In 1872, Congress created the Life Saving Service to aid and rescue survivors of ships that were wrecked or ran aground in rugged waters. While lighthouses were intended to warn mariners approaching danger, the Life Saving Station was charged with assisting ships that did not make it to safety.

One of the most treacherous is the Delaware coastline, with its dangerous shoals. The Indian River Lifesaving Station was one of the first four sites along the Atlantic coast. Before these stations were established, rescue efforts were left to farmers and local citizens in coastal areas. When Indian River came into service in 1876, the station was manned by a keeper and six surfmen from September through May – considered the height of the shipwreck season. Watchers in the cupola kept vigil by day; patrols along the beach at night were alert for ships in distress.

Indian River was important to vessels entering the inlet from the Atlantic or transporting goods bound for foreign ports. Its shallows posed added dangers for ships entering or leaving the rugged inlet. Surfmen were civilians from coastal communities who knew the region well and were familiar with the most dangerous spots for ships. It is estimated that US Lifesaving Service surfmen saved some 177,000 lives over a 44-year period from 1871 through 1915, when the USLSS and the Revenue Cutter Service merged to form the US Coast Guard.

The stormy weather was very hard on the one-and-a-half story board and batten frame structure. The original building was located beyond the dunes on the beach. Over the years, the station was altered and moved due to erosion. One particularly violent storm deposited several feet of sand throughout the building’s first floor. The Indian River Lifesaving Station held firm to its foundation, despite widespread destruction along the coast.

The Coast Guard continued to utilize the station until 1962, when it was abandoned. New technology made the walking surfmen obsolete, but their heroics are chronicled in the museum that now occupies the original Indian River Lifesaving Station. Thanks to a group of concerned citizens, the National Historic Site was rescued from oblivion. The Delaware Seashore Preservation Foundation completely restored the station and opened it to the public as an educational museum in 1998.

The Indian River Lifesaving Station stands as a vivid reminder of a long-ago era when sacrifice and bravery helped forge the maritime and cultural heritage of the Delaware coastal region and the entire Atlantic seaboard.