Historical Society Seeking Stories from '38 Hurricane

To mark the 74th anniversary of the Hurricane of 1938, the East Hampton Historical Society is organizing an oral history meeting and is hoping those who lived through this major event will come share their memories.

East Hampton Village Historian Hugh King will moderate a panel at the Session House behind the First Presbyterian Church on Oct. 19 that includes representatives of East Hampton and its hamlets. Among the participants on the panel will be Bucket Daniels, Ed Sherrill, John Ecker, Josephine Crasky, and Donald Halsey.

Members of the audience can contribute, as well. Time has been set aside in the evening for their voices to be heard, too.

King said on Friday that he is already preparing some questions for the evening, such as: Where were they? What is the one thing they remember the most from that storm? How did it affect them personally?

For instance, Ecker's house was destroyed in the hurricane. King said Ecker visited “The Long Island Express," the current exhibition of photographs of East Hampton after the 1938 Hurricane, currently on view at Clinton Academy. "Low and behold one of the pictures were of his house," he said.

King also plans to asks the panelist about the most frightening thing they saw and how long it realy took to clean up the mess. "Remember no power tools back then," he said.

The gathering begins at 7 p.m. Reservations are not required. For further information, you may call the East Hampton Historical Society at 631-324-6850.