Nahant Harbor Review - Nahant, Massachusetts USA

NAHANT HARBOR REVIEW • JULY 2009 • Page 18
Summer In Nahant
A collaboration of old photographs, letters and memories of those who
lived and resorted on this seaside peninsula before us.
U.S. LIFE-SAVING STATION
Nahant, Massachusetts
“A rehabilitation project of the Nahant Preservation Trust”
YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO
NAHANT HISTORY
Immortalize Your Photos of the
Life-Saving Station
Think about those family photo albums that go back a generation,
or two, or that box in the attic with all those “pre-digital”
family photos, you’ve been meaning to get organized. Some of those
photos will show the Nahant Coast Guard Station, or Station
crewmembers doing their work, or marching in a parade. Maybe
your family even posed with them. These photos can be very helpful
to the restoration of the Life-Saving Station (that’s what it was
called before today’s Coast Guard was invented in 1915).
The Nahant Preservation Trust will be starting restoration work
on the main building at the Station, soon. And while that’s going on,
we’ll be working on designing the displays that we’ll use to show
the place off, to visitors once the construction is done. These materials
will help people understand how the Life-Saving Station came to
be, how it worked and how it looked through its history.
For example, many of us know about the surfboats and
breeches buoys, but did you know that Nahant’s Station had an
amphibious DUKW, at one point in its history, a lot like the Boston
Duckboats! Somebody out there must have a picture of a child in
their family, snapped on board that thing!!
These days, with the ease and economics of digital photos, we
can all have our cake and eat it, too.
If you have good photos, you can do the Station some good
and still keep those photos. We would like to make a digital scan of
your photos, then we’ll give ‘em right back to you.
That means your photos will be in our collection of the history
of the Life-Saving Station. Part of the material will be worked into
displays that will help visitors absorb the rich history of the Station.
If you find some photos that show the Coast Guard Station in
the frame (whether it was called Coast Guard Station, or Life-
Saving Station at the time), then please give Robert Wilson a call at
(617) 312-5491. He’ll arrange to meet with you — probably at the
Nahant Community Center on Valley Road — and make a quick
scan of your photos and give ‘em right back.
You can also check in via the internet, at http://
www.nahantpreservationtrust.org.
Of course, the Historical Society already has some valuable
materials about the Station, but we want to be sure we don’t miss
the “undiscovered gold” still hidden in Nahant’s attics.
Photos: Top: A Nahant Life-Saving Station boat crew, circa
1910-20, with Little Nahant in background. Center: An early
postcard depicting how the Station looked just following its construction.
Notice the little building to the right, the original garage,
that was removed and replaced with the current structure.
Bottom: Picture of how the station looked in the 1950s. In 1915,
the U.S. Life-Saving Service was changed to the U.S. Coast Guard.
If you have something you
would like to share, or an idea
for this page, please email the
author,
Bumper Gooding, at
h.gooding2008@gmail.com