HISTORICAL WALKING TOURS | BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
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      • Paul Revere Bell Old South Meeting House
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      • History of the St John and Leavens Patriarchs
      • Samuel St John Jr Estate Genealogy
      • Authenticating the Revere Tuscaloosa Bell
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      • 20th Century Tuscaloosa bell
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    • Revere Bell in Wakefield, Mass
    • Revere Bells Woodstock VT
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    • Benjamin Harris of Publick Occurrences
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    • William Lloyd Garrison
    • USS Thomas Hudner DDG116
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    • King Philip
    • Mayor's of Boston
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    • James Otis
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      • John Rowe's Diary Entries
      • John Rowe's Dinner Party
      • John Rowe and the Jail Fire
      • Hang John Rowe?????
      • John Rowe the Fisherman
      • Joh Rowe's Tea Ship
    • Be Proud to be Called a Lucy Stoner
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    • Who was Mrs. Silence Dogood?
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    • MIT
    • Historic Charles River
    • The Roxbury Standpipe on Fort Hill
    • John & Abigail Adams National Park

Three devastating Hurricanes of October 10, 1804! September 21, 1938!  August 25, 1635!

9/21/2016

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Picture

Bostonians of a certain generation often refer back to the calamitous hurricane of 1938.  Winds quickly reached 150 mph registering the storm as a category 5 hurricane. More than six-hundred people on the east coast died and an estimated 57,000, homes were damaged or destroyed.  The storm was a direct hit on Rhode Island with tidal surges of 40-50 feet.  Entire towns were obliterated on a day that started out mild and sunny.

Storm warnings in 1938 were insufficient to prepare New Englanders for the enormous storm that formed near Africa.  Meteorologists often relied on ships at sea to provide some warning.  This storm seemed to deflate east of Florida then build up near North Carolina. In the end winds in Boston reached 200 mph, the most ever recorded.  Hundreds of millions of trees were uprooted. 

The Godly[i], in 1635 experienced their own natural nightmare. They settled Boston in 1630, having landed in Salem, re-settled in Charlestown and soon after purchased Boston from Reverend William Blaxton[ii].  The Godly sought good water and found It amongst five springs in Boston.  A future blog will discuss the Reverend’s sole ownership of the area known as Shawmut (Boston). 

Colonist of the October 9, 1804 Snow Hurricane, might have a tail or two to tell of nature’s colossal attack on Boston’s wood based infrastructure. Most homes and buildings were made of wood often built by shipwrights spinning off from their primary source of income.  Nearly all major oak trees were felled by the storm devastating the ship building industry. For three days, areas of New England received either seven inches of rain or 48 inches of snow or a mixture of both.  You could not evacuate due to the wind, rain and snow, so Bostonians suffered through the storm waiting for their homes to topple down.  The storm brought on terror as some homes lost only their roof, while others pancaked to the ground.  Nine citizens were killed in Boston but dozens more were caught out or chose to ride the storm at sea.

The Hurricane of 1804, knocked down the sacred Old North Church steeple and others.  Today the Old North Church's steeple is sixteen feet shorter than the steeple that held the famous two lanterns.  No matter, the outcome the revolutionary events of April 19, 1775, would not have differed under either steeple[iii].

Most visitors to Boston marvel at the cities European facade. Yet, little of Boston’s homes or buildings reach back to the 17th or 18th century.  Nor’easters, Hurricanes and fires have decimated local architecture.

 
 [i] The Godly was the name Puritans used to refer to themselves. 
[ii] Reverend William Blaxton, was granted the 56 acres of the Boston Common by the Puritans; perhaps as he freely shared rights to the 5 water springs with them. The Godlys re-purchased the Common from Reverend Blaxton in 1634; (also known as William Blackstone, lending his synonym to Blackstone Valley, Massachusetts.)
[iii] The Battle of Lexington and Concord “The Shot Heard Round the World”
 
Bibliography
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1804_Snow_hurricane
Conwell, Russell H. History of the Great Fire in Boston, November 9 and 10, 1872. Boston: B.B. Russell, 1873.
Forbes, Esther. Paul Revere and the World He Lived in. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1988. Print. 1942 Pulitzer Prize Winner
 
 

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  • Freedom Trail Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Tour
    • Boston Civil War Tour
    • The Kennedy Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Lesson Plan
    • Paul Revere's Neighborhood
    • Paul Revere's Row to Charlestown 4/18/1775
    • Virtual Tour of the Massachusetts State House
    • The Boston Massacre per the Pennsylvania Gazette
    • Paul Revere Lesson Plan
  • Revere Bells Index
    • The Stickney Revere Bell Listings of 1976
    • Paul Revere Bell of Beverly
    • Revere Bells in Boston >
      • Paul Revere Bell Old South Meeting House
    • California's 2 Paul Revere Bells
    • Paul Revere & Son's Bell Westborough Massachusetts
    • Falmouth, Massachusetts
    • Revere Bell Fredericksburg VA
    • Revere Bell Hampton NH
    • First Parish Church of Kennebunk
    • Revere Bells in Maine
    • Revere Bell in Mansfield
    • Revere Bell of Michigan
    • Revere Salem Mass Bell
    • Roxbury First Unitariarn Universalist Church and their Revere Bell
    • Revere & Son Bell, Savannah Georgia
    • Singapore Revere Bell
    • Tuscaloosa Bell >
      • History of the St John and Leavens Patriarchs
      • Samuel St John Jr Estate Genealogy
      • Authenticating the Revere Tuscaloosa Bell
      • Joshua B Leavens Last Will and Testament
      • 20th Century Tuscaloosa bell
    • Revere Bells Lost in Time
    • Revere Bells Washington DC
    • Revere Bell in Wakefield, Mass
    • Revere Bells Woodstock VT
  • Bostonians
    • Edward F Alexander of The Harvard 20th Civil War Regiment
    • Polly Baker
    • John Wilkes Booth
    • The Mad Hatter, Thomas, Boston Corbett who Killed John Wilkes Booth
    • Richard-Henry-Dana-Jr
    • James Franklin
    • Benjamin Harris of Publick Occurrences
    • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
    • William Lloyd Garrison
    • USS Thomas Hudner DDG116
    • Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere
    • Amos Lincoln
    • King Philip
    • Mayor's of Boston
    • Mum Bett & Theodore Sedgwick
    • James Otis
    • Paul Joseph Revere
    • John Rowe >
      • John Rowe's Diary Entries
      • John Rowe's Dinner Party
      • John Rowe and the Jail Fire
      • Hang John Rowe?????
      • John Rowe the Fisherman
      • Joh Rowe's Tea Ship
    • Be Proud to be Called a Lucy Stoner
    • Rachel Wall , Pirate
    • Paul Revere the Coroner of Boston
    • Deborah Sampson
    • Who was Mrs. Silence Dogood?
    • Dr. Joseph Warren's Dedication
  • History Blog
  • Lilja's of Natick
    • Lilja Brothers Military History
    • Lilja's Family Album
    • Memorials and Tributes to the Five Lilja Brothers
    • Lilja Family Tree
    • Lilja Historical Family Tree Documents
    • Lilja References
  • Collage of Boston
    • 4th of July Parade, Bristol RI
    • Boston Harbor
    • The Customs House
    • Forest Hills Cemetery
    • Georges Island
    • Nonviolent Monument to Peace - Sherborn
    • The Battle Road
    • Skate bike and scooter park
    • Cassin Young & USS Cassin Young
    • MIT
    • Historic Charles River
    • The Roxbury Standpipe on Fort Hill
    • John & Abigail Adams National Park