Oct 2026: The station posts weekend hours of 10am to 4pm and visits by appointment, with no seasonal schedule, so call 609-602-0753 before you go outside the summer.
U.S. Life Saving Station 30 At A Glance...
- This is the only surviving 1882-type life-saving station expanded to the historic New Jersey Pattern, with a lookout tower, a boat bay and a wrap-around porch added in 1905-06.
- Admission is free.
- The station has made its own documentary films about surfboat rescues, Martha Coston's signal flares and the wreck of the Sindia.
- It is one of 16 stops on the Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey, a two-day weekend each October.
- Todays Sunrise: , Sunset:
- New Jersey Southern Shore Region Cape May County
About U.S. Life Saving Station 30
U.S. Life Saving Station 30 is a restored 1886 life-saving station at Fourth Street and Atlantic Avenue in Ocean City, now a museum about the surfmen who rescued people from shipwrecks along the Jersey shore. It is a wooden Carpenter Gothic building with a gabled roof and a lookout tower, designed by James Lake Parkinson.
The station's gallery of artifacts includes a postcard of the wreck of the Sindia, an advertisement for Coston signal flares, a painting of the Pea Island, North Carolina crew and a uniform pin from the U.S. Life Saving Service. The station has also made documentary films about the surfboat, the different kinds of rescues, Martha Coston's signal flares and the Sindia.
The building is also known as U.S. Coast Guard Station No. 126. Admission is free, and the station is one of the stops on the annual Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey.
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Amenities:
- Restrooms/Bathrooms
- Parking - Street Parking Available
Attractions:- Museum / Gallery
Contact / Location
A Brief History
Construction began in September 1885 and the station was finished in 1886. It is a New Jersey Pattern station built in the Carpenter Gothic style, and the boat bay and wrap-around porch were added in 1905-06. Crews of surfmen based here responded to shipwrecks and people in trouble along this stretch of shore.
The Coast Guard took over the life-saving stations in 1915, and this one became Coast Guard Station No. 126. It closed in December 1936, was reopened during World War II, and was sold off after the war. It then served as a private home for decades.
A developer bought the building in 1998 and planned to demolish it. Local preservationists fought the plan, and a court stay in 2008 held up the demolition. The City of Ocean City bought the station in 2010, and a nonprofit, U.S. Life Saving Station 30, took on the work of restoring it and opening it as a museum.
The station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. After a restoration, it reopened to the public on December 31, 2017, and it opened as a museum on Memorial Day 2018.
Special / Seasonal Events
The station is a stop on the Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey, held the third weekend of October each year. The 2026 Challenge is October 17 and 18. A $10 registration fee lets you collect a souvenir from each site. The route runs along the Atlantic coast from Sandy Hook to Cape May and along the Delaware Bay and River from Cape May to Paulsboro. Details are at lighthousechallengenj.com.
Hours / Season of Operation
The station is open Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm. It also opens by appointment: call 609-602-0753.
Directions
The station sits at the corner of Fourth Street and Atlantic Avenue in Ocean City, a short walk from the beach and boardwalk.
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Nearby Places
The Ocean City boardwalk is close by, and Gillian's Wonderland Pier is about a third of a mile away. Corson's Inlet State Park is about 6 miles south.
If you are working your way through the Lighthouse Challenge, the Tatham Life Saving Station and Museum in Stone Harbor is another life-saving station on the route, and the Cape May Lighthouse is a climb at the end of the Cape May County stretch.
Here are 10 places near U.S. Life Saving Station 30
- U.S. Life Saving Station 30 (~0 miles)
- Gillian's Wonderland Pier (~0 miles)
- Scarborough Inn Bed & Breakfast (~0 miles)
- Playland's Castaway Cove (~1 miles)
- John F. Kennedy Park (~3 miles)
- Lawrence Bud Kern Field (~3 miles)
- Lucy the Elephant (~4 miles)
- Linwood Arboretum (~4 miles)
- The Ocean City Dog Park (~4 miles)
- All Wars Memorial Park (~4 miles)
- Pleasantville to Somers Point Bike Path (~5 miles)
- Whirlpool Island County Park (~6 miles)
Ocean City, New Jersey 08226