Volume 39

THE
HARBINGER
Newsletter of the Westport Historical Society, Inc.
P. O. Box N 188
www.westporthistory.com
VOLUME 39
Inside This Issue
Westport, MA 02790-1203
[email protected]
SUMMER 2008
NUMBER 2
Letter from the Director For those of you who wish to take a little time out from the 21st century, we
can offer you a variety of ways to step back in time this summer. Our summer
exhibition “Winds of Change - Westport’s Hurricanes Revisited” will
transport you back over 300 years to the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 or
the great gale of 1815. We have sought out unpublished accounts of hurricane
experiences and in this issue of the Harbinger we provide a preview of some
of the dramatic firsthand accounts written by Westporters of the 1938
hurricane.
A new book! Images of
America: Westport P2.
A Perilous Life – Now on-line
P2.
Upcoming Events P3.
Alternatively you can venture back to Westport’s whaling days by visiting “A
Perilous Life” (www.westporthistory/whaling), a new feature to our website
that presents documents, letters, images relating to Westport’s whaling
activities. Here you can satisfy your curiosity about everything from
cannibalism to learning where whaling masters’ homes are located. Much
more than simply a history of whaling activities, this web exhibition provides
a fascinating glimpse into the lives of 19th century Westporters. This website
will continue to develop as we find more information.
In Memoriam: Sharon Wypych
P3.
The Man from Anibon and
Two Mysteries P4.
New Acquisitions P5.
“An Early History of the
Westport Fire Department” P6.
Rhonda McClure takes on the
internet! P8.
“Winds of Change –
Westport’s Hurricanes
Revisited” Exhibition preview.
P. 10
Or alternatively you can take a visual journey back to Westport at the turn of
the 20th century. Our new book “Images of America: Westport”, published by
Arcadia Press, will be available in August, presenting a fascinating array of
historical images documenting the diverse communities of Westport from the
summer cottages that once lined the beaches to the mill village of Westport
Factory.
Which ever route you take into history this summer, I wish you an enjoyable
trip!
Jenny
We are grateful to the Grimshaw-Gudewicz Foundation for a grant that makes it possible for us to publish The
Harbinger.
The Westport Historical Society
Welcome to our New Members!
BOARD MEMBERS
The following new members have joined the Society since the
last Harbinger issue was published:
PRESIDENT: Tony Connors
VICE-PRESIDENT: Jon W. Alden
SECRETARY: Vacant
TREASURER: Roger P. Griswold
Millard Davis
Jim Mevay
Nancy Sutton
DIRECTOR: Jenny O’Neill
A new book! Images of America: Westport
MEMBERS AT LARGE
Carol Coutinho
Sally Sapienza
Dr. William F. Wyatt
Father Leonard Hindsley
Marion Phelen
Jack Umbel
Dale Lavoie
Erik Ronnberg
Jean Warner
Available August 2008! Members of the Westport Historical Society have
carefully crafted this pictorial history, selecting images from the society’s
archives as well as from the collections of local residents who have
generously offered their memories of Westport’s past.
COMMITTEE CHAIRS
BUILDING: Timothy H. Gillespie
MEMBERSHIP: Vacant
COLLECTIONS: Barbara Moss
ORAL HISTORY: Betty Slade
PROGRAMS: James S. Panos
HARBINGER: Jon W. Alden
The Harbinger is published by the
Westport Historical Society, a nonprofit organization working to protect
and preserve Westport’s history and
heritage.
Email us at: [email protected]
Westport Historical
Society
at the Bell School
25 Drift Road
P.O. Box N188
Westport, MA 02790
Hours:
Mondays 9-3 Wednesday 9-3
(508) 636-6011
www.westporthistory.com
Book launch Saturday August 2nd 10 a.m. - 12 noon at Partners Village
Store.
A Perilous Life: Westport Whaling Online! www.westporthistory.com/whaling
A new resource on the history of Westport whaling is now online! The Westport Historical Society has
developed an exciting new online resource featuring images, stories, letters, first hand accounts of Westporters
involved in whaling activities. Read newspaper accounts of cannibalism, letters written to and from Westporters
at sea, learn about ship building activities at the Head of Westport and at the Point, view images of whaling
masters and whaling ships. Our thanks to Greg Stone for developing this website!
Supported by the Westport Cultural Council through a grant from the Helen E. Ellis Charitable Trust
administered by Bank of America.
Page 2
Upcoming Events
Lecture: Hurricanes of 1938 and 1944
Thursday July 10, 7:30 p.m. with Charles Orloff and
Edward Minsinger
Winds of Change - Westport’s Hurricanes Revisited
• An Exhibition •
July 12 – August 31, 2008 at the Bell School, 25 Drift Road
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
A History of St. John the Baptist Church with Father
Leonard Hindsley
July 17, 7:30 p.m. at St John the Baptist
Westporter Perry Davis and his Painkiller with Tony
Connors
August 21, 7:30 p.m. at Lees Market Community Room
Photo of a young Kate Cory circa 1850 (left)
presented by Robert Kugler at a March 20th WHS
meeting “Kate Cory and the Whaleship”.
In Memoriam
Sharon Wypych
June 19, 1963--May 4, 2008
On Sunday afternoon May 4, 2008 this society lost one of its most diligent and
enthusiastic officers. Sharon Wypych was taken from us, the victim of an
aggressive and pervasive cancer. She was the Westport Historical Society’s
Secretary and prior to holding this office, was the society’s administrative
assistant for several years.
Sharon answered our call for assistance at a time when the society had no one to
perform the clerical duties and record keeping so necessary to a historical society.
She quickly put the office in order, often working overtime on a volunteer basis
and taking work home. She graciously took on any project that needed to be
done. She loved Westport and its history. She delved into the genealogy of many
of its families. The history of Westport’s school system was a research project
dear to her heart. Her knowledge of the town’s church history, especially of the
Quaker meetings, was encyclopedic.
At the schoolhouse Sharon welcomed visitors enthusiastically where she was unfailingly cheerful and courteous to
all.
In addition to her work with the historical society, Sharon’s accomplishments included earning a degree in
psychology from the University of Massachusetts, working at various part-time jobs in the school system, for the
Council on Aging, and at the Bayside Restaurant ---all while dealing with some serious physical challenges. Her
love of animals was well known. She enjoyed watching piglets graze in a pasture near her home. She adopted a
deaf white cat named Lily. From an early age Sharon wrote poetry and also found time to develop her musical
gifts. She was the organist at the Allen’s Neck Friend’s Meeting.
The society also benefited from her musical talents. Her singing and the piano playing brightened the Christmas
festivities at the Bell Schoolhouse.
As the society’s Secretary, her minutes were detailed, giving the society a fine record of its proceedings. There are
still times, and will be for a long time, when someone will ask about something and the reply would be “Well,
Sharon would know about that.”
Sharon, we miss you but are comforted by the knowledge that you are no longer in pain and are at peace in the
Heavenly Garden you so often sang about.
Page 3
Tidbits from the Collections Corner
The Man from Anibon and Two Mysteries
By Barbara E. Moss
In her book The Village of Westport Point Massachusetts, Katharine Stanley
Hall tells the tale of a man swimming from the Island of Anibon off the coast
of Africa to the whaling bark Mattapoisett where he persuaded the captain,
George Manchester, to bring him aboard. Eventually Captain Manchester
returned to Westport Point with this man, who was named John Stevens.
According to Ms Hall’s information he had been governor of Anibon, but
political enemies were seeking his life. There are rumors of his having been
either a slave or an African chieftain, perhaps both.
Recently the society obtained photocopies of pictures and documents related to this mysterious man and his
Westport family. His sons were tall, imposing men. Most intriguing is a beautiful, full-length oval photograph
of a dignified, elderly woman who is Minnie Rose Stevens, wife of this John Stevens. She was a full-blooded
Wampanoag, born in Boston, and reputed to be a Wampanoag princess. Another document lists her children
with their birth dates: Bessie, 1875, Warren, 1877, Eliza, 1888, Alice, 1883, Ida1886, Susie 1889 and the
youngest was Leland born 1891.
We have several images of Warren, known as Jack, and of Leland posed with the automobiles they drove.
Both men lived at Westport Point and worked as drivers and servants for Point families. Their sister Bessie
and her husband ran a tea house in the house next door to Leland’s home at the Point.
Incidentally on the various documents that we hold the family name is spelled Stephens, Stevens or Stevans.
Two mysteries remain about this family and the lore surrounding it. First, several logbooks and journals exist
both in the Whaling Museum and other places for the bark Mattapoisett captained by George Manchester, but
as yet I have not found any reference to a man from Anibon being picked up. The Mattapoisett did make a
voyage in 1851 and went near that area. Ms. Hall gives us no year as to when Mister Stevens came aboard.
He may have come at a later date. I am still reading these logs.
Secondly, there some very mysterious little metal tags, one with John Stevens’ name on it and the date 1879,
and the other is inscribed L.R. Stevans. There are eagles on the sides with the names. Clasped hands and an
anchor are on the reverse of L.R. Stevans’ tag and “Native of Anibon” is on the back of the tag belonging to
John Stevens tag. They are about the size of a dog’s rabies or license tag. We have no idea what they are, but
would certainly like to know. We would welcome hearing from any of you historians in town with some
knowledge, ideas, or even good guesses about these little medals. Please take a look at the pictures.
Barbara Moss
Page 4
New Acquisitions
Anna Duphiney: photographs of Head of Westport, a
poem about the hurricane, and the genealogy of
Nicholas Hart.
Fred and Viola Webb: newspaper articles on assorted
subjects
Charles Test: 1938 Hurricane scrapbook
Marcia Drumright: An Account of the 1954 Hurricane.
Elizabeth Acheson: A light bulb - first to be installed at
the Acheson farm when electricity first came to
Westport, and in use from circa 1922 to 1989.
Betty Slade and David Cole: Historic Sketch of Coxet
and the Richmond Family by Henry Worth.
Mary Murphy: A collection of materials from Marjorie
Feenan, belonging to Louise A. Feenan.
Matthew and Laurie Palmer: Photographs of the
Brightman sawmill at Westport Point and Stevens
family information.
Sanford Moss: Photographs of Emerson Howland
house.
Charlotte and William Underwood: First edition of
the Hawes Hurricane account Westport Harbor
photographs
George Dean: School civics project on trees by
Virginia Davis, photograph of Westport High School
Class of 1936 with identifications, scrapbooks, atlas,
and July 10, 1948 issue of The Inquirer and Mirror
of Nantucket. Copies of Westport postcard collection.
William and Sally Wyatt: “Steel Rails Through
Dartmouth” VHS tape.
Joseph and Virginia Sexton: “The Southeasterner”
section of the New Bedford Sunday Times for May
23, 1965 showing the opening of route 195.
Photographs of Head of Westport.
Robert Kugler: Souvenir program for Head of
Westport Fire Association, 1949
As usual, I admit to a lack of infallibility. Please
contact the society if you see any errors you wish to
have corrected. B. E. Moss
We’ll keep the light on!
The light bulb pictured left, 4 ¼ inches tall, was the first light bulb
to be installed at the Acheson farm at 1 Old Horseneck Road circa
1922 when electricity first came to Westport. It was installed in the
house’s front entrance and remained there until 1989. It was
donated to the Westport Historical Society in March of 2008 by
Elizabeth Acheson. The bulb is a General Electric National
Mazda, wattage unknown, but probably 25 watt, 115 volt. It has a
filament of six loops.
On December 21, 1909, General Electric first used the name
Mazda on their lamps. The name was trademarked, and assigned
the number 77,779 by the United States Patent and Trademark
Office. Today, we associate the name with automobiles, but when
it was first used by GE it was chosen to represent the best that the
American lighting industry had to offer at the time, and was
selected due to the fact that Persian mythology gave the name
Ahura Mazda to the god of light.
Jon Alden
A light bulb-first to be installed the Acheson farm
when electricity first came to Westport and in use
from circa 1922 to 1989.
Page 5
The genius of today’s light bulbs is not in their shape or size, but in
their light-producing core. The first light bulbs used carbon rods to
conduct electricity. They produced inconsistent light output and
were short-burning. In 1879 Thomas Edison used carbonized
bamboo for the filament, resulting in a bulb that was cheaper,
more muted, and longer-lasting. Output consistency was still a
problem, however.
The General Electric Company, in 1906 was the first to patent a
method of making tungsten filaments for use in incandescent light
bulbs.
“An Early History of the Westport Fire Department”
Photos by Jon Alden/WHS
The Photo Contest and Exhibition was supported in part by a grant to the Westport Historic Society from
the Westport Arts Council. The Helen Ellis Exhibit Space at Lees was developed and is managed by
the Arts Council, in cooperation with Lees Market. Both the Photo Contest and Exhibition as well as the
Exhibit Space were made possible by funding from the Helen Ellis Charitable Trust, administered by the
Bank of America.
“Before the first fire house in 1928, Westporters used the bucket brigade,” Calvin “Cal” Hopkinson chuckled. “But
then a group of Westport volunteer firefighters put up a fire station in Central Village on a lot that old Charlie
Wood leased to the town for as long as the land was used for fire prevention purposes,” Cal said.
That purpose may be coming to end as the Town of Westport voted to finance a new South End Fire Station
Tuesday, June 17 for a projected cost not to exceed $7 million dollars. It had been a long road, and the Fire
Department had been turned back many times.
Early Fire Fighting Apparatus
In 1927, then Assessor Irving C. Hammond proposed, and Town Meeting accepted, that on November 1927
“the voters of the Town of Westport accept as a gift such firefighting apparatus and equipment as they may deem
necessary for the best interest of the town, and the selectmen are also authorized and instructed to dispose of
apparatus at any time they may deem advisable in order to improve such equipment, the same being returned to
its donor.”
It’s difficult to know whether it was politics or just tight pockets that drove the Westport Volunteer Fire Company
to build their own fire station. But that they did, and in 1928 (started in 1927) the two-bay, Central Village Fire
Station No. 1 was completed. The Westport Volunteer Fire Company was “a duly organized association for the
protection of fire fighting property that it had financed from its own treasury.” They were now “to man and handle
the said apparatus as at present.” The right-most two bays seen in today’s photos were built in 1978 by Diman
Regional Vocational Technical High School students with monies from donations and fundraisers, and at no cost
to the town.
The Westport Fire Department was organized March 14, 1928. The personnel consisted of a Chief, a First
Assistant Engineer, a Second Assistant Engineer, a Deputy Chief, one Captain, one Lieutenant, and eighteen
men, all serving entirely without compensation. That year they responded to 37 fires: 14 buildings, 6 chimneys, 5
grass, 3 brush, 3 automobiles, 1 cotton, 1 false alarm, and 4 miscellaneous. There were 49 alarms in 1929. It
seems false alarms have been around since the dawn of the Westport Fire Department!
Prior to the new south end fire station (as it has come to be known) Westport did have some fire fighting
equipment, most of it hand-made. Pictured above is a hand-pulled, 40-gallon, soda/acid fire extinguisher
manufactured by the O. J. Childs Company in Utica, NY (pictured above, left in photo) that was used by early
Westport firefighters. This extinguisher used the reaction between 22 pounds of sodium bicarbonate solution and
sulfuric acid to create pressure (250 psi) and expel water onto a fire.
Continued next page….
Page 6
“An Early History” (continued from Page 6)
When fire fighters reached the fire (probably quite tired!) they would insert a small metal canister of the two
separated compounds into the 40 gallon water tank, pull a lever to mix them and create the necessary pressure,
and hopefully put out the fire, although 40 gallons doesn’t seem like a lot of water to put out a large fire!
In 1928, town records show the purchase of their first fire truck – a beautiful Maxim manufactured by the Maxim
Motor Company in Middleboro, Massachusetts (pictured above, right in photo). “She was a beauty,” Calvin
said. “But boy, was she expensive, almost $8000!” In contrast, the recent ladder truck obtained by the town with
assistance from Homeland Security cost about $605,000.
A town without public water, Westport was forced to invest in “pumpers” that could carry their own water to the
fires. Water would be pumped from the river or local streams through the use of “fire holes” or “dry hydrants”
(non-pressurized hydrants) like the one recently put into place at Adamsville Pond during the recent dredging.
The Maxim could carry about 245 gallons. The photo below left shows a water hole in the early 40’s off Drift Road
just after construction was completed.
The 1929 Westport annual report tells of a new apparatus added in the form of “a Chevrolet chassis with three
water tanks with a capacity of 95 gallons each, a total of 285 gallons. The Chief hoped that in 1930 money could
be appropriated “to enable us install a small cheap pump on this piece to facilitate a quick refill.” This equipment
was probably handmade. The addition of a “small cheap pump” would allow then fire fighters to use the various
water holes (pictured above left) in Westport for “quick refills”.
In 1932 the town bought its second fire truck, a monster pumper, custom built by Mack, and equipped with a
1000 gallon water tank, at a cost to the town of $8000 (pictured above right). “Mack wouldn’t guarantee the
carriage,” laughed Calvin. “They said the tank would be too heavy.” Fortunately, their fears weren’t justified. The
sturdily-built Mack remains to this day rusting in an open Westport field.
In 1941 the town bought a Buffalo stationary pump.
“I was a volunteer fire fighter in 1943, along with Cukie Macomber, my senior year in High School Calvin said.
“When a call came in, we were excused from class, and ran outside the school to wait for the truck to pick us up if
it were going by!”
Politics and Posturing
In the early 1940’s, a group of volunteers organized the North End Fire Association and built a fire station at
Greenwood Park on Route 6 (pictured next page, upper left). The property was rented from a call fire fighter,
and the town provided a fire truck. However, the building was never used as Fire Chief Lynwood Potter refused to
authorize the station. The fire truck was moved to, and subsequently stored in, a private garage (pictured next
page, upper right) owned by Rene Routhier, a “good mechanic”. The new location was also on Route 6. The fire
truck, and a second one added later, operated out of that location until 1970. The Town of Westport was paying
$600 a year in rent when this north end station closed!
Continued next page….
Page 7
“An Early History” (continued from Page 7)
The Head of Westport Fire Association (Calvin Hopkinson is the current President) built a new, two-bay fire
station at 98 Reed Road in 1950 on land donated by Dorothy Hopkinson’s father (pictured below). The station
opened with an old Autocar fire truck provided by the town. “The town bought another fire truck in the early 50’s, a
new Maxim for about $25,000, for the Route 6 private garage” recalls Calvin. “They sent the old Mack to the new
Head Station.”
In 1970 the town built the Briggs Road facility on townowned land. Briggs Road Fire Station was the first townbuilt, town-owned fire station. Its completion caused the
private garage on Route 6 to be closed. Meanwhile, the
Head Station (pictured left) continued to operate. Later,
the town moved three permanent firefighters from the
Head Station to Briggs Road to man the town’s first
ambulance. With the shortage of manpower, the Head
Station was finally retired (pictured right).
After the war it appears that the Federal government’s
Civil Defense Authority stored a pump trailer on the
bottom floor of the old Head Garage on Old County Road.
It was stored there free of charge, while Andrew Sherman
built boats on the second floor. Later it was moved to
Dorothy Hopkinson’s father’s garage.
Jon Alden
Rhonda McClure, staff genealogist at the NEHGS, takes on the internet!
Photos by Jon Alden/WHS
“The internet is not the all and end all,” Rhonda McClure said. The gregarious staff genealogist at the New
England Historic Genealogical Society was the guest speaker at a recent event sponsored by the Westport
Historical Society in the Lees Community Room.
Continued on next page . . .
Page 8
Rhonda McClure, staff genealogist (continued from Page 8)
Over 60 guests were in attendance to hear her speak. She mixed a wry humor with more than a sprinkling of
common sense, and added a storehouse of knowledge in presenting what some would consider a very dry
subject – researching family history.
Rhonda McClure is a nationally recognized genealogist and lecturer, specializing in New England research. She
is the author of over ten books, including the award winning The Idiot’s Guide to Online Genealogy. She is a
self-described “geek” and “genealogist”. “I always carry my laptop computer and my PDA wherever I go,” she
said. What she really is, however, is a very accomplished speaker and entertainer, a terrific combination in
presenting complicated subjects to an audience of all levels of experience.
During her presentation, she took us beyond the Internet by taking advantage of computerized research to further
her search in traditional records and repositories. Her PowerPoint presentation was well formatted, concise, and
to the point. “You have to start with what you know,” Ms. McClure said.
The Photo Contest and Exhibition was supported in part by a grant to the Westport Historic Society from
The audience
introduced
to a plethora
of Ellis
webExhibit
tools and
repositories
ancestral
the was
Westport
Arts Council.
The Helen
Space
at Lees was of
developed
andinformation,
is managed byboth free and
the “Rootsweb.com
Arts Council, in cooperation
with Lees Market. Both
the Photo
Contest
and Exhibition
as“www.ancestry.com
well as the
pay websites.
and FamilySearch.org
are free
sites,”
Ms. McClure
said.
Exhibit Space
made possible
by funding from the
Helen Ellis
Charitable
Trust, administered
the complete
and footnote.com
are were
pay sites.”
FamilySearch.org
is perhaps
the
most comprehensive
and by
most
Bank of America.
ancestry database in the world available on the internet. FamilySearch.org is a non-profit service sponsored by
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They believe that every person is important and that families are
meant to be both sacred and eternal. They encourage all people to find their ancestors and preserve their family
histories. To help in this great pursuit, the Church has been actively gathering and preserving genealogical
records worldwide for over 100 years. They have largest collection of free family history, family tree and
genealogy records in the world.
It’s easy to imagine tracing family trees with visits to creepy remote cemeteries or old, dusty, cryptic town records
in massive steel vaults! But the truth is, this can’t be done unless you know the information that you’re looking for
is there! Technology and the web is not an evil twin sister to traditional research. In fact, neither the old way nor
the new way is perfect. But with an intelligent combination of the two, you have a power heretofore unseen. “I
never believe anyone,” said the elderly Miss Marple, an Agatha Christie fictional detective. “I always verify the
story from at least three different sources.” Any Christie fan knows Miss Marple always gets her man!
Ms. McClure described the many great resources available to the amateur genealogist: indexes, books on CDROM, compiled genealogies, library catalogs, state birth and death records, civil registrations, census
records, and digitized documents. She used PowerPoint slides to introduce and visually display search results
from these sources (see photo album.) “Just because the information is secondary doesn’t make it wrong,” she
said. “Only suspect.” Focus on death records. “They appear to be the central focal point of most research,” she
added. Ms. McClure also spoke about PERSI (The Periodical Source Index), the largest subject index to
genealogical and historical periodical articles in the world. Created by the foundation and department staff of the
Genealogy Center of the library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, PERSI is widely recognized as being a vital source for
genealogical researchers.
Now what really put the icing on the cake was when Ms. McClure demonstrated the practical application of using
all these tools in a genealogical pursuit of English actor Peter Lawford. Retracing in just two hours of work on the
computer, Ms. McClure was able to gather all of Mr. Lawford’s roots, and place them on-screen for us to see.
Searching written records is very time-consuming, and for most of us the biggest hurdle. However, many
ancestry research projects need to go to this level to obtain hard-to-find records, or to verify indistinct information
gathered from the internet. Ms. McClure also emphasized the importance of maintaining a written research log,
unless you’re prepared to research the same information over and over again from different sources!
Continued next page . . .
Page 9
Rhonda McClure, staff genealogist (continued from Page 9)
In summation, Ms. McClure stressed the need to combine the best of the internet and traditional research to
achieve the best results. “Much preparatory research can be done at home,” she said. “Once preliminary research
is done on-line, you can turn to traditional methods to verify information found electronically. Start with what you
know. And don’t start at the state level; research the town and county levels first.” Massachusetts has controlled
access to vital data since 1915. “20th century research is the most difficult because of closed records,” Ms.
McClure said. “States are trying to protect confidentiality of living persons, and terrorism concerns are increasingly
restricting research information.”
“If you find important information on-line, PRINT IT! Rest assured, if you try to find this information again, it
will be gone,” she emphasized. “You must be thorough, tenacious, and complete,” she added. “If you’re new to
genealogy, you will make a lot of mistakes.”
Jarred Gaston, 16 years old, from Portsmouth Rhode Island was in attendance. “I’m the family historian,” he said.
“I’m looking for new sources of information and new web sites.” “He’s the youngest participant I’ve ever had at one
of my lectures,” Ms. McClure said. “It’s very refreshing to see today’s youth so interested in researching their
family’s roots.”
Visit the following web address to view Rhonda McClure’s PowerPoint Slideshow:
http://www.aldenhill.com/album/whs_rhonda_mcclure_dial_up/album0.html (dial-up speed)
http://www.aldenhill.com/album/whs_rhonda_mcclure/album0.html (cable/DSL broadband speed)
Visit Rhonda McClure’s web site: http://www.thegenealogist.com/index.html
Jon Alden
“Winds of Change - Westport’s Hurricanes Revisited” – An Exhibition.
In anticipation of our summer exhibition “Winds of Change - Westport’s Hurricanes Revisited”, we present
extracts from two firsthand accounts of the 1938 hurricane. We are interested in hearing about your experiences
during any of the hurricanes and plan to make these available through our website: www.westporthistory.com. You
can preview and send comments on a selection of hurricane photographs by going to our website.
Clifford Ashley’s account of the 1938 Hurricane.
On the afternoon of September 21, 1938 Clifford Ashley, notable artist and author, drove from Fairhaven
to his home in Westport. Here he describes the scene he saw at Horseneck:
“I got out and looked toward Horseneck beach, which stretched out in a crescent to the westward at right angles
to the road I was on. The air was full of salt mist, the houses that were built closely together along the beach
were flat purplish grey silhouettes. Nothing else was to be seen, and the houses were all moving! They seemed
to be walking in open formation, like troops in a rough country. One would hesitate, then move on; they moved
slowly, first one ahead, then another. It was hardly credible. When they reached the marsh a few hundred feet
from where they started, they collapsed one by one. I counted twelve of them, before I looked back down the
road again. While the houses marched, very suddenly a trailer popped out from among them. It was on its side,
and it spun like a pinwheel over the surface of the water-covered marsh, scarcely touching the surface. It must
have been visible for about half a mile, and it certainly did not take thirty seconds for it to pass from sight.
Then I looked down the road, and was appalled to see the water not more than a few hundred feet from me. I
spoke to a fellow in another car (there were now four cars beside myself) - I knew him – so I said, “Better get
out as quick as you can.” And he said, “The water’ll never git up here”. That was the way the whole thing
struck all of us, nothing of the sort had ever occurred to us before; but suddenly it had dawned upon me that I
had better get home, that something might be happening there. I found afterwards that the fellow lost his car; I don’t
know about the others.
When I got to Hix Bridge, three miles from home, it was perhaps six inches under water, between waves, but
solid water was breaking over it. I went across, and my engine sputtered and barely recovered. There was a
row of cars stopped, and the breadman yelled, “I wouldn’t cross that for money!” “I wouldn’t advise it,” said I
brightly, as I urged my coughing car up the hill.
Continued next page . . .
Page 10
We just made it, and in the gradual descent that followed, the engine cleared her throat. Hix Bridge was carried away
seven minutes after I crossed it; possible five, but no more than seven.” Clifford Ashley reached his home on Drift
Road safely and immediately rescued his manuscript for the acclaimed publication “The Ashley Book of Knots”
from his studio.
Readers will need to visit our summer exhibition or our website to read the entire harrowing account of their experience. The concluding paragraph highlights the different experiences of those of West Beach and those on East Beach: “I was back at the Beach early that morning. The East Beach was utter desolation. Not a building the whole mile length of it. The West Beach was a drunken man’s nightmare ‐ houses toppled about in all stages of wreckage. We from the West Beach thought we had a harrowing night. But we had the safety of the dunes. For those on the East Beach there had been no retreat. The Let engulfed them ‐ men, women and children.”
Center: Rescue at the point – 1954 hurricane. Laura’s restaurant is seen in the background floating away! Right: Ali Aberdeen
demonstrating how Mrs. Sullivan of West Beach, saved herself from being swept away by the storm surge.
Escaping from West Beach
The author of this vivid account of the 1938 hurricane is unknown. He was staying with his family in a
cottage on West Beach and became trapped by the rising waters.
“The first warning I had of the storm was about 2 P.M. while driving down the Horseneck Road. Half way
between Waldo’s place and the Island View Farm, I heard, so I thought, a truck roaring down the hill behind
me and I swerved quickly to the right and slowed to allow it to pass. The truck, cut out wide open and engine
racing, thundered nearer. I glanced uneasily in the mirror. Seeing no car, I glanced quickly over my shoulder
as I was riding with the top down. There was no car in sight. What I heard was the wind coming up from the
Bay and across the field.”
The author and several others found their way across the dunes in search of safety.
“It was when we reached the top of the next dune that I began to have serious doubts of any of us ever getting
out alive. Once more we had stopped to rest. I looked toward the beach. Roy Hawes’ house, a large two
story building, was coming toward us. It came on, and on and on for all the world like a majestic steamer
coming up a river - upright, on an even keel, never a lurch or stop. Onward and ever onward. It must have
traveled a thousand feet, came to rest just at our feet.
One thought flashed through my mind—If there is enough water to float that great house over the low dunes
and way up here, and the tide keeps rising another half hour, we are doomed. There will be no dunes, just a
seething waste of water. And it looked as if that was what was going to happen. I wasn’t consciously afraid,
certainly not heroic just calmly resigned to whatever might happen and determined to do the utmost to win
free.
“Come on,” I said, “we’ll keep going.” It was tough going. Under foot was sand, wet and loose and clogging
our progress. Wind whipped it into our noses, ears, eyes, and mouths. Sand and pelting rain and spray, briars
and brush and scrub trees, dogwood or poison ivy, one or the other, and for days afterwards my daughter was
frightfully covered with loathsome sores.
Crawling across and back on hands and knees was a ticklish job; a slip or a dislodgement might have meant a
broken leg or worse, but we began helping the women over. Mrs. Mosher couldn’t crawl and carry the cat.
She insisted the cat be killed. It seemed unnecessary as we believed the cat would follow along and make
easier work of it than we. She insisted the cat be killed. I went on but Allen and young Blackmer decided to
kill the cat. What they did I don’t know, but we saw no more of the cat that night. A week later Mrs. Mosher
found it alive at the wrecked cottage.
Page 11
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The East Beach was utter desolation. Not a building the whole
mile length of it. The West Beach was a drunken man’s
nightmare - houses toppled about in all stages of wreckage.
We from the West Beach thought we had a harrowing night.
But we had the safety of the dunes. For those on the East
Beach there had been no retreat. The Let engulfed them--men, women and children.”
Excerpt from unknown ’38 hurricane survivor.