A few years ago, The Andrea, a seasonal seafood restaurant at the west end of Misquamicut Beach in West, posted a black and white photo on Facebook showing a line of cars buried in the sand.
The cars, about 20 of them, had their windows smashed and looked as if they were made in the 1940s or 1950s.
“Tell me what you think you know about cars. Free drink to whoever gets to the truth behind cars. … Good luck!” said the post.
The post generated more than 300 guesses. Some of them were submitted by people who enjoyed it.
“These cars were all impounded for parking illegally in front of Ocean House,” joked one person.
“People trying to avoid the 20.00 parking fee at the state beach?” asked another.
“A used car dealer that has gone under so to speak,” pointed out a third.
Some, however, were closer to the mark.
“There was a flood, I think back in 54, the cars were buried,” continued one guess. “The cars were left there covered with sand as a blockade/barrier in front of the Andrea hotel. I believe that after Hurricane Sandy, you can see some of the cars again.”
Rebecca Colucci, whose family owns the Andrea, remembers the history of the buried cars.
“The year was 1954,” she told The Providence Journal. “Hurricane Carol came first and then we got hit by Hurricane Edna. It may be the only time in history that New England has been hit by two category 3 hurricanes in one year.”
The storm left many cars with water damage. Ralph Colucci, Rebecca’s grandfather, offered to collect and dispose of them.
“His idea was to bury them as deep as possible and create a barrier against coastal storms. He prepared the cars, cut the windows and put heavy chains around the cars that connect them together,” said Colucci.
Ralph Colucci apparently buried cars twice, once in 1954 and again in the 1960s, according to Nina Wright, who oversees special collections and reference at the West Library.
A news clip from 1967 seems to confirm this account.
“For many years Ralph Colucci, owner of a beach front hotel in Misquamicut Beach, had the problem of beach erosion causing damage to his hotel when the ocean was [wash] away the sand bank in front of his hotel,” reads the clip. “Two years ago Colucci had a row of junk cars buried in a long ditch and covered with sand. So far the cars have kept the sandbank from washing away”
Misquamicut Beach in the summer of 2023. Under the sand in front of The Andrea restaurant, a line of junked cars has been buried since the 1950s as a bulwark to reduce erosion from coastal storms.
Since then, storms have uncovered pieces of cars. Thomas Gulluscio, president of the Western Historical Society, said that the locals used to measure the severity of the storms according to whether Colucci’s buried cars came out.
“I remember when I was little I said, ‘Oh boy, the storm last night was so bad you can finally see the cars here,'” Gulluscio said.
Other local people, in comments on Facebook, recall playing as children along the sand and seeing the exposed vehicles after the storms.
Hurricane Sandy in 2012 was one of the most powerful storms to hit Misquamicut Bay. This caused great damage to The Andrea, which was a hotel until then. The Colucci family demolished the building, preserved the hotel’s old historic fireplace, and built a restaurant in its place.
Rebecca Colucci remembers after Hurricane Sandy she found a car part under the patio area near the main building.
“We have always removed and disposed of them properly, but there may be a few more,” she said.
As for who got a free drink for correctly guessing the history of the cars, she’s not sure.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Section of Misquamicut Beach has cars buried in it to reduce erosion