Storms & Rescues
The ocean gives OC everything and periodically takes it back. The storms that made the town, told at the places they hit.
4 stops · 45 min walk · 0.8 miles
- 🚶 On foot
- History
- 🪙 40 Sand Dollars on completion
Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum
The surfmen's creed: 'You have to go out. You don't have to come back.' From this station, crews launched wooden boats into Atlantic storms for sailors they'd never met. The museum's rescue gear — breeches buoys, Lyle guns — is the technology of pure nerve.
Full details, hours & sources for Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum →
North along the boards.
Atlantic Hotel
Fire, not water, dealt the first blow: December 1925, three blocks gone including the original 1875 hotel. The town rebuilt in a year. It was practice.
Ocean City Inlet & Jetty
August 22–23, 1933: rain-swollen bays met a hurricane tide and tore the island in two. The town had begged for an inlet for years — nature invoiced them one night's terror for it. The Army Corps' jetties made it permanent.
Full details, hours & sources for Ocean City Inlet & Jetty →
Boardwalk Arch & Sign
The boards you're standing on are the fourth-or-so edition: the 1962 Ash Wednesday storm sat on OC for five high tides and broke the boardwalk apart; Gloria (1985) hit it at 89 mph; Sandy (2012) drowned half of it. Each time: rebuilt by spring. The arch is the town's shrug at the Atlantic.
Full details, hours & sources for Boardwalk Arch & Sign →
Quiz yourself: Which storm lingered for five high tides in 1962?
- Hurricane Gloria
- The Ash Wednesday storm
- Hurricane Sandy
- The Chesapeake-Potomac hurricane
Answer: The Ash Wednesday storm