Whale beached at Ah-de-nah, October 20, 1948. By Ethel Packard.
In the 1948 Annual Report of the Town of Kingston, the Board of Health reported:
On October 20th, 1943, a fin-back whale came ashore north of the town pier [today's town landing] at the foot of River Street. Measuring 42 ft. in length and weighing approximately 30 tons, this would ordinarily have been a human interest story, but it developed into a Board of Health problem when this Board was forced to dispose of the mammal. Our Highway Department with the assistance of power machinery, loaded the whale on a heavy-duty platform trailer and carried it to the Town Dump where it was suitably buried.
After the dump closed a few years later, the Kingston Drive-In was built on the site. Today this location is occupied by Summerhill Plaza, so yes, indeed, there is a whale buried under the Stop-n-Shop!
Whale beached at Ah-de-nah, October 20, 1948. By Ethel Packard.
What a great story to share with my family out of state! As a new resident of Kingston, I relish this site as a way of orienting myself to the town and its particular (peculiar?) history. Thanks for your awesome efforts in giving Kingston’s past a sense of reality not often found.