Anticipating Irene, Remembering Bob, Gloria, Carol, and 1938 The
North Shore has been fortunate for the last half-century. As we
prepare for whatever Hurricane Irene has in store for the North
Shore of Massachusetts, it would serve well to look at the past.
The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 was and still is the
mother of all modern New England Hurricanes. It was the first
major hurricane to strike the region in almost 70 years. It hit
New England as a category 3 hurricane, making landfall at high
tide on Long Island, NY, on Sept 21. It is estimated that this
storm killed up to 800 people. Legend has it that the retaining
wall at the bottom of Saltonstall Parkway, across from thePalmer
Cove tennis courts, was marked to denote the high tide mark from
the tidal surge. Over the last 60 years or so, more than a few
large storms have threatened the area. Warnings were issued,
emergency preparations were made, and everyone battened down the
hatches as the storms approached. Hurricane Carol in 1954 made
landfal