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The Centennial Celebrations August 4, 2011 was huge success.  Thank to all for coming to share this special event with us!

This event to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of our 1911 Life-Saving Station will coincide with two other things: our already established “American Heroes Day,” and August 4 is also National Coast Guard Day. Visit our Heroes Day event to find a report on last year’s big event!

The Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Museum Complex, located at Milepost 39.5 on NC Highway 12 in Rodanthe will be holding its sixth annual “American Heroes Day” on Thursday, August 4, 2011 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM in the village of Rodanthe on Hatteras Island. It will also be celebrating two other related events at the same time; the centennial of their “new replacement 1911 Life-Saving Station, and National Coast Guard Day, which is always August 4.

Chicamacomico was part of the United States Life-Saving Service (USLSS) and was the first station built in North Carolina. The original station, dating from 1874, is still on the site as one of eight buildings belonging to the Chicamacomico Historical Association. The men of the United States Life-Saving Service (1871-1915) were the original rescue heroes, the “storm warriors” who made dramatic and heroic rescues of shipwreck victims whose lives were in peril from the sea. In their history, nation-wide, the USLSS’s men responded to over 178,000 lives in peril from the sea, of which they saved over 177,000! This is a startling rate of success of 99.2%, while their own loss of life, usually under the worst possible conditions, was less than one per cent! Heroes indeed. In 1915, this service merged with the US Revenue Cutter Service to form the United States Coast Guard who routinely continues this tradition of heroism.

With that inspiration, Chicamacomico decided to honor and celebrate true American heroes of the past and the present. Participants invited include the US Coast Guard, Coast Guard Auxiliary, local volunteer fire departments, local law enforcement agencies, local EMS units and Ocean Rescue squads, Cape Hatteras Electric, NPS Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks Lighthouse Society, and perhaps some last-minute surprises. Equipment on display and/or in use includes fire engines, ambulances, police cars, Coast Guard helicopter, rescue boats, and others. There will be numerous displays, demonstrations, and exhibits as well as hands-on activities and participation events and live period music. See Schedule of Events on the Station’s website for forthcoming details.

Any one of the “one-time events’ is worth the price of admission. The Search and Rescue Demo could be straight from the movie “The Guardian”. A Coast Guard 47-foot motor life boat will be in the ocean off Chicamacomico’s beach. It plays the role of a vessel in distress with a man overboard. An HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter arrives, circles, locates “victim” in the water, hovers, and then a rescue swimmer jumps from the helo into the ocean! Then he assists the victim into the basket and is hoisted into the Jayhawk and then whisked away to safety! Three different methods are demonstrated.

The jet-ski water rescue is another simulation. There are professionally trained local volunteers who can be on the scene of a water rescue in a dramatically short amount of time.

The Beach Apparatus Drill is a historic reenactment of a rescue method used by the U.S. Life-Saving Service. It involves a large two-wheeled cart filled with life saving equipment or “apparatus”, the firing a projectile with a black-powder cannon to get lines to a stricken ship (the “wreck pole” in the drill simulates the mast of a ship) and then sending out equipment to save the lives of those on board, one soul at a time.

The Beach Apparatus Drill, commonly referred to as the Breaches Buoy Reenactment, has long been Chicamacomico’s most popular program. Chicamacomico is only one of two places in the nation to do the full Drill reenactment on a regular basis! And to top it off, the Drill Teams are all volunteers of active-duty US Coast Guard personnel. It is performed every Thursday at 2pm during the summer (June, July and August).

All of these organizations are heroic to us. Some are obvious by saving lives, but others are saving history nature, or culture. All selflessly serve the public like the Life-Saving Service did. And, unfortunately also like the Life-Saving Service, do not always get the public recognition they deserve.

So, American Heroes of today, the Heroes of the Past salute you. Many thanks for carrying on such an essential and positive time-honored tradition.

This is a fund-raising event for the non-profit 501c3 Chicamacomico Historical Association so that it may continue these kinds of events and keep the history of heroes alive.

To help celebrate the 1911 Station’s Centennial, around back there will be the restorer of the building to give demonstrations and answer questions. Also there antique gas engines, antique sewing machines, a genuine original 25 foot shad boat of the time, a barber shop quartet and sea shanty troubadours will be on site.

At this stage, we have plans only for the combined event for the Centennial. We are inviting antique cars, boats, planes, motorcycles, quilters, period crafters, living-history interpreters in garb of US Life-Saving Service and US Revenue Cutter Service, period baseball re-enactors, live singing of 1911 chart toppers by local singing celebrities, exhibits of many aspects of period life in America in general at the time and another on the Outer Banks and eastern North Carolina then (fashion, food, household items, magazines, advertisements, pastimes, sports, etc.), a display on the history and development of the Station, a display of the restoration of the 1911 Station prepared by the restorer himself, and other period-related things that are still in development. We might have a special, limited edition 1911 Station model from Harbour Lights available for exclusive sale! We may have some neat surprises… It should be quite a hoot! As participants and events confirm, we will keep you posted here.

We are also expecting a significant Coast Guard presence. We are inviting the United States Coast Guard Ceremonial Honor Guard to open the event and have asked Vice Commandant of the United States Boast Guard, ADMR Brice-O’Hara to make the Keynote speech. We have also invited the Commanders of District 5, Sector North Carolina, Air Station Elizabeth City, and Lifeboat Stations Oregon Inlet and Hatteras Inlet. We are also inviting the Chief Usher of the White House (retired USCG Rear Admiral Rochon), our district’s US Senators and Representatives, our Governor, state representatives and our County Commissioners. There will also be Special Guests that have a direct connection to this station, such as descendents of the original contractor, the original builder and retired Coasties who served here. And, believe it or not, there is actually a good bit more being planned.

We will be seeking significant sponsorship money from the area businesses which will not only allow us huge publicity but also greatly increases the community involvement. We also will try to get extensive media coverage (possibly TV) during the event itself. It promises to be one of the more memorable Outer Banks events in quite a while.

If you are new to us or our area, look over our entire website to learn more about this organization. Also visit www.outerbanks.org to find out more about this area, including accommodations and other attractions. There is a LOT to do here!

Hope you can make it, this promises to be a unique experience.

James Charlet
Historic Site Manager
 

The 1st Centennial Tee Shirts for its 1911 Life-Saving Station
Adult Short Sleeve T Shirts
S, M, L, XL - ...$16.99 2X - ...$17.99
Call for yours 252-987-1552

The first Centennial tee shirts for its 1911 Life-Saving Station were purchased the first day they went on sale by Eric and Anne McClure of Putnam County, West Virginia. Eric is demonstrating the front design while Anne shows the back of the shirt. These are limited editions destined to become collectors’ items. They are 100% cotton Hanes® tagless tees with the United States Life-Saving Service logo accurately rendered along with the date of the Station.