The chief structure is the Main Station, a neo-colonial building with a central cupola or watchtower.

It is surrounded by a galley, or messhall, equipment buildings, cisterns and similar support structures.

The Cape Lookout station was chiefly responsible for providing rescue services in the Cape Lookout Shoals, which extend ten miles into the Atlantic Ocean and represent a significant hazard to coastwise shipping.

[3] The Station's two original buildings now regularly house students from North Carolina Universities assisting in dolphin and sea turtle research.

This article about a property in Carteret County, North Carolina on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.