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Remembering the Flood in Chester and Essex

Four decades ago, the Lower River Valley was struck with one of the worst natural disasters in the region’s history. Between June 4 and 7, 1982, region towns were deluged with as much as 14 inches of rain, causing massive localized flooding and the rupture of the Bushy Hill Reservoir dam, which tore downstream, breaching dams and bridges all along the Falls River.

Locals can mark the 40th anniversary of the event this weekend via a hike through some of the most ravaged area or a less strenuous but engaging community conversation.

On Saturday, June 4, Essex Land Trust steward Scott McCoid will lead a walking tour of the Millrace Preserve with a discussion of Ivoryton, its history, the company that built it and the flood that punctuated the end of an era.

The hike sets off at 10 a.m. from the millrace Preserve Ivory Street entrance in Ivoryton. Parking is available at Ivory Street and the public lot at the Ivoryton Green. In case of rain, the event moves to Sunday, June 5. For more information, contact Jim Denham at 860-876-0306 or jgdenham@gmail.com.

On Sunday, June 5, the Chester Historical Society will be hosting a cracker-barrel conversation for town residents at 4 p.m. in the Chester Meeting House, 4 Liberty Street. The informal conversation will feature a PowerPoint presentation with images of the flood and the damage that it caused in town.

In the flood, Chester sustained more than $1 million in damage, primarily due to flooding from the Pattaconk Brook, as five of the town’s bridges washed away.

“It was a phenomenal experience to go through,” said Cary Hull, president of the society.

“My house was up on a hill, so I did not directly get impacted by the flood, but we have friends from Chester over that night, and they could not get home, and ended up spending the night with us. And seeing the damage the next morning, it was mind blowing.” Hull is hoping that those who were affected by the flood will attend the conversation to tell their personal story of being impacted by the disaster, accompanied by photographs taken of the event.

“When we do these programs with the PowerPoint and calling it a cracker-barrel, that’s what people know we want. It’s all about what they remember. It’s not about one speaker, or one of us talking. It’s the whole group,” she said.

While those who lived through the flood and were impacted directly by it are invited to share their compelling stories, sitting in seats arranged for participants to face each other, rather than having a lecture-type of set up. Hull said that the conversation is also open to children, of whom she said the program is heavily encouraging to have as a part of the conversation.

“I think they see these pictures of the roads torn up, and they never had to see that in their town. And just hearing about people who had to go through knee-high to get to wherever they were going, the stories are pretty cool. I think it’s really interesting to see pictures of what it was like and hear the stories,” she said.

Society Curator Diane Lindsay concurred with the encouragement of children to attend the event, and said the event is open to all who were not in Chester at the time of the flood.

“Everybody is welcome because that way you learn about what happened in town. If people were not here in 1982, they certainly might be interested in what happened, and thinking about what might happen in the future,” said Lindsay.

Lindsay also referenced the environmental and infrastructural impact of climate change and increasingly intense storms as a key reason for people to attend, making those mindful of the damage that can be caused by natural disasters.

Lindsay said that since the society announced the holding of conversation, they have received donations in the form of photographs taken by town residents who experienced the flood, and others they are encouraging to be donated will be placed in the society’s archives.

Participants and their children will be required to wear masks by town mandate, and refreshments will be available after the program. For more information, call 860-558-4701 or go to www.chesterhistoricalsociety.org.