Peaked Hill Bars Coast Guard Station | Formerly Peaked Hill Bars Life-Saving Station II (Second site)
The second Peaked Hill Bars Life-Saving Station in 1917. [Scrapbooks of Althea Boxell 8:5 / Dowd Collection / Provincetown History Preservation Project Page 2125]
Text last updated in 2015 | 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 — if much tagged — memorial to the surfmen.
(Throughout Provincetown literature, you’ll find the name variously rendered: “Peaked Hill Bars,” “Peaked Hill Bar,” or simply “Peaked Hill.” In using the first version, I’m following The Life Savers of Cape Cod, J. W. Dalton’s definitive survey of 1902. As for pronunciation, I’ve heard most folks around here say “PEE-kid.”)
¶ Republished on 3 December 2023.