Coast Guard Boathouse–David Yeomans

Story

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Surf boats, lifeboats, “pulling” (rowed) boats, sailboats, motorboats, the Life Saving Service and later the Coast Guard utilized various sizes, styles and types of boats to do its job.  When not in use, these boats had to be stored safely out of the weather.  The Life Saving Station had been built in 1887 with a boat room on the first floor to store the surfboat.  As the number and types of boats at the station increased, additional storage took the form of freestanding boathouses.  Several such boathouses were built or replaced over the years.  When the new Coast Guard Station was built in 1916, a boat room was not included in the station design.  Instead they relied completely on separate boathouses to protect the boats.  This boathouse was built in 1924 to do just that, provide a safe storage area for the station’s surf boats.  

When originally built, two large doors opened on one end onto ramps that allowed the boats to be moved in and out of the building on wagons.  Another wide folding door on one side allowed access to the work area behind the boats. In the work area had been built a work bench along one wall and a “tool locker” (a small storage room for tools) in the corner near the bench.  The rest of the building was open space for the boats.

The Coast Guard deemed the building surplus in the late 1950’s and sold it.  The new owner had to move it off Coast Guard property and spent a month using two telephone poles and a pickup truck to slowly move the building to its new location.  Once at its new location, the former boathouse began to be transformed into a summer residence.  The new owner sealed the boat doors, replaced the large folding side door with a conventional sized entry door, partitioned the interior into smaller rooms, added bathrooms, a kitchen and a porch.  

“The Hook-Man’s Tenure on Cape Lookout”–Eddie Dickens-Coastwatch, Spring of 1998 features a visit with Dave Yeomans

Scott Taylor photo from Coastwatch, Spring 1998

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Emily Hardy interview–works at CALO Seashore:

When Emily came to work for the park Service at around 19 years of age, one of her first duties was to clean out the camp of David Yeomans, the Boathouse.  Though given time to remove personal items prior to Park Service takeover, David had failed to do so, or do so fully.  At takeover, the structure was padlocked.  Emily was one of the staff to go through all the contents for disposal.  They sorted out items of likely personal value and crated them up and ferried them across and delivered them by truck to David Yeomans.  As they backed in, David’s face was streaming with tears—the reality that it , his era on the Banks, had really come to an end.   (Others have said that this loss brought David to his end as well)

Emily related that the process was repeated till one day relief came when there are no further leases and camps to close down.  

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Credits

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1. Photos of David Yeomans–by Scott Taylor
2. NPS filers and archives
3. Other references within text