SSI Archives

The Coast Guard Station: An Enduring Island Icon

When the nation was deep in the Depression that began in 1929, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized a Federal works program to build 45 Coast Guard stations around the country. The Civil Engineer’s Office of the Coast Guard developed a Colonial Revival design for the buildings, which included wood shingle siding, a watch tower and dormer windows.

In 1933, Senator Walter F. George and Congressman Braswell Deen of Georgia obtained a $115,000 appropriation from Congress to build one of the stations on St. Simons Island. Located on East Beach and built in 1936, the station had its “first watch” on April 1, 1937, at a time when the shoreline was much closer to the Station. A companion boathouse was later located on the Frederica River near the causeway for storage and maintenance of the station’s search and rescue vessels.

The original mission for Coast Guard personnel was to rescue swimmers, assist boats in distress, and log the passing of all planes and ships. The mission changed on November 1, 1941. As the war in Europe threatened to cross the Atlantic, Roosevelt signed an Executive Order transferring the Coast Guard from the Treasury Department to the Navy Department. The Coast Guard was charged with establishing a system of beach patrols to detect enemy activity. World War II action came to coastal Georgia on April 8, 1942 when a German submarine sank two merchant ships off the coast of St. Simons. Surviving crew members were brought to the Coast Guard Station along with a small dog, a mascot for one of the ships.

In 1995, the Station was decommissioned, and ownership of the property was transferred to Glynn County. The building was restored in 2005, and the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, under license from the County, has operated a Maritime Museum there for the past ten years.

Over the next four months, Glynn County is undertaking needed repairs and painting of the Station and its garage. ADA access for both buildings will also be updated. Once the work is completed, the Society will move forward with a master plan to landscape the historic property and install new exhibits that will tell the fascinating story of our area’s home front activities during World War II.

This month’s image of the Station, a National Archives photograph from the Coastal Georgia Historical Society’s collection, is thought to date from the 1960s. In the foreground is the original garage, built in the same style as the Station. To the left is the nautical flagpole with yardarm. Of note is the large wooden platform with the number 198 to the right of the Station. During the 1930s, all stations were numbered so that they could be identified from the air. To the far right is a corner of Craft’s Court, a favorite spot for Island vacationers until it was demolished around 1985.

Since its founding in 1965, the Coastal Georgia Historical Society’s archival collection has grown to over 15,000 historically important artifacts, documents and photographs.

Our monthly images on this page are from the vast archives of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society. The Society’s mission includes the “administration, restoration and maintenance of historic facilities and resources … preserved as a living part of the historical and cultural foundations of our coastal community.” Society facilities include the St. Simons Lighthouse and Museum, the A.W. Jones Heritage Center, and the Maritime Center (formerly the U.S. Coast Guard Station). To learn more about the Society, its diverse programs, and the benefits of Society membership, please call (912) 638.4666, or visit www.saintsimonslighthouse.org.