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New England Weather

1716-1717 Winter

Signs of the Times 18th Century Society The American Revolution Apple Butter Making Architectural Styles Church Customs The Conestoga Wagon The Cooper Coverlets Foursquare Gardens Gunter's Chain The Long S New England Weather Tanning

Chapters Overview 1635 Great Storm 1638 Earthquake The Earthquake of 1663 The Comet of 1664 1667 Strange Appearance 1676 Storm and Shipwreck The Comet of 1680 1682 Strange Appearance Dark Day of 1716 1716-1717 Winter 1718 Wreck of the Whidah 1719 Aurora Borealis Storm of 1722-23 1727 Earthquake 1740-1 Winter 1744 Earthquake 1747-48 Winter 1748 Hurricane 1749 Drought 1755 Great Earthquake 1759 Hurricane 1762 Drought 1768 Lightning 1768 Gale 1769 Summer 1770 Great Freshet 1770 Summer The Storm of October 20, 1770 Summer of 1771 1773 Hurricane The Storm of 1774 The Dark Day of 1780 1782 Hurricane 1785 Great Freshet 1786 Tornado 1786 Snow Storms The Cyclone of 1787 The Meteor of 1787 1788 Gale 1794 Whirlwind The Long Storm of 1798 1799 Hail Storm 1801 Freshet 1802 Great Snow Storm 1804 Storm 1806 Solar Eclipse The Freshet of 1807 The Meteorite of 1807 The Cold Friday of 1810 The Freshet of 1814 The Tornado in 1814 The Gale of 1815 The Cold Summer of 1816 The Tornadoes of 1821 Spring Freshet of 1823 The Spring Freshet of 1826 1826 Avalanche 1827 Gale and Freshet 1827 Wreck of the Almira1830 March Storm The Great Freshet of 1830 1833 Meteoric Display Winter of 1835-36 1839 Storms 1841 October Gale 1842 Snow Storm The Freshet of 1846 1849 October Storm 1851 Lighthouse Storm 1851 Tornado Storm of April, 1852

Dark Day of 1716

1718 Wreck of the Whidah

IN December, 1716, snow fell to the depth of five feet, rendering travelling very difficult, and almost impossible except on snow shoes. The temperature throughout the winter was moderate, but the amount of snow that fell that season has never been equalled in New England during the three centuries of her history.

Snow fell in considerable quantities several times during the month of January, and on February 6 it lay in drifts in some places twenty-five feet deep; and in the woods a yard or more on the level. Cotton Mather said that the people were overwhelmed with snow.

The great storm began on February 18, and continued piling its flakes upon the already covered earth until the twenty-second; being repeated on the twenty-fourth so violently that all communication between houses and farms ceased. Down came the flakes of feathery lightness, until

" . . . . . . .the whited air

Hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven,

And veils the farmhouse,"

within whose walls,

" . . all friends shut out, the housemates sit

Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed

In a tumultuous privacy of storm."

Whittier, in his "Snow Bound," has pleasingly described the coming of the snow in the country. The east wind brought to the settlers the roar of the ocean rolling up on its frozen shore; as night came on, the chilly air and darkened sky gave signs of the coming storm; and soon the blinding snow filled the air.

"Meanwhile we did out nightly chores, —

Brought in the wood from out of doors,

Littered the stalls, and from the mows

Raked down the herd's-grass for the cows;

Heard the horse whinnying for his corn;

And, sharply clashing horn on horn,

Impatient down the stanchion rows

The cattle shake their walnut bows;

While peering from his early perch

Upon the scaffold's pole of birch,

The cock his crested helmet bent.

And down his querulous challenge sent.

"Unwarmed by any sunset light,

The gray day darkened into night,

A night made hoary with the swarm

And whirl-dance of the blinding storm.

As zigzag wavering to and fro

Crossed and recrossed the winged snow;

And ere the early bedtime came

The white drift piled the window frame.

And through the glass the clothes-line posts

Looked in like tall and sheeted ghosts.

"So all night long the storm roared on;

The morning broke without a sun;

In tiny spherule traced with lines

or Nature's geometric signs,

In starry flake and pellicle,

All day the hoary meteor fell;

And, when the second morning shone.

We looked upon a world unknown,

On nothing we could call our own.

Around the glistening wonder bent

The blue walls of the firmament.

No cloud above, no earth below, —

A universe of sky and snow!

The old familiar sights of ours

Took marvellous shapes: strange domes and towers

Rose up where sty or corn-crib stood.

Or garden wall, or belt of wood;

A smooth white mound the brush pile showed,

A fenceless drift what once was road;

The bridge post an old man sat

With loose-flung coat and high cocked hat;

The well-curb had a Chinese roof,

And even the long sweep, high aloof.

In its slant splendor, seemed to tell.

Of Pisa's leaning miracle."

During the storm enough snow fell to bury the earth to the depth of from ten to fifteen feet on the level, and in some places for long distances it was twenty feet deep. The twenty-fourth was Sunday, and the storm was so fierce and the snow came in such quantities that no religious meetings were held throughout New England.

"No church-bell lent its Christian tone

To the savage air, no social smoke

Curled over woods of snow -hung oak.

A solitude made more intense

By dreary voiced elements,

The shrieking of the mindless wind.

The moaning tree-tops swaying blind.

And on the glass the unmeaning beat

Of ghostly finger-tips of sleet.

Beyond the circle of our hearth

No welcome sound of toil or mirth

Unbound the spell, and testified

Of human life and thought outside.

We minded that the sharpest ear

The buried brooklet could not hear.

The music of whose liquid lip

Had been to us companionship.

And, in our lonely life had grown

To have an almost human tone."

Indians, who were almost a hundred years old, said that they had never heard their fathers tell of any storm that equalled this.

Many cattle were buried in the snow, where they were smothered or starved to death. Some were found dead weeks after the snow had melted, yet standing and with all the appearance of life. The eyes of many were so glazed with ice that being near the sea they wandered into the water and were drowned. On the farms of one gentleman upwards of eleven hundred sheep were lost in the snow. Twenty-eight days after the storm, while the search for them was still in progress, more than a hundred were found huddled together, apparently having found a sheltered place on the lee side of a drift, where they were slowly buried as the storm raged on, being covered with snow until they lay sixteen feet beneath the surface. Two of the sheep were alive, having subsisted during the four weeks of their entombment by feeding on the wool of their companions. When rescued they shed their fleeces, but the wool grew again and they were brought back to a good degree of flesh. An instance of a similar nature occurred the present winter {1890-91) in Pennsylvania, where during a snow storm three sheep were buried in a hollow twenty feet under a drift. After twelve days had elapsed, they were discovered, and shoveled out, all being alive. They had not a particle of wool on them, hunger having driven them to eat it entirely off each others' backs. With proper care they were restored to their usual condition.

Other animals also lived during several weeks' imprisonment under the snow. A couple of hogs were lost, and all hope of finding them alive was gone, when on the twenty-seventh day after the storm they worked their way out of the snow bank in which they had been buried, having subsisted on a little tansy, which they had found under the snow. Poultry also survived several days' burial, hens being found alive after seven days, and turkeys from five to twenty. These were buried in the snow some distance above the ground, so that they could obtain no food whatever.

The wild animals which were common in the forests of New England at this period were robbed of their means of subsistence, and they became desperate in their cravings of hunger. Browsing for deer was scarce, the succulent shrubs being buried beneath the snow, and when evening came on those in the forests near the sea-coast started for the shore, where instinct had taught them that they would be likely to find more food. Another, and a greater reason, perhaps, was, that there were other starving animals in the woods beside themselves of which they were afraid. Bears and wolves were numerous then, and as soon as night fell, in their ravenous state they followed the deer in droves into the clearings, at length pouncing upon them. In this way vast numbers of these valuable animals were killed, torn in pieces, and devoured by their fierce enemies. It was estimated that nineteen out of every twenty deer were thus destroyed. They were so scarce after this time that officers called deer-reeves were chosen in each town to attend to their preservation. These officers were annually elected until the country had become so densely populated that the deer had disappeared and there was nothing for them to do.

Bears, wolves and foxes were nightly visitors to the sheep pens of the farmers. Cotton Mather states that many ewes, which were about to give birth to young, were so frightened at the assaults of these animals that most of the lambs born the next spring were of the color of foxes, the dams being either white or black. Vast multitudes of sparrows also came into the settlements after the storm was over, but remained only a short time, returning to the woods as soon as they were able to find food there.

The sea was greatly disturbed, and the marine animal life was in a state of considerable excitement. After the storm ceased, vast quantities of small sea shells were washed on shore in places where they had never been found before; and in the harbors great numbers of porpoises were seen playing together in the water.

The carriers of the mails, who were in that period called "post boys," were greatly hindered in the performance of their duties by the deep snow. Leading out from Boston there were three post roads, and as late as March 4 there was no travelling, the ways being still impassable, and the mail was not expected, though it was then a week late. March 25 the "post" was travelling on snow shoes, the carrier between Salem, Mass., and Portsmouth, N. H., being nine days in making his trip to Portsmouth and eight days in returning, the two towns being about forty miles apart. In the woods he found the snow five feet deep, and in places it measured from six to fourteen feet.

Much damage was done to orchards, the snow being above the tops of many of the trees, and when it froze forming a crust around the boughs, it broke most of them to pieces. The crust was so hard and strong that cattle walked hither and thither upon it, and browsed the tender twigs of the trees, injuring them severely.

Many a one-story house was entirely covered by the snow, and even the chimneys in some instances could not be seen. Paths were dug under the snow from house to barn, to enable the farmers to care for their animals, and tunnels also led from house to house among the neighbors if not too far apart. Snow shoes were of course brought into requisition, and many trips were made by their aid. Stepping out of a chamber window some of the people ventured over the hills of snow. *'Love laughs at locksmiths," and of course, says Coffin, in his History of Newbury, Mass., will disregard a snow-drift. A young man of that town by the name of Abraham Adams was paying his attention to Miss Abigail Pierce, a young lady of the same place, who lived three miles away. A week had elapsed since the storm, and the swain concluded that he must visit his lady. Mounting his snowshoes he made his way out of the house through a chamber window, and proceeded on his trip over the deep, snow-packed valley and huge drifts among the hills beyond. He reached her residence, and entered it, as he had left his own, by way of a chamber window. Besides its own members, he was the first person the family had seen since the storm, and his visit was certainly much appreciated.

In the thinly settled portions of the country great privation and distress were caused by the imprisonment of many families, and the discontinuance of their communication with their neighbors. Among the inhabitants of Medford, Mass., was a widow, with several children, who lived in a one-story house on the road to Charlestown. Her house was so deeply buried that it could not be found for several days. At length smoke was seen issuing from a snow-bank, and by that means its location was ascertained. The neighbors came with shovels, and made a passage to a window, through which they could gain admission. They entered and found that the widow's small stock of fuel was exhausted, and that she had burned some of the furniture to keep her little ones from suffering with the cold. This was but one of many incidents that occurred of a similar character.

Source: Historic Storms of New England by Sidney Perley, 1891

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