So, while I was doing the NJ Lighthouse Challenge, we had plenty of time to also go Life Saving Station or LSS hunting as well.
I was able to find quite a few but I must say that most of them were used for other reasons and not preserved in original condition. I think the ones that I had located were:
Spermaceti Cove is now being used as the Sandy Hook Visitor Center and the building looks really close to the original building. This is a Duluth-type station.
Monmouth Beach Cultural Center is the next LSS that we spotted and is located just south of Sandy Hook. I wasn't sure what its original location was. It it located on Hwy 36. This was a Duluth-type station.
We stumbled across the LSS at Harvey Cedars by accident as we were driving by. It is funny how these structures grab your eye and are so distictive compared to today's architechures. This was now used as a Fishing Club. This was a Duluth-type station.
We found the LSS that is in Atlantic City. It is a Childrens Development Center on Annapolis Ave but still has alot of the same structure to it including the tower. This was a Duluth-type station.
We found the LSS in Ocean City as this had a different style to it. It was a 1882-type station which looked more like a home than the others did. I can now see what the article I posted in a previous thread was talking about. It is up for sale and is in need of alot of work to restore it but it still looks great! This was on 4th Ave.
We found the active Coast Guard station in Townsend Inlet. I could not identify this type of station as I am not too well versed yet and it may not have been an original structure...still checking into that.
We came across one in Avalon that looked to be the station but was a residence now. It had the same Duluth-type station look with the tower so I would say that it was moved to this location down the street from the beach and is privately owned.
The last one we found in Hereford was now a State Police building and I couldn't identify it either as being original or not...did not have the distict structures I was used to seeing up to this point.
Realize that we were flying pretty blind through this whole process but had a blast exploring in-between lighthouse hunting to find these LSS's.
Also, there is a great museum at the Tucker's Island Lighthouse that has a real life car that was used at LSS stations and was neat to see up close. The museum there gave a good history of LSS's and what heroic acts that were performed.
I totally loved that LSS display as it helped me to describe to my wife what I was getting so excited about.
BB
Bob J ~ 65 Lighthouses, 2 Lightships, 25 Life Saving Stations Visited ~ "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12
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