Artists Along The Way

Top to bottom: Block Island, Mystic, Block Island (again), Rye, September 2009

Kirby Pond Tide Mill

Along Kirby Lane in Rye are several parking spaces directly across from the Tide Mill Boat Basin. The spot provides an attractive view of a former tide mill and pond. Built in 1770, the mill's grinding wheels (bottom photo) now mark the entrance to the marina. The Rye Nature Center has provided an interpretive sign that provides a brief history of the mill, along with a guide to the birds found on the pond.

Although there is not a park here, and the mill is private property, this location provides a unique view with peaceful surroundings. The building is a popular subject for artists and photographers. When I visited this week, a painter was setting up his easel, while a couple with a large black lab shared something to eat as they took in the view.

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Tide Mill Boat Basin : History Of The Mill

Painting Rye: The Mill Pond (scroll down)

Map

Wikipedia: Tide Mills

Tide II

Tide II, Mattituck, August 2009

Horst Wessel

I learn new things everyday. Only recently have I become aware that the USCGC Eagle was originally a German ship. Commissioned by Adolph Hitler in 1936, the 295 foot barque was named in honor of Horst Wessel, a prominent Nazi activist who died in 1930 . At the end of World War II, she was taken as a war reparation by the United States. Two other ships in her class were taken by the Soviet Union and Portugal.

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SOUNDBOUNDER: USCGC Eagle

September 21, 1938

Today marks the 71st anniversary of the Great Hurricane of 1938. Flooding and 100 mph-plus winds extended from New York to Cape Cod, with the storm's worst destruction striking Rhode Island, and the eastern portions of Connecticut and Long Island. Occurring years before hurricanes were given names by the National Weather Service, the storm is sometimes called the Long Island Express or the Great New England Hurricane.

New London suffered extensively as a large portion of the flooded downtown caught fire and burned. The lighthouse tender USS Tulip (top photo) broke free and came to rest along the twisted tracks of the New Haven Railroad. In Watch Hill, all the homes along Napatree Point were washed away by the storm. Landmark buildings in Greenport were leveled. Depending on sources, between 700 and 800 lives were lost.

Throughout Long Island Sound, there are still visible reminders of the 1938 Hurricane. Stone foundations of waterfront buildings that perished, can be seen partially exposed in the sand. There are islands, peninsulas, and inlets that were altered (and even created) by the force and surge of the storm. It remains the most destructive storm (in lives lost & damage) ever in New England and Long Island history.

Rogers Library Southhampton: photo gallery

SUNY Suffolk: Long Island Express

PBS: The Hurricane Of '38 Railroad Extra: 1938 Hurricane (photos & map)

SOUNDBOUNDER: Napatree Point

New London Day: New England's Katrina

YouTube: WPA 1938 Hurricane Film

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photo credit (top): Railroad Extra

sources: Sudden Sea by R.A. Scotti; The Great Hurricane by Cherie Burns

Matilde Corrado

Matilde Corrado, westbound, north of Plum Gut, August 2009 Marine Traffic.com

R "2"

R "2", Little Narragansett Bay, July 2009