Station Point of Woods, New York
USLSS Station # 24, Third District
Coast Guard Station #82
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Location:
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On Fire Island Beach, at Point of Woods, 4 miles east northeast of Fire Island Light;
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Date of Conveyance:
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1855
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Station Built:
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1856 (?)
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Fate:
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Discontinued in 1937.
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Remarks:
It is believed that this station was built "four miles east of Fire Island light" around 1856. Money was provided to rebuild the station in 1915. In 1937, the station appears under the listing of inactive stations and remained so.
Keepers:
Records indicate that Jonathan Smith was appointed keeper in 1856, but not when he left. He was followed by Charles W. Yarrington, who served from 1872 until 1873 (?) and George W. Rogers, who was appointed July 1, 1873 and served until he was removed on February 14, 1877. Next came Smith Rhodes (appointed February 14, 1877, and serving until dismissed on June 3, 1885), William H. Miller (August 27, 1885 until his death "from disease contracted in line of duty" on May 25, 1904), Charles W. Baker (January 24, 1904 until his retirement May 25, 1918 with thirty years of service but whose name still appears as the keeper in 1919) and George Frederick Morin (May 18, 1920 until his reassignment to the Long Beach NY station on October 24, 1921). By this time, the site is described as "on Fire Island Beach and east four and one-half miles of Fire Island Light.) No officer in charge is listed until 1925 when Earl W. Suydam (reassigned from the Rocky Point station October 15, 1925 and served until April 21 1928 when he was reassigned to the Amagansett station). He was followed by Chief Boatswains Mates J. H. Ketcham (until 1931), C. C. Hayman (until 1932), Frank D. Warner (until 1934), and M. B. Richards (until 1936).
Sources:
Station History File, CG Historian’s Office
Dennis L. Noble & Michael S. Raynes. “Register of the Stations and Keepers of the U.S. Life-Saving Service.” Unpublished manuscript, compiled circa 1977, CG Historian’s Office collection.
Ralph Shanks, Wick York & Lisa Woo Shanks. The U.S. Life-Saving Service: Heroes, Rescues and Architecture of the Early Coast Guard. Petaluma, CA: Costaño Books, 1996.
U.S. Treasury Department: Coast Guard. Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers and Cadets and Ships and Stations of the United States Coast Guard, July 1, 1941. Washington, DC: USGPO, 1941.