NORWALK, Conn. (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- A family's memorial bench that was swept away from the Connecticut coast by a nor'easter last November turned up in Suffolk County after crossing the Long Island Sound in a monthslong journey.
The bench sat on the coast of Rocky Point in Norwalk since 2009. It has plaques to remember Dean Hacohen's parents, Nahum and Judy Hacohen.
"The bench became this family focal point," Hacohen said.
His family often hung out on the seaside bench, and it was a part of special family milestones, including the weddings of his daughters last summer.
"One of them got engaged on the bench and the other had her day of the wedding photos at the bench," Hacohen said.
Dean Hacohen holds the plaques of his parents, Nahum and Judy Hacohen.Mack Rosenberg
But high tide during November's storm washed it out to sea.
"All of us thought maybe it floated up and down the Long Island Sound to another Connecticut beach—Stamford, Darien, Westport, surrounding towns," he said.
But one place the Hacohen family didn't think of was East Setauket, where Diane Wattecamps and her husband stumbled upon the bench during a walk in their neighborhood on Jan. 27.
"It traveled 17 miles across the Long Island Sound," Wattecamps said. "One of the bronze memorial plaques was just hanging on the back of the bench by a screw."
Hacohen and his siblings had been thinking about getting a new bench when Wattecamps tracked them down and returned the original one.
"When we brought the bench back in the pickup the other day, we made sure we put it about 25, 30 feet back from the beach wall," Hacohen said.
He said he also planned to write his phone number on the bench in permanent marker.
The bench was back at Rocky Point in Norwalk this week after making the 17-mile journey across the Long Island Sound to Suffolk County.Mack Rosenberg
