The end of a vacation is always tough, especially one that was as fun-filled and relaxing as this one was. In true style we left as soon as we were up and ready. We stopped for coffee and breakfast sandwiches at Waveriders Coffee, Deli & Pub and turned west toward home.

At my request we made one last stop in Manteo at the North Carolina Aquarium. It wasn’t open but that didn’t matter because what I wanted to see was out front. Buried outside the front door is Richard Etheridge and members of his family. His gravesite had remained hidden since before World War II when the county had started building an airport. The US Navy took over the airport during the war and built an infirmary over the small cemetery. The building was torn down in the 1970s for the predecessor to the aquarium and and the aquarium director began to research Mr. Etheridge and erect educational signs.

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So what makes Mr. Etheridge so important? I had never heard his name before until I stumbled across a book by David Wright and David Zoby titled Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers. Keeper Etheridge and his lifesaving crew were heroes.

The US Life-Saving Service (predecessor to the Coast Guard) was formed in 1871 to ensure the safe passage of shipping. You cannot even begin to imagine the harrowing stories of “surfmen” up and down the east coast doing everything they can to save shipwrecked crews in stormy seas with awkward and dangerous equipment without reliable telephones, walkie-talkies, or automobiles.

Richard Etheridge recruited and trained a crew of African-American men to staff Station 17 on Pea Island, which was the only all-Black station in the nation. The station operated from 1880-1947 and they saved countless people. One of their most daring rescues was in 1896 when the schooner E.S. Newman beached during a hurricane. Their equipment was useless in the storm so Keeper Etheridge and his men SWAM out to the wreck, making nine trips, and saving the entire crew. The Coast Guard posthumously awarded them the Gold Life-Saving Medal in 1996.

Etheridge was born into slavery on Roanoke Island, North Carolina in 1842. The Civil War began in 1861 and in August of 1863 Etheridge enlisted in the 36th United States Colored Troop. He and his fellow Black soldiers were initially used to build camps and fortifications but then served as guards at a prisoner-of-war camp in Maryland. The 36th made its mark during the Battle of New Market Heights, Virginia in 1864.

After the war Etheridge continued to serve as a member of what became known as the Buffalo Soldiers on the Texas/Mexico border. In 1866 he left the service and returned home to the Outer Banks, married, and made his living at fishing. In 1877 he joined the Life-Saving Service and was named the keeper of the Pea Island station in 1880, the first Black man to lead a station.

Etheridge served as keeper until his death in 1900. The Pea Island station continued to be manned by Black keepers and crew members until it was decommissioned in 1947.

Today in Manteo you can visit a life-size bronze sculpture of Keeper Etheridge in the center of a small roundabout. Across the street is the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum. The cookhouse was moved from its original location on Pea Island in 2006 and renovated. The museum opened in 2008.

Do yourself a favor – read the book Fire on the Beach and learn more about the incredible life of Keeper Etheridge and his fellow “surfmen.” All of them were heroes.

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Featured image at top – Keeper Etheridge and his crew in front of their station, circa 1890