(1917)
Peaked Hill Bars Life-Saving Station II (First site).
The second Peaked Hill Bars station was built in 1914, roughly on the site of Frenchie’s Shack. Within a year, the Life-Saving Service merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to form the Coast Guard. By the time the station opened, forces were rendering it obsolete: engines replaced sails, communications improved, and the Cape Cod Canal opened, diverting traffic from the Back Shore. The station itself was moved about 300 yards inland in 1930 to protect it from the fate of its predecessor. It was decommissioned in 1937 but reactivated briefly during World War II. It burned down in 1958. The concrete base is still in place, forming a poignant memorial to the surfmen.
¶ Adapted from Building Provincetown (2015). ¶ Image courtesy of the Provincetown History Preservation Project, Dowd Collection, Page 2125. (Scrapbooks of Althea Boxell, Book 8, Page 5.)