Indian River Life-Saving Station

Restored 1876 United States Life Saving Service Station, Run As A Museum By Delaware State Parks Inside Delaware Seashore State Park · Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

The Indian River Life-Saving Station is a restored rescue station of 1876 on Route 1, inside Delaware Seashore State Park and a couple of miles north of the Indian River Inlet. It was built for the United States Life-Saving Service, the federal crews of surfmen who watched this coast and rowed out to wrecked ships before the service was merged into the new Coast Guard in 1915. The shingled, steep-roofed station has been returned to its early twentieth-century look, and Delaware State Parks runs it as a small museum. Downstairs the boat room holds a wooden surfboat and the beach apparatus cart with its Lyle gun, faking box and breeches buoy, the gear used to shoot a line out to a stranded ship and haul people ashore one at a time. The keeper's office and the crew's rooms show how a handful of men lived, drilled and walked night patrols on the beach. It is self-guided and open all year on a shifting seasonal week, and in summer there have been demonstrations of the rescue gear - confirm. It is small; an hour covers it.

25039 Coastal Highway, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, 19971, United States

The station is open all year, self-guided, but the week changes four times. April and May: Monday to Saturday from about 9 AM to 4 PM and Sunday about 9 AM to 3 PM. June to September: Monday to Saturday from about 8 AM to 4 PM and Sunday about 8 AM to 3 PM. October: Tuesday to Saturday about 8 AM to 4 PM, CLOSED Sunday and Monday. November to March: Tuesday to Friday about 9 AM to 4 PM and Saturday about 9 AM to 3 PM, CLOSED Sunday and Monday. A small admission is charged (confirm). The building closes on major holidays and can close for weather, which on this exposed strip means nor'easters and hurricane warnings as well as snow. Delaware Seashore State Park charges a per-vehicle entry fee in season, roughly March to November and higher for out-of-state plates, at its main lots; whether the station's own small lot is exempt should be confirmed. Summer demonstrations of the beach apparatus run on a set schedule, not daily - confirm the days before you plan around one.

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