THE LEGEND OF THE HURRICANE OF 1938

Like the legend of North Brookfield's Small Pox Cave, memories of the Hurricane of 38 persist. Anybody alive today has photographs and memories of a Great Tempest here in the Brookfields. Stories abound of the way it was on that September Morn of September 21,1938.

The damage was so great for one reason.. the ground was saturated making hurricane force winds a push over in felling trees, lifting roofs and teaching New England residents what a hurricane really was.

The eye of this hurricane tracked up the east coast and didn't hit land until late-in-the - day on September 21st, 1938. Nobody expected it; nobody knew what a hurricane really was.

I once had a Aetna claimant in Worcester who told of his father buying a new barometer. He sent it back to the manufacturer thinking it was broken. Actually, the needle read a very low reading and wasn't broken!

In another moment I spoke with a man from Hadley, MA who observed tobacco sheds being huffed puffed up by the winds in excess of 75mph! The buildings lasted. The barometer reading at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst revealed a reverse spike as the low pressure followed the CT River into Vermont.

The Late Jimmy Wiley's dad, Highway Supt. for NB estimated the winds atop Bell Hill at 110 mph. I believe it. The NB Town Common was a dumping point for all of the tree roots. The trees were cut up into firewood. Took two years to clean up the mess. Hammy Lincoln of Brookfield Orchards fame lost all trees to the 75 mph winds from the SE. Not a problem as after the storm, each tree was pulled back into position. The apple crop that fall (drops) were sold from the back of a truck in East Brookfield on Route 9.

The dam in East Brookfield gave way. At Doane Pond, NB, a nurse by the name of Woodis was swept down the river and drowned. She was with Doc O'Boyle at the time.. A brass plaque exists today on the Gate House next to the dam.

 A book available at the Merriam - Gilbert Library in WB "Great Hurricane  1938" by Cherie Burns tells all. On Tuesday at the North Brookfield Senior Center on Forest Street a Hurricane of '38 Power Point presentation will be shown. The public is invited! about 12:30 PM.

The Brookfields were in the thick of it and we have documented it with photographs and stories and media coverage... not like todays!

See you on Tuesday!

ROBERT LOUIS POTVIN
WEATHER WATCHER
Box 11
W. Brookfield, MA 01585