New England Storms

“. . . The northeast branch of the hurricane was accompanied by a terrible thunder shower during which the flashes of lightening were incessant, the whole heavens seeming to be one blaze of fire. The wind and hail that accompanied the shower almost entirely destroyed the grain. It passed onward to Royalton, where the rain fell in such quantity that the water was knee deep in the houses, and many buildings were undermined and ruined. One house was thrown down and carried a considerable distance by the flood. Hail of extreme size fell here plentifully, and it was affirmed by credible people that some of the stones were six inches in length, and by estimation weighed a pound. . .”

One might wonder if that description of a major storm was written recently, given all the news about hurricanes of the modern age. But the excerpt was actually taken from a book originally published in 1891 about a storm in the northeast United States that occurred on 23 June 1782.

The book is titled, Historic Storms of New England by Sidney Perley. It was first published by Salem Press Publishing and Printing Company, Salem, Massachusetts. The book was republished in 2001 by Memories Unlimited, Inc., Beverley, Massachusetts.

As the book’s subtitle, or general description notes, it is a compilation of New England “. . . Gales, Tornadoes, Showers with Thunder and Lightning, Great Snow Storms, Rains, Freshets, Floods, Droughts, Cold Winters, Hot Summers, Avalanches, Earthquakes, Dark Days, Comets, Aurora Borealis, Phenomena in the Heavens, Wrecks Along the Coast, with Incidents and Anecdotes, Amusing and Pathetic.”

The events recorded span the period from 1685 to 1890, which includes the last half of the Little Ice Age. The book is entertaining and informative, written in an old-style manner. It contains many specific references to places and people, so will be of use to family historians researching ancestors who lived in the New England region.

I bought my copy through Amazon. It was not vey expensive and, besides, I like to have these kinds of publications on my bookshelf where I can thumb through them at my leisure.

The original book can be found and downloaded in various electronic formats for free at archive.org. https://archive.org/stream/historicstormsn00perlgoog#page/n6/mode/2up

Overall, the book is a wonderful resource that connects people, communities and the impact of Mother Nature. It combines the scientific facts of the physical events with the mystical and spiritual beliefs of the people who lived through them.