":"2024-08-07T11:55:18","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T15:55:18","slug":"treasures-of-chicamacomico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/treasures-of-chicamacomico\/","title":{"rendered":"Treasures of Chicamacomico"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
The first of its kind in operation on the Outer Banks, the Chicamacomico lifesaving station is renowned for daring rescues of shipwrecked crews off Cape Hatteras. For our Winter 2000 issue, North Carolina Sea Grant\u2019s Katie Mosher chronicled one step in the decades of stewardship and restoration for the station, while also highlighting its history as a coastal treasure. We republish her article here, both to commemorate the station\u2019s 150th anniversary<\/a><\/span> this year and to celebrate the author\u2019s outstanding full-time service on behalf of Sea Grant, which comes to a close \u2014 after more than 25 years \u2014 with this issue of Coastwatch<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n PHOTOS BY MICHAEL HALMINSKI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mention shipwrecks and treasures along the North Carolina coast, and most folks think of gold coins or ships’ cannons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But near Rodanthe, one treasure has more to do with the lives saved in shipwrecks off Cape Hatteras than with the bounty lost to the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Built in 1874, a simple yet elegant wooden building has been considered a storage barn for most of this century. It sits in the shadows of a larger lifesaving station that operated from 1911 until 1954.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The larger building has drawn thousands of tourists since it opened as a museum in 1982. But as renovations continued on the site, preservationists realized the former boat shed was, in fact, the hidden treasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This is going to be the centerpiece,” says Michael Halminski, former president of the Chicamacomico Historical Association, as he walks through the building that stands 43 feet long, 19 feet wide, with a two-story boat area, living space and a third story for storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It was the first of seven lifesaving stations put on the Outer Banks,” he says of the complex of buildings that carries the Native American name for the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ken Wenberg has led the most recent restoration. \u201cBut I get a lot of advice \u2014 for free,\u201d he adds with a chuckle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A skilled craftsman, Wenberg seeks to stay true to the original construction style, using wooden pegs rather than metal nails in the building\u2019s frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the site\u2019s treasures are not limited to the building. Wenberg also is keen to preserve the stories of the architect and the lifesaving crews \u2014 including ancestors of his wife, Jackie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This research takes Wenberg well beyond his woodwright skills. To find the original records of the Outer Banks stations, he shows the tenacity of a gumshoe detective and the enthusiasm of a revival preacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While he often works alone inside the building, Wenberg uses faxes, the Internet, and e-mail to enlist the aid of dozens of professional and amateur historians and archivists to track the records. Working from homes and offices, they spend countless hours scouring libraries and archives to solve the mysteries of the missing maritime records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their combined success goes beyond the history of this single Outer Banks landmark. They are providing missing pieces in the legacy of the U.S. Lifesaving Service and other federal agencies in the 1800s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Go back in the National Archives or the Library of Congress, you will find virtually nothing,” Wenberg says. “You can find lots of things after 1915.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before the U.S. Coast Guard, there was the U.S. Lifesaving Service. Wenberg’s research goes back even further to the Revenue Cutter Service and local humane societies that rescued the crews of ships lost along the dangerous shoals near the Outer Banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the late 1840s, the federal government agreed to form a lifesaving service, “but it never got off the ground,” Wenberg explains. For the first two decades, the service’s activities were focused in New York, New Jersey, and the Great Lakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\nEARLY LIFESAVERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n