Deadly Storms of the Delmarva Coast

by Michael Morgan

Overview

Journey to the coast with Michael Morgan as he looks back at the area's most deadly storms.

Coastal Delaware, Maryland and Virginia have always been vulnerable to the power of storms. In the early nineteenth century, storm-driven shipwrecks led to the construction of the Delaware breakwater. In 1933, a storm created an inlet on the south edge of Ocean City and changed the character of the Maryland resort. The Ash Wednesday nor'easter of 1962 devastated oceanfront communities, led to the creation of beach replenishment projects that pushed the ocean back from the new multimillion-dollar buildings that sat on the sand and spurred the creation of Assateague Island National Seashore. Michael Morgan narrates the stories of these storms and reminds us of the power of wind and water.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781540238856
Publisher:	History Press Library Editions
Publication date:	05/06/2019
Series:	No Series Linked
Pages:	146
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.38(d)

About the Author

Michael Morgan has been writing articles on the history of coastal Delaware for more than three decades. His columns appear weekly in the Delaware Coast Press and the Wave, and his "Lore of Delmarva" weekly radio commentary is broadcast by station WGMD 92.7. Morgan's previous books include Pirates and Patriots: Tales of the Delaware Coast; Rehoboth Beach: A History of Surf and Sand; Bethany Beach: A Brief History; Ocean City: Going Down the Ocean; Civil War Delaware; Hidden History of Lewes; Delmarva's Patty Cannon: The Devil on the Nanticoke and World War II and the Delaware Coast.

Table of Contents

Preface 5

1 Assateague: 1524

Masters of the Wind 9

A Mixture of Wind, Water and Sand 12

Our Embarrassment Was a Serious One 14

Pirates and Ponies of Assateague 18

2 Lewes: 1888

These Sands Are Alive 22

Lewes Is a Peculiar Place 27

Safe from All Winds 29

Ice Storm: 1888 33

3 Gape Henlopen: Uprooted Trees and Beached Ships

Moving Sands of Cape Henlopen 46

The Vagabond Hurricane: 1903 51

Rehoboth Learns a Lesson 53

4 Ocean City: 1933

To Take the Salt Air 61

Assateague: Paradise for Sportsmen 66

An Inlet Was Born 72

5 Nature Takes Its Toll

Great Atlantic Hurricane: 1944 78

Blustery Ladies 86

6 Ash Wednesday Nor'easter: 1962

Realization of a Dream 90

Assateague: All of the Comforts of Ocean City 96

A Few Chunks of Concrete Slab 102

Floating Light Poles, Boats and Debris 108

Rehoboth: Belies the Imagination 110

7 The New Reality

Rebuilding 119

Storms after 1962 124

Moving the Ocean 125

Three Little Pigs 130

Bibliography 133

Index 139

About the Author 144