Caffey's Inlet Station was one of the original seven stations built along North Carolina's treacherous coast in 1874 when the U.S. Lifesaving Service was founded. Within a few years there were twenty-nine stations, and this was the fifth one numbering from the Virginia line. The first building was destroyed by fire and was replaced by this structure in 1899. The mission of the U.S.L.S.S. was the systematic saving of shipwrecked victims, their cargo and the ships in that order. In 1915, the Lifesaving Service was joined with the Cutter Revenue Service to form the U.S. Coast Guard. This station had been decommissioned by the 1950'. The Lifesaving Station was renovated in 1977 and opened as the Sanderling Inn Restaurant in September 1985.