Preserving Maritime History: Nahant’s Unique Life-Saving Station
By Dennis Maroney
Nahant, located on Boston’s shore, is the smallest community in Massachusetts, yet one with a deep history. Surrounded on all sides by the ocean, Nahant was a popular summer home to many of Boston’s elite families. Nahant also has a rich fishing and military service history amongst its year-round citizens.
One of these elite residents, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, was among the witnesses as eight crew members were lost in the wreck of the three-masted schooner Charles Brigg off Nahant’s coast in 1898. With no way to rescue these poor souls, Lodge and other Nahant residents were forced to watch helplessly from the shore.
For historical context, this horrific event was just sixteen days before the battleship USS Maine blew up in Havana Harbor, an event that started the Spanish-American War.
As the nation prepared for war, Lodge saw an urgent need to improve coastal rescue capabilities. In two separate actions, he arranged for Nahant’s Town Meeting to approve the transfer of coastal property to the federal government. Then he quickly passed funding through Congress to build a Life-Saving Station on Nahant’s Short Beach. That he was a life- long homeowner in Nahant, as well as President Teddy Roosevelt’s closest friend, no doubt helped with the speed in which he made both these actions happen.
The new Station faced a unique need to launch rescue missions in two directions: the open Atlantic via Nahant Bay or accessing Boston Harbor via Nahant Bay or accessing Boston Harbor via Broad Sound. The novel solution created the only Life-Saving Station ever built of “double-edged” architecture; that is, set up able to launch surfboats either directly into the Atlantic or across what is today Nahant Road to the waters of Broad Sound. The Nahant Life- Saving Station opened in 1899.
The Station served in the finest traditions of sea rescue for some three generations, even as the Life-Saving Service became part of the Coast Guard in 1915. The Coast Guard began to consolidate stations with the advent of more capable rescue boats, which resulted in the eventual closure of Nahant’s Station as an active duty facility in 1964.
But the station then gained a new life for another generation, as a Coast Guard seasonally used recreational facility for military families. However, during this time, investment in maintenance and upkeep began to slip until the Station ended up in a complete state of disrepair, accelerated by direct exposure to the harsh seashore environment.
In 1999, after many years of ongoing neglect, four station-saving events occurred. First, another senatorial legend, Ted Kennedy, intervened to deed the property back to Nahant. Then, a group of citizen volunteers, the Nahant Preservation Trust, (NPT) stepped forward to save the station via raising funds for its restoration. The NPT had already preserved historic and other open spaces in Nahant and was ready to take on this new task.
After that, the Town of Nahant came together and contributed Community Preservation funds to this effort that the NPT matched through its private fund-raising. The final step was for the local American Legion Post Mortimer Robbins to merge funds from the sale of their former building into the Station Restoration initiative in return for using the Station as their new home.
It all came together on May 1, 2012, when the Station was rededicated, marking the start of its new life-preserving a history of sea rescue while also honoring our veterans. All these efforts led to the Nahant Station being placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
The NPT is proud, with the Town of Nahant’s strong support, to continue to drive management, fundraising, event and rental income to preserve and maintain our nation’s and Nahant’s maritime legacy.