USCG Station Ft. Macon
On an H2O Captain excursion, you are most likely to see and go past USCG Station Fort Macon. Captain Mark will point it out to you. A bit of history would disclose Date of Conveyance: 1903, Station Built: 1904, Fate: Discontinued in 1963 and reestablished as a Coast Guard Group office.
In 1904, the Treasury Department received permission from the War Department to build a lifesaving station on the Fort Macon Military Reservation. The Lifesaving Service, an organization later combined with the Lighthouse Service to form the Coast Guard as it is known today, started here in Atlantic Beach, NC with one main building, two small shortage sheds, and water supply facilities. When the War Department gave up this installation in 1924, by Act of Congress, the Treasury Department received 22.6 acres of land for the lifesaving station, and the remainder was given to the State of North Carolina (the area now known as the Fort Macon State Park, with Fort and beachfront area). Please know that Captain Mark is a Lifetime Member of the Friends of Fort Macon!
In 1938, many improvements were made to the station, with the construction of a larger main building with a watchtower, a boathouse with an attached marine railway, an equipment building, and other associated utilities. Of these, the boathouse (less railway) and the equipment building (Fort Macon Aids to Navigation Team Building) are still in service.
The dock area was built by the Army in 1941 after the start of World War II but was then turned over to the Coast Guard after the war in January 1946. These docks were improved in 1946/47, with the engineering building being constructed in 1948 and the actual designation of this unit as a Coast Guard Base following shortly afterward. In 1963, a concrete dock was constructed for the Cutter Chilula at the end of the Base grounds. The construction was completed in l965.
Finally, the Lifesaving Station and the Base were combined organizationally into a Station in 1963, then changed back to a Base in 1965, and finally, the formation of a Group Office was attached to the Base to coordinate other local North Carolina units. The old station house and the main building were replaced by the current 7O man barracks in 1965 and these structures were removed.
COAST GUARD BASE FORT MACON TODAY
Base Fort Macon still occupies the same area of land it started on in 1904, with many of the older buildings still finding use today. The Base serves as a host for 6 other commands which are colocated within its fence. While each has its own Commanding Officer, the Base and ANT Ft. Macon (Aids to Navigation Team) are attached to the Group Office. Its responsibilities extend from Hobucken, NC to the north, to the NC/SC border to the south.
Base and Group Fort Macon has many missions it is required to perform, from maintaining a constant ready status to aid the mariner in distress to keeping the various navigational markers in working order. With these comes the responsibility to enforce Federal Laws covering boating safety to drug interdiction. Many hours of training and work go into these areas so as to be ready when the need arises.
Some of these same missions are also shared with the various boats moored at the Base. We have a buoy tender, and some FRCs (Fast Response Cutters), plus other assets. A tour of the assets of the base may be possible. Please ask Captain Mark as he serves as the Immediate Past Flotilla Commander of the USCG Auxiliary.
Source: USCG
Photos by Captain Mark: (middle) USCG Cutter Maple taken from the Bridge; (bottom) Sonder with Lt. Commander/Executive Officer Lesniak USCG on the FRC Richard Snyder
