Portsmouth farmers had little warning to prepare their crops for a big storm. All Hathaway Orchard owner Howard Hathaway had was that his barometer hit a low. The hurricane damaged both orchards the Hathaways kept and it took years – until 1944 – for a new crop to come in. The orchards on the island were stripped of all their fruit. Peppers, beans and other crops low to the ground had partial losses. Corn and other high growing vegetables suffered severe losses. Poultry houses were demolished and many birds perished in the might of the storm. Only the tubers and root crops survived well.
Read about the hurricane of ’38 in the book “Sudden Sea” and come to the Portsmouth Free Public Library the evening of September 19 for a book discussion. The library will have many copies of the book on hand by the end of the week.
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