Picture Connecticut: The Hurricane Of 1938

NEW LONDON, CT — This week's Picture Connecticut image takes us back in time to the Hurricane of 1938, which ravaged the Connecticut shore 86 years ago this weekend.

Pictured is the U.S. Lighthouse Service Tender Tulip sitting on a set of railroad tracks after being washed ashore by the great storm. It was taken by Heman Dehnel Sr., a track foreman who traveled to New London from his Greenwich home to assist the railroad with cleanup efforts.

On Sept. 21, 1938, the storm crossed over the tip of Long Island, hit New London and raced up the Connecticut River Valley at 50 miles per hour, leaving a path of destruction.

The Tulip was eventually re-floated and wound up being given to the government of the Philippines after being de-commissioned in 1945.

Below is another ship that was tossed onto the tracks by the storm.

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Picture Connecticut is a weekly series that features images of the state, past and present. Here are past images:

2024

• Firefighters Memorial Garden, Manchester
• Eagleville, Mansfield
• Island Beach Ferry, Greenwich
• High School Sports Booster Car Washes, anywhere in CT
• The Lyman Orchards Maze, Middlefield
• A bucket of FC, Vernon

• The Bug Mailbox, Ellington-Somers
• All Faiths Gather At Town Park, Vernon
• Riverside Igloos, Milford
• The TPC Pro Shop, Cromwell
• The Santa House, North Pole, er, Northern Connecticut
• Mile 4 Funnel, Manchester Road Race, Manchester
• UConn Lacrosse Giving Back, Connecticut River Valley
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 3, Hartford
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 2, Hartford
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 1, Hartford
• The Doughboy, East Hartford
• The Walt Whitman Stone, West Hartford
• The indoor bush plane, Hartford County
• The Big Pink Chair, Ellington
• The Notch, Granby
• The CT 9/11 Monument, Westport
• Vintage Gas Pump, Somers
• Tobacco Harvest, East Windsor
• Late Afternoon, Lakeside, Coventry
• Fogarea, New Haven County
• Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens, Washington Depot
• Connecticut River Police Boat, Rocky Hill
• The first dentist, Windsor
• The Frog Bridge, Willimantic
• The World War Bridge Rapids, Putnam
• The Peeking Cow, Tolland County
• The Ivy Lacrosse Tournament, New Canaan
• The Bradley International Airport runway, Windsor Locks
• The Underground Railroad, Unionville
• The cow carousel, Ellington
• Charles Island, Milford
• State Veterans Cemetery, Middletown
• Glastonbury-Rocky Hill Ferry, Glastonbury/Rocky Hill
• The Old County Jailhouse, Tolland
• Agent Orange Monument, Andover
• The Sunken Garden, Farmington
• Lafayette Tour Monument, Vernon
• The Pinchot Sycamore, Simsbury
• Bob's Discount Furniture Studios, Manchester