Middlesex COUNTY · Storms & changing landscapes
The Middlesex shore and the hurricane of 1938
Wind, coastal inundation and the storm’s imprint on the lower Connecticut River shore.
Historical focus · 1938
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The story in photographs
Browse the source links below for photographs held by other archives.
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPHS
People, places, and change.
September 21, 1938
The hurricane crossed Long Island and southern New England on September 21, 1938. The National Weather Service describes a rapidly moving Category 3 storm. Its destructive reach extended across the region, so a photograph from another Connecticut town should not automatically be treated as evidence of conditions on the Middlesex shore. [2]
A coast exposed to wind and water
The contemporary Monthly Weather Review records the combination of high water and hurricane winds along Connecticut’s coast, with damaged buildings and vessels driven ashore. Old Saybrook, Westbrook and Clinton belong to that shoreline setting. Local photographs need their original town and caption preserved to show where particular damage occurred. [1]
A documented place: Saybrook Breakwater
At Saybrook Breakwater Light, the storm swept away a bridge, platform, rowboat and kerosene tank, yet the keeper maintained the light. This documented station anchors the regional disaster in a particular Middlesex place. Source links preserve access to the accounts; photographs with unresolved reuse rights remain unrepublished. [3]
Keep the sources close.
Download this collection’s notes, timeline and image credits. Photographs link to their original archives and require an internet connection.
Building dates and photograph dates are recorded separately. Later photographs are identified in their captions; unknown exposure dates remain unknown. Follow each image’s credit and reuse terms.