The Great New England Hurricane

Monadnock Center for History and Culture/AP

Storm damage in Peterborough, N.H. during the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, Sept. 21, 1938.

Seventy-five years ago the hurricane was estimated to have killed between 682 and 800. It remains the most powerful and deadliest hurricane in recent New England history.

A damaged ferry boat sits in shallow water in Providence, R.I., following the deadly hurricane of 1938 that hit the Northeast, September 1938.

A man stands over debris in downtown Peterborough, N.H. after the Great New England Hurricane of 1938.

Damaged boats line the New London, Conn., waterfront following the deadly hurricane of 1938, Sept. 1938.

Flood waters in the center of town in Peterborough, N.H. during the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, Sept. 21, 1938.

Dick Sheldon/Farm Security Administration/Library of Congress

A farmer clears debris from the New England hurricane from a chicken house between Worcester and Amherst, Mass., 1938.

An outhouse on Bay Shore in Providence, R.I. after a New England hurricane, 1938.

Marion Post Wolcott/Farm Security Administration/Library of Congress

Timber levelled by 1938 hurricane at sawmill near Warren, N.H.

An exterior view showing a structure left damaged by the 1938 hurricane, Windham County, Conn., May 16, 1940.

Salvaging onions near Hadley, Mass., part of a collection of photos documenting hurricane damage in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, 1938.

Apple orchard in Connecticut damaged by the New England hurricane, 1938.

A barn damaged by the New England hurricane near Worcester, Mass., 1938.

Tobacco barn in Connecticut damaged by the New England hurricane, 1938.

Barn in Connecticut damaged by the New England hurricane, 1938.