Old Harbor Station

Old Harbor Station Review

Not far from the present Coast Guard station is the Old Harbor Station, a U.S. Life Saving Service building rescued from an eroding beach and towed here by barge from Chatham in 1977. It's reached by a boardwalk across the sand, and plaques along the way tell about the lifesaving service and the whales seen offshore. Inside are displays of such equipment as Lyle guns, which shot rescue lines out to ships in distress when seas were too violent to launch a surfboat, and breeches buoys, in which passengers were hauled across those lines to safety. There are reenactments of this old-fashioned lifesaving procedure at 6:30 on Thursday night in summer.