diff --git a/libraries/shared/src/NodeList.cpp b/libraries/shared/src/NodeList.cpp
index 391e22a915..b4e3112768 100644
--- a/libraries/shared/src/NodeList.cpp
+++ b/libraries/shared/src/NodeList.cpp
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ NodeList::NodeList(char newOwnerType, unsigned int newSocketListenPort) :
 NodeList::~NodeList() {
     delete _nodeTypesOfInterest;
     
+    clear();
+    
     // stop the spawned threads, if they were started
     stopSilentNodeRemovalThread();
     
@@ -209,6 +211,19 @@ int NodeList::getNumAliveNodes() const {
     return numAliveNodes;
 }
 
+void NodeList::clear() {
+    // delete all of the nodes in the list, set the pointers back to NULL and the number of nodes to 0
+    for (int i = 0; i < _numNodes; i++) {
+        Node** nodeBucket = _nodeBuckets[i / NODES_PER_BUCKET];
+        Node* node = nodeBucket[i % NODES_PER_BUCKET];
+        
+        delete node;
+        node = NULL;
+    }
+    
+    _numNodes = 0;
+}
+
 void NodeList::setNodeTypesOfInterest(const char* nodeTypesOfInterest, int numNodeTypesOfInterest) {
     delete _nodeTypesOfInterest;
     
diff --git a/libraries/shared/src/NodeList.h b/libraries/shared/src/NodeList.h
index da9c4a556a..57f8083113 100644
--- a/libraries/shared/src/NodeList.h
+++ b/libraries/shared/src/NodeList.h
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ public:
     int size() { return _numNodes; }
     int getNumAliveNodes() const;
     
+    void clear();
+    
     void lock() { pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex); }
     void unlock() { pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex); }