The Shacks
Before the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, fisherman's bait and gear shacks lined East Beach in Westport. They were working structures: places to store nets, bait, traps, and the tools of a trade that ran on tides and seasons. They weren't beautiful in any deliberate way. They were beautiful because they belonged exactly where they were, weathered by salt and wind, facing the water, doing their job. Then the hurricane came.
September 21, 1938
The Great New England Hurricane hit without the kind of warning we take for granted today. No named storms, no satellite imagery, no evacuation orders scrolling across phone screens. It arrived on September 21, 1938, with sustained winds over 120 miles per hour and a storm surge that reshaped the coastline. East Beach took it full. The fisherman's shacks were destroyed. The barrier beach was breached. The landscape people had known their entire lives changed in an afternoon.
After
The state government decided to prevent the construction of permanent buildings along the waterfront. East Beach became state beach and campground, protected open space. The fisherman's shacks were replaced, eventually, by mobile homes used for summer living. The old wooden bridge from the Point to Horseneck was replaced by a modern bridge, and Route 88 was built from North Westport to the new bridge between 1957 and 1965. The new highway cut through farm woodlots but relieved the summer traffic congestion on Main Road at the Point, making the old properties along that road more attractive to new owners. Westport Point's second life as a summer destination traces directly to the infrastructure that followed the storm.
Horseneck Beach today.
The Walking Tour Addition
The Westport Historical Society's self-guided walking tour includes the story of a restaurant at the Point that was swept away in the 1954 hurricane with the bartender still inside. Westport has been through three major hurricanes (1938, 1954, 1991). The buildings that survived them are the buildings you see today. The ones you're walking past. The one you can stay in.
The Horseneck Point Life Saving Station
The Horseneck Point Life Saving Station dates back to 1888, built by the Humane Society of Massachusetts at the Westport Harbor entrance on the west end of Horseneck Beach. It was moved to East Beach in 1894. Today it's preserved as a significant survivor of the maritime heritage and is open to the public. Some things outlast the storms.
What year did the Great New England Hurricane destroy the fisherman's shacks on East Beach?