Sixty six years ago Scituate found itself with a crisis on Cedar Point.
A huge ship had grounded and would bring scores of stories to every neighborhood. Traffic. Oil. An angry cook. A worried captain. Generosity. Selling gallons of coffee and potato chips from a school bus. Dynamite and sea anchors. All of these references that the Scituate of 1956 could translate into a tale of a summer like no other.
The summer of 1956 was the summer of Elvis. It was the summer of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It was the summer of As the World Turns debuting. In the summer of 1956 General Motors produced a short movie advertising the car of the future that would be self driving. The car came with a small bar for ice cream and drinks in the glove box. The Yankees would beat the Dodgers in the World Series with Mickey Mantle winning the Triple Crown. Bill Russell would lead the University of San Francisco to an undefeated season and an NCAA championship.
Scituate would have Etrusco on the beach in front of the Lighthouse and reports about the grounding would be found in every corner of the country.
As November rolled around the ship would make its way to a perpendicular position off the Point. The Thanksgiving flood tide would take it off the beach. Lena Russo (who had hosted the crew on the first night) would wave it goodbye and its future would include being renamed the SS Scituate.
This is a story I never tire of telling. Quite often new angles on it are shared with me and that makes it a gift that keeps on giving.
This is a great anniversary remembered each year.
The Lightkeeper's Blog 
Leave a Reply