Courtesy: The Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Connecticut

Courtesy: The Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Connecticut

Courtesy: The Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Connecticut

Courtesy: The Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Connecticut

On September 21st, 1938,  it came without warning. As the story goes, Katharine Hepburn was out playing golf in Fenwick as the monster storm was approaching. Hepburn and many other rode out the storm in Fenwick.

There was no radar or satellite or buoys. Nobody had any idea about what was about to roar ashore. Many experts today believe it would be likened to what we now know as a category 4 Hurricane.

Nearly 700 died in the storm. Along coastal New England 9,000 homes were destroyed including the Hepburn place in Fenwick.

These pictures, from the Connecticut Historical Society, show Kate sifting thru the ruins. So vast was her love of Fenwick, she would rebuild the home within one year, raising it several feet to try and keep any more storms at bay and stronger, out of brick, not wood. Nearly 60 years later that brick has held up just fine, leave it to Kate.

See you at “The Kate.”
Ann Nyberg, Trustee, KHCAC