Historic Pea Island Life Saving Station Amid Dunes at Oregon Inlet, North Carolina - Foto stock

The historic Pea Island Life Saving Station stands weathered but resolute among the windswept dunes near Oregon Inlet on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. This humble structure carries one of the most remarkable legacies in American maritime history. Established in the late 19th century, it was the only all-Black crew in the U.S. Life Saving Service—the predecessor to the modern Coast Guard—and it went on to save more lives than any other station in the network. Under the leadership of Keeper Richard Etheridge, himself born into slavery, the crew conducted daring rescues in some of the harshest coastal conditions on the Atlantic seaboard. Today, as the station faces threats from rising seas and shifting sands, it serves as a powerful reminder not only of heroism and service, but of the critical intersection of race, resilience, and coastal history. The surrounding dunes, sculpted by wind and storm, echo the elemental forces that defined both the physical and human struggles along this wild stretch of coast.