The Hurricane of 1938: Memories of the Storm of the Century

Thursday, September 12, 2024, 4pm

In September 1938, New England was hit by a devastating hurricane. There was no warning. No one was prepared. Cities were flooded with up to 20 feet of water, entire seaside communities were washed away, and hundreds of lives were lost. In 2013, Chris Wisniewski interviewed over 65 people who lived through the great hurricane. Their personal accounts, along with more than 60 photographs taken in the days following the storm were included in the book The Hurricane of 1938: Memories of the Storm of the Century. 

In the years since, she has continued to broaden her research into The 1938 Hurricane, which is still considered to be the most powerful hurricane to hit New England since the 1600s. The storm was made even more devastating by the tidal surge that occurred later that day. It ravaged coastal communities from southern Connecticut to Cape Cod with 17 to 25 foot tides. Reports from an aerial survey of southeastern Massachusetts taken a day after the storm described a mass of floating wreckage, with houses floating in the water at the entrance to Cape Cod Canal and along the shore of the Buzzards Bay. Hundreds of small crafts had broken their moorings and were later found beached or tossed onto streets along the shoreline.

Come hear stories of The 1938 Hurricane and learn how the storm shaped New England in ways we still can see today.

$20 Non-Members/ $10 Members, or donation based ticket. Light refreshments served.

Chris Wisniewski is an author and Personal Historian based in Wellfleet, Mass. She is the owner of a business called Saving Stories that helps individuals, families, and businesses preserve their history.

Photo: waves against seawall in Woods Hole, credit NOAA.

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