Little Kinnakeet Life-Saving Station

Overview

About Little Kinnakeet Life-Saving Station

Why stop

Its 1904 house is the only surviving example of the Southern pattern.

Heads up

The buildings are not open for general visits.

Map

Where it is

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Full map

SightLittle Kinnakeet Life-Saving Station35.40616, -75.49107

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Plan your stop

Before you go

Access and a good look

The complex sits about three and a half miles north of Avon beside NC 12. General entry to the buildings isn’t open; the park describes viewing them from nearby soundside access by the ORV ramp. Special tours have offered limited inside access, but confirm any current offerings with the park before planning to go inside. Auto parking is listed. From public access, frame the buildings together to show the compound rather than isolating one facade; don’t cross fenced ground for a closer photo.

6 active Cape Hatteras alerts

ClosurePartial beach closures in front of Buxton VillageSections of beachfront in front of Buxton Village are temporarily closed. - The closure is due to threatened oceanfront structures and Dare County’s beach nourishment project.Official details
ClosurePartial beach closure in northern RodantheThe beach from the northern boundary of Rodanthe to the Rodanthe pier is closed to all access. - The closure is required because multiple threatened oceanfront structures pose risks to public safety.Official details

See all 6 alerts

A park ranger sits on a dash-mounted phone, talking, as Parkwolf’s Tour Guide plays “Army Cutworm Moths: A Grizzly Bear Buffet” on Grand Loop Road below Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone — Parkwolf Tour GuideThe highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.

Cape Hatteras Tour Guide

Your drive to Little Kinnakeet Life-Saving Station, narrated.

Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Cape Hatteras National Seashore. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.

Recorded for this place

Little Kinnakeet Life-Saving Station

0:00 / 0:26

“You're approaching the soundside access for Little Kinnakeet Life-Saving Station, just north of Avon.”

Plays as you drive up to Little Kinnakeet Life-Saving Station in the Parkwolf Cape Hatteras Tour Guide.

More about Little Kinnakeet Life-Saving Station

A short stop for rescue historyLittle Kinnakeet is a historic lifesaving-station complex on Hatteras Island’s soundside, just…

Little Kinnakeet is a historic lifesaving-station complex on Hatteras Island’s soundside, just north of Avon. Its three main buildings are the original 1874 station, later turned into a boathouse; an 1892 cookhouse; and the 1904 station house. Stop if you like maritime history, but think of it as an exterior landmark rather than a museum.

Read the buildings as a groupSeven Outer Banks lifesaving stations opened in 1874, and this original station is one of only…

Seven Outer Banks lifesaving stations opened in 1874, and this original station is one of only three from that year still standing in the country. It moved across NC 12 to the soundside in 1900. The 1904 station is the only surviving example of the Southern-pattern design. The cluster makes more sense together: it shows the service growing from an early boat-and-crew outpost into a larger lifesaving base.

Wildlife

Wildlife in Cape Hatteras

All Cape Hatteras wildlife maps

489 sightingsBrown PelicanMost seen around 8 AMSighting map

64 sightingsTamanend's Bottlenose DolphinMost seen around 7 AMSighting map

35 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 8 AMSighting map

225 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map

59 sightingsRiver OtterMost seen around 7 PMSighting map

112 sightingsOspreyMost seen around 8 AMSighting map

Sighting maps show where each species has been reported across Cape Hatteras. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.