Our History

Before the 38 hurricane

Thanks to John and Mary Kegley for their recent contribution of the photos posted below, which show a north view of Green Hill Avenue and a view of the houses on the west side of the street.

This photo (clearly a postcard) was taken prior to the 1938 hurricane. The first house on the left, with the wrap-around porch, was not present in 1940 when Chester Beals bought the property at the end of Green Hill Avenue. According to Nancy Beals, when her father bought the property, there was no house on the lot. The house belonged to a family named Kendall.

These pictures show the same house before and after the 1938 hurricane. The house sits in what is now the Beal’s driveway. The upper picture looks north up Green Hill Ave. All the houses beyond the destroyed one seen in the upper pboto survive to the present.

1946

These photos, courtesy of Carl Lundberg (who later became president of GHCA), were from the taller of the two towers that were located in the area between the Beals’ home and the parking lot. Both pictures are looking westward.

The picture on the left shows the houses on the ocean side of Browning Street and Rosebriar Avenue. The two houses at the right center are located at the entrance of what became Surfside. The house in the lower right corner is Joe Conley’s home.

The picture on the right is a view of the beach looking west toward Charlestown. It is quite barren except for the first buildings of what became Brogi’s beach pavilion. In addition, you can see the utility poles which ran from Matunuck to Charlestown for the beach cottages along the shore which were destoyed in 1938.

Late 1940s

The tower in this photo provided tremendous vistas to whole area. As far as we know, this photo is likely dated from the late forties. You can see the Kegley and Wunderlich houses in the foreground. The Beals’ house can be seen through the porch of the Kegley home. The Pingree house can be seen behind the garage. Later, the Pingree house was moved a short distance north, where it is still located.

1950c.

This is a view looking north up Green Hill Ave. Note the lack of trees and brush, which later grew to obscure ocean views.

The next two pictures provide a view looking west along the beach.

Joe Tenori, from the Coast Guard, provided the next two pictures. Both pictures offer much earlier views of the Green Hill Lifesaving Station, which appears to be just west of the parking lot at the end of Coast Guard Avenue.

1952

The photo on the left was part of a piece that was published in the Providence Journal in 1952. To the west of the Beals’ home, you can see the smaller of the two towers. The towers were built before Hurricane Carol in 1958. After the hurricane, the stone retaining wall was added in an effort to mitigate the damage left from Hurricane Carol in 1958. The 1971 photo on the right shows the Beals’ lawn as it appears today.