Watching the news coverage of Hurricane Ian made me reflect on hurricanes that have occurred in this area. The picture accompanying this article is of my grandparents’ barn on Snipatuit Road in Rochester after Hurricane Carol blew it down. My mother told the story of someone she knew whose husband had been sucked out of his car as he drove across the bridge between Marion and Rochester during the Hurricane of ’38. Having recently done a short presentation on the Wampanoags for an assisted living facility in Dartmouth, I went looking for any records of major storms faced by the Native Americans and later by the early residents of Rochester.
In a book by Alice Austin Ryder titled “Lands of Sippican,” she recounted the legend that tells of the creation of the bay and harbor we know today which replaced the ancient river that had run through forested land. A terrifying storm surged up the river widening it, and the salt water killed the forest trees that were on its banks. In her book written in 1975, she says that roots can still be seen at Silver Shell Beach when the tide goes out. She writes, “The great river was called Pawkihchatt, and some men digging in a field three miles up from the head of the harbor have found where the tide used to come that tells the story of the inlet and the mouth of the lost river.”
She also tells of the great storm of 1635 that blew down hundreds of thousands of trees in just six hours. The tide was said to have risen 20 feet along the coast. She wonders whether the Native Americans blamed this frightening storm on the recent arrival of English settlers to the area. As scary and devastating as today’s storms are, how much more so would be the historical ones that arrived with little prior warning.
By Connie Eshbach