Community Corner
Then and Now: Three Times a Century
Do you remember when the Sound froze over in 1976-77? That's one of three times the Sound froze over in the 20th century.
According to the records from Jane Bouley of the Branford Historical Society, the deepest freezes on Long Island Sound at Branford – the ones thick enough to hold a car – happened in 1917, 1934, and 1976-77. The image posted in was taken showing the shoreline of Money Island in the Thimbles (answer to our bonus question).
But there have been other times when the Sound has frozen over enough for the enjoyment of people – whether through ice skating or ice fishing!
wrote in:
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I remember ice fishing in the Branford River in 1963 and the ice thickness was about a foot in most places.
Pete also provided a number of sources that showed Sound Freezes in places other than Branford in the comments as well.
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recalled a more recent freeze:
January 23, 1994, was a day for one of the peak experiences of my life – ice skating on Stony Creek Harbor. The whole Sound may not have been frozen, but that year it was solid out through the Thimbles. Most of it was broken up into jaggedy blocks of thick ice piled up on each other, but around Pleasant Point, it was miraculously smooth – just as good as on the ponds. At least six of us went out and skated up Pine Creek and around the end of the point, back and forth. The day was gray and pretty cold, and it was thrilling. We knew we weren't likely to do this ever again – even if it froze again, it would probably be too uneven for skating.
contributed a memory of the results of the Sound freezing, rather than a freeze itself, writing:
I do remember that during the 1960s there were the remains of an old car on Horse Island. On teen age picnics to Horse Island at that time we were all fascinated by it and always wondered when the sound had frozen over enough for someone to drive out there. It probably then thawed so the car wasn't able to be driven back to the mainland.
I wonder if it's still there!
Thanks to the (www.branfordhistory.org) for permission to post these images. If anyone has images from those "recent" freezes ('63, '76, '77, or '94), we'd love to see 'em!
