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The word "Due" read from top-down and "South" left-right, with the U shared between them. Reminiscent of a compass.
Due South

The man on a mission to preserve NC's 1800s-era Life-Saving Service stations

By Leoneda Inge,
Cole del Charco
Published August 7, 2024 at 10:00 AM EDT
Buildings at the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station complex in Rodanthe, a community on Hatteras Island. Commissioned in 1871, this station was a flagship of the National Life Saving Service, whose crews made several heroic rescues off the rocky North Carolina coast. The original complex has been transformed into a museum and gift shop, outlining some of the Chicamacomico crew's most daring rescues.
Carol M. Highsmith
/
Library of Congress
Buildings at the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station complex in Rodanthe, a community on Hatteras Island. Commissioned in 1871, this station was a flagship of the National Life Saving Service, whose crews made several heroic rescues off the rocky North Carolina coast. The original complex has been transformed into a museum and gift shop, outlining some of the Chicamacomico crew's most daring rescues.
James Charlet (Keeper James) donning his replica U.S. Life-Saving Service uniform.
James Charlet
/
The Outer Banks Coast Guard History Preservation Group
James Charlet (Keeper James) donning his replica U.S. Life-Saving Service uniform.

Before there was a US Coast Guard, there were US Life-Saving Stations dotting the Outer Banks and the Atlantic coast.

They looked like small backyard sheds but were better made and were more ornate. Inside these stations you would see life preservers made of cork and all kinds of equipment that's obsolete today.

It's part of North Carolina's history and Leoneda Inge meets a man who has spent decades trying to preserve this history.

Guest

James Charlet, also known as ‘Keeper James’, is founder of the nonprofit ‘The Outer Banks Coast Guard History Preservation Group.’

Note: Learn more about Charlet's nonprofit on Facebook, or email at LifeSavingServiceOBX@gmail.com

Due South
Leoneda Inge
Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.
See stories by Leoneda Inge
Cole del Charco
Cole del Charco is an audio producer and writer based in Durham. He's made stories for public radio's All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Marketplace. Before joining Due South, he spent time as a freelance journalist, an education and daily news reporter for WUNC, and a podcast producer for WFAE in Charlotte.
See stories by Cole del Charco