By James D. “Keeper James” Charlet © 2024

The station

As millions of travelers land on the famous Hatteras Island via the impressive new Marc Basnight Bridge (still called the Oregon Inlet Bridge by locals), the visitor sees a beautiful but mysteriously abandoned building. It is, and was, the Oregon Inlet United States Life-Saving Service Station No. 16, built in 1898. It is in serious trouble. It needs to be rescued, cared for and brought to safety – just as it has cared for others throughout its life. To add to the confusion, it is very often confused with and incorrectly identified as Pea Island Station.

I have already proposed a number of functions for this building that would benefit millions of visitors and locals alike. Each of these functions would form a space in the new floor plan: a visitor center, a gift shop, a museum honoring all 29 North Carolina U.S. Life Saving Service stations, a large meeting and event space, and a webcam in the tower.

Now something completely different!

Let’s set up a NOAA Weather Forecast Office! Why? There are a number of good reasons for this:

• The operational and active U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Oregon Inlet Motor Lifeboat (MLB) station is located directly across the bay. Up-to-date weather information is critical to their success. Here’s a fun fact: The USCG has only 19 “surf stations” in the country, which require special boats and specially trained coxswains due to the regularly high surf. Only five of these are on the east coast. Two of these are on each end of Hatteras Island – the Oregon Inlet MLB station is the one on the north end! (Hatteras Inlet is the other one.)
• One of North Carolina’s largest fishing ports, the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, is also located directly across the bay. It houses nearly 50 charter fishing boats that leave the bay thousands of times a year and head to Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Again, up-to-date weather information is critical to their lucrative business.
• “Weather” was the leading cause of shipwrecks in the days of the rescue service, and it still plays a major role in USCG operations today.
• Hatteras Island locals can attest that the weather just off Oregon Inlet changes frequently, sometimes drastically. It’s a phenomenon to be recognized;
• Finally, this provides an excellent opportunity for NOAA and local weather forecasters to inform the millions of annual visitors to Hatteras.
• Parties involved: Our non-profit organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the WAVY-10 Weather Center (closest weather forecast transmitters)

How serious is the problem? It has been abandoned for 30 years and has suffered neglect, decay and even vandalism – but worst of all, some want to dismantle it and take it away from its birthplace 126 years ago and send it to Manteo, not even the Outer Banks.

I recently founded a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that I called the Outer Banks Coast Guard History Preservation Group. ^TM The broad name is intended to match its broad mission: starting with the 1898 rescue of U.S. Life-Saving Service Station No. 16 in Oregon Inlet. Then moving on to rescue, restore, support and promote all other Coast Guard-affiliated OBX organizations. There’s a lot of heroic Hatteras history here!

Help us accomplish this noble and historic mission. Visit our Facebook page (website coming soon), subscribe to our mailing list and/or donate to [email protected].