1938 hurricane damage, Southampton, NY and nearby

[samevents]

1:31 could be the Irving House (corner of Hill Street and First Neck Lane)

[lipwak]

@samevents Thanks for both updates!

[samevents]

2:12 looks like what I know as "red top farm" on wichapoque road

[smacwhinnie]

1:54 Southampton Bathing Corp.

2;00 St. Andrews Dune Church, Southampton

2:18 Home at NE corner of South Main Street and Herrick Road, Southampton.

2:30 Main Street business district Southampton

[lipwak]

@smacwhinnie More wonderful! Thanks!

[smacwhinnie]

:20 Jessup Lane bridge, Westhampton Beach looking South over emains of bridge and bathing pavilion beyond.

:52 Looking South from Beach Lane in Quogue at old Life Saving Station on Dune Road

1:32 Home at SE corner of South Main Street & Toylsome lane, Southampton. House is still there, I believe it was once the home of Henry Austin Clark

[lipwak]

@smacwhinnie Wonderful! Thanks! Prof. Scott A. Mandia at SUNY has a web page that uses this video. I'm sure he'd love to know this and any other info you might know. ("The great hurricane of 1938 - Damage caused by the storm" page)

[smacwhinnie]

:20 Jessup Lane bridge, Westhampton Beach looking South over emains of bridge and bathing pavilion beyond.

:52 Looking South from Beach Lane in Quogue at old Life Saving Station on Dune Road

1:32 Home at SE corner of South Main Street & Toylsome lane, Southampton. House is still there, I believe it was once the home of Henry Austin Clark

[jdronkonkoma]

auntie em, auntie em, oh auntie em....

[youthinkyourecute]

The only site that looks familar to me is the bathing corp.

[youthinkyourecute]

I always heard from my grandparents, the shinnecock inlet was from this hurricane. It wasn't man made.

[ThePrezidentialbey]

IMPORTANT!!! Watch, A HOME FIT FOR ROYALTY!!!

[Gomargofar]

The 1938 hurricanel eveled a mansion on the beach, but the mansion's garage unscathed. In the late 40s Pat and Maureen Rana had the garage moved to the rear of their property known as Rana's Variety Store. It housed many a Lincoln until the late 70s. Maureen made it a retail space, where Bette Davis' former managers opened a catering business. It sat parrelel to the Bridgehampton jail house,now at the Bridgehampton Historical Society. The jail sat partially on DePetris's property and ours.

[411NewYork]

Thanks for posting. It a very educational look back on New York's history.

[LesterWare]

My two Great Aunts were the only fatalities in Southampton about 150 died in Westhampton. They went down to the Ocean like all the Indians used to whenever it would blow. They were by the Bathing Corporation when the storm surge hit. A fire truck went down to evac the people there. They couldn't hold on and were swept into Lake Agawam. They were the last two buried in the old cemetary by Waldbaums.

[lipwak]

@LesterWare Very moving. Thank you for posting.

[gr8fuldeadhd]

indeed - this shows the Village of Southampton -- south of Hill St. -- there are very clear photos of the beach club and church (which were restored) south of Lake Agawam on Dune Road....

during this storm the Shinnecock inlet was created joining Peconic Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. Wasn't this hurricane called "Betsy"?

[teaeyedoubleguhur]

Betsy is a different hurricane. It struck the Bahamas, Florida and Louisiana in 1965. While some hurricanes were given names prior to 1853, all tropical storms were given names beginning in '53. The Great New England Hurricane of '38 doesn't have a name.

[joeasmythe]

I remember that hurricane very well. It uprooted a giant tree on our lawn and left a gaping hole, I was 8 at the time, and it did a ton of damage , closed the Moriches inlet, very scary.

[elegantmeat]

Nice video, thanks for posting. My grandparents lost their house in this hurricane. I've been trying to find out where it was. any idea where to get property records pre 1938 for the Moriches area?

[lipwak]

Thanks. Sorry, I have no ideas other than there must be some of the local government agencies online somewhere. Or maybe a local historical society.

[redonionsauce]

.26 Could that be the old Ponquoque Bridge going to Dune Road?

[luke200202]

i live in southampton england .was this where the name of your town came from .just wondering ?

[lipwak]

Hi,

I'm not from there but it seems that yes, it was named after "the Earl of Southampton", according to Wikipedia. (And it is close to New England...)

Cheers,

John L

[redonionsauce]

Suffolk County Historical Society in Riverhead. Try there. My mother was 8 years old. She remembered it. Water as high as 8 feet.

[elegantmeat]

Hey, thanks a lot. My Dad was 3. he doesn't remember and my grandparents are no longer living. I remember my grandfather saying he had a boat and they found it on a farm over a mile away.

[jfrankenbach]

I recognize 2 buildings in 2nd half of clip. The Dune church and The bathing corp. Both on meadow lane in southampton. Both buildings are still there today.

[lipwak]

Thank you very much! What is "The bathing corp."?

[jfrankenbach]

The Bathing Corp is a beach club. It sits between lake agawam to the north and the atlantic ocean to the south. The ocean broke through just east of the bathing durring the 1938 hurricane. Many cars were washed into the lake.  At least 2 people died there when it happened.

[ynke75]

That bridge is NOT anywhere near Robert Moses. I live in the area and fish both frequently. It is most definately in the Hamptons which is at least 50 minutes from the Robert Moses Causeway. Just an FYI.

[caramelturtles]

wow that was so interesting to watch~thanks for posting~its almost the 70 year anniversary they say we are do for another one

[jimmyhd1969]

There was very little warning before this storm hit.

[talkingeyes]

This is footage of the New England Hurricane that happened in September of 1938, a category 3 hurricane that swept the coast and killed 600 people.

[g422]

it's in the hamptons....must be the bridge at westhampton....I live on captree island and thats not captree in the video...more then likely its ll west hampton beach...they took the brunt of the hurricane of 38

[Beaver456]

Believe this is from the 1937 "Long Island Express" that came racing up from the south and hit Long Island traveling at some 50mph. It had winds of 115mph. After hitting Long Island it hit Connecticut as a Extratropical feature. Fianlly it moved into Canada.

[lipwak]

Could very well be. Thanks!

[Rach84]

I'm from Long Island, and :26 into the video almost looks like the Robert Moses bridge. I've been to CT many times, and I don't remember any sort of bridge looking like that.

[lipwak]

Great. Where is that bridge on LI, Fire Island? It does look like a WPA era bridge but the only pic I have found of the RM bridge has big steel structure which I don't see in this movie.

[Rach84]

It might be a drawbridge to Captree State Park, right before the Robert Moses bridge.

Are you from around Long Island?

[lipwak]

No. I live near enough. It all looks vaguely familiar. Not that I would recognize it from pictures but I think I may have been over the Robert Moses bridge. (Maybe that steel part was added later... I do see that a second bridge has been added relatively recently...)

[Rach84]

That information I just said came from my boyfriend, who lives so close that he claims he can spit and hit the bridge lol. He thinks it's the drawbridge before the actual Rober Moses bridge; not the actual RM bridge. I think he's right.

But it's nonetheless very interesting. Cool to see footage from then and see the damage from the hurricane. Thanks for showing us.

[lipwak]

Thanks for the help! I'm hoping more of it can be identified as well.

[Rach84]

I also forgot to mention one thing. He's also a Science teacher, so he knows all about the past hurricanes. He said that the hurricane wasn't nearly as bad in CT as it was on LI. he said it broke up a bit once it hit CT, so this video is most likely all from LI.

[lipwak]

Interesting. Thanks!

[lipwak]

No. I don't think they ever lived on Long Island but they could have visited. It could also be coastal CT. They lived in NYC and summered in CT.

[JimR541]

Nice job posting this. DO you know for sure that your grandparents lived on Long Island?