Great New England Earthquake of 1727

By Elaine Marie Cooper

When growing up in Massachusetts, I had never experienced an earthquake. When my dad’s job sent us to California, these trembles of the earth were the norm and I expected them—although hated the experiences when they occurred. Without warning, the ground beneath you suddenly loses its steadfast stability. The unexpected nature of these events was unnerving, to say the least.

Imagine my surprise to discover there have been several recorded instances of earthquakes in and around New England where I’d grown up, earthquake-ignorant. One of the more significant ones occurred in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1727, although ripples of ground shaking were felt in several other northern colonies as well.

According to Sidney Perley in his classic 1891 edition of Historic Storms of New England, the weather in the northeastern colonies that year defied any sense of normalcy.

A drought occurred in 1727 that began with little rain in the spring, followed by almost no precipitation all summer. “The earth dried to a great depth, and many wells and springs, which had never failed before were now dry. There was much lightning and thunder, but very little rain.”

Perley wrote, “After the drought was broken, a violent northeast storm came on, doing much damage among the vessels along the coast, and the trees on shore. This occurred September 16.”

 

Sidney Perley Book

October weather continued to be at odds with the norm. The weather grew very cold on October 24, followed by a snowfall, then more cold weather. Then Sunday the 28thwas “fair and pleasant.” Everything seemed calm and the colonists went to bed at their usual hour. All seemed well, until twenty minutes before the hour of eleven, when “a terrible noise followed by a roar and a rush suddenly woke them.”

Before the sleepy inhabitants had their wits about them, Perley described an unimaginable sound: “a pounce as if gigantic cannons had rolled against each other from opposite directions.”
Door latches pushed upward and the portals opened wide. Homes trembled and hearthstones grated, while chimney tops loosened and fell, some destroyed altogether. Everything movable rattled and fell.

Frightened citizens ran out their doors, fearing for their lives. People who had already been awake prior to the earthquake claimed a flash of light had preceded the event. Dogs were heard barking at the blazing illumination. These late-to-bed residents told of a murmuring sound that grew to a rumbling “as if innumerable heavy carriages were being rapidly driven over pavements … a hollow sound as if it came from under the earth.”

Then came the sudden and shocking occurrence that awoke the colonists far and wide. It lasted for about two minutes. “The earth reel’d and trembled to a great degree. The houses rock’d and crackl’d as if they were tumbling into ruins.” (Weekly News-Letter, November 3, 1727)

“Cattle ran bellowing about the fields, being thoroughly frightened at this sudden and fearful commotion in the still hours of the night,” wrote Perley.

An aftershock occurred at 11:00 pm. Although milder than the first tremble, it kept everyone in a state of fear. When another occurred before midnight, most residents got dressed and prepared to remain on alert for the duration of the terrifying night.

In several towns like Londonderry, New Hampshire and Rowley, Massachusetts, residents ran to the homes of their ministers for comfort. The reverend in Rowley, whose home could not hold all of the congregants, opened the meetinghouse where they all prayed through the night.

More aftershocks continued through the night. When morning dawned, the damage could be assessed. Although dishes were shattered and some chimneys required rebuilding, “Not a wooden house was broken nor a person or animal injured.”

The earthquake of 1727 did have a significant impact on the terrain and on the underground springs and wells, however. The ground beneath some marshland was raised up so much as to become unfit for its native grasses, but useable for farming. Well water was often changed for the better but one well took seven days to become sweet and pure after the trembling of the earth had caused the underground liquid to have an offensive stench.

In Newbury, Massachusetts, large fissures opened up in the ground and some feared the earth would swallow them up.

The real impact of the earthquake was in the minds and spirits of the citizenry of New England. Many believed it was divine judgement for their sins and clergy preached that it was “a loud call to the whole land to repent and fear and give glory to God.”

In a sermon to his congregation in Hampton, N.H., Reverend Nathaniel Gookin said, “All of us saw necessity of looking to God for his favor and protection; and I would hope that many did, not only look to God in that time of their distress, but did truly and heartily return to him.”

Rev. Cotton Mather

Reverend Cotton Mather wrote an “Awakening” speech, and delivered it to the inhabitants of Boston, “…who assembled the next morning in a very great congregation for the proper exercise of religion on such a Solemn Occasion.” (From an ad for a copy of the pamphlet, “sold by Samuel Kneeland at his shop in King St.”) Reverend Mather wrote, “Let the natural causes of earthquake be what the wise men of enquiry please, they and their causes are still under the government of Him that is God of nature.”

Town leaders in Medford, Massachusetts declared a day of fasting and prayer and churches throughout New England were filled, some beyond capacity.

“Many who had before cared nothing for a religious life became penitent and devout.” Some became truly reformed. “But in too many cases, when their fears were gone, the religious thoughts and habits of the people lost their hold on them.” (Perley)

More aftershocks continued in the northeast through December and, up until that time, was the severest known earthquake in New England.

Next time I visit my home state, I’ll be a tad more aware of rumbles and trembles and I’ll pray that the next Great Earthquake does not find me in a Boston subway. 

To view the New England Seismic Network from Weston Observatory at Boston College, click here.

Elaine Marie Cooper is the award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s Calendar. Her latest release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She penned the three-book Deer Run Saga and has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. She freely admits to being a history geek. Look for her upcoming series, entitled Dawn of America, set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. The first two books are entitled War's Respite and Love's Kindling. You can visit her site at www.elainemariecooper.com.

Wonderful Little Red Berries

 Cranberries by Martha Rogers

When I start my Christmas baking, one of the first items on my list is Cranberry Orange Bread. It’s been a favorite in our family and one of mine since my grandmother taught me the recipe well over seventy-years ago. When I got out that recipe recently, I began to think about the cranberries and their history. How long have cranberries been around? Were they a part of that first Thanksgiving feast?

What I found out fascinated me, and I decided to share it with our readers. I knew cranberries grew in bogs as I had seen them in Massachusetts when we were there one year. This is what they look like.

Now, I’ve learned they’ve been around thousands of years of years when glaciers receded and formed cavities in the land. 

Wampanoag People of southeastern Massachusetts annually harvested the wild berries, and although they tasted sour, they ate some of them, others they used for dye or dried them to mix with dried meat and animal fat to make a mixture called pemmican that lasted for months. Medicine men even used them in traditional healing rituals.

As early as 1550, James White Norwood wrote about Native Americans using cranberries. It is said that those coming ashore from Europe and England were met by the Native Americans bearing cups full of the berry.

Europeans who settled and explored New England in the 16^th and 17^th century were already familiar with the berries as they grew in the boggy regions of England. They called them “craneberries” because of their similarity the head of a Sandhill crane. They were also called "bear berries" by the natives because bears liked to eat them.

This is how they looked when growing in those early days in the ponds and bogs when first seen by those early explorers.  

Popular legend has it that cranberries were served at that first Thanksgiving meal in Plymouth as the Wampanoag peoples met with them, and cranberries were a part of the food native to the them. Later, in 1648, one of the early preachers, John Elliot wrote about the difficulties the Pilgrims had using their Indian friends in the harvest of the berries. The natives much preferred hunting and fishing to harvesting cranberries. A recipe for cranberry sauce appeared in the Pilgrim cookbook in 1663, and in 1667, ten barrels of berries plus other foods were sent to King Charles as a means of appeasing his anger over some of their activities. An account of Captain Richard Cobb's wedding banquet describes the meal as wild turkey served with a sauce made of wild cranberries growing in the region.

Over the years cranberries became more popular with the settlers for cooking, medicinal purposes, and for red dyes for cloth. Below is a picture of a cranberry harvest in 1880's. Under it is one of cranberries being harvested today.

By 1885, Plymouth County boasted 1,347 acres under cultivation; Barnstable County had 2,408. By 1900, the number of acres tripled, making Cape Cod a household name. “Cranberry Fever” struck and the industry boomed. As late as 1927, the cranberry harvest remained so vital to local and state economies that Massachusetts children could be excused from school to work the bogs during harvest season. 

About 90% of today's cranberries are wet-picked as seen in the picture above, but 5-10% of the US crop is still dry-picked. This entails higher labor costs and lower yield, but dry-picked berries are less bruised and can be sold as fresh fruit instead of having to be immediately frozen or processed. Originally performed with two-handed comb scoops, dry picking is today accomplished by motorized, walk-behind harvesters which must be small enough to traverse beds without damaging the vines.

Because cranberries are such a big industry today, other businesses have sprung from the popularity of the berry. One of these is Cranberry Glass which is blown with dye added to make the glass the cranberry color. When we were in
Massachusetts, I purchased a few pieces of the glass and keep it on display. 

Popular recipes using fresh or dried cranberries or cranberry sauce include bread, muffins, cookies, congealed salads, pies, and cranberry relish. The next time you serve cranberries, think of the long history they've had in our country.

So tell me, what is your favorite cranberry recipe or dish.

Martha Rogers is a multi-published author with over 50 novels and novellas in print. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston, Texas where they are active members of First Baptist Church, and Martha co-leads a First Place 4 Health group. They are the parents of three sons and grandparents to 9 grandchildren plus three spouses and great-grandparents to six. Martha is a retired teacher with twenty-eight years teaching Home Economics and English at the secondary level and eight years at the college level supervising student teachers and teaching freshman English. 

Farm Animals in Colonial Times

Today I’m going to follow up my series on colonial farms with a look at what kinds of livestock you’d have found on early American farms. Back then few people cared about breeds, and few formal breeds had been established. To farm families a cow was a cow, a pig was a pig, and a chicken was a chicken. They needed animals for food and labor, so naturally they favored animals that were the most productive and best adapted to their area whatever the breed.

Poultry

Poultry was as important to cooking in the 18th century as today. Chickens, ducks, and geese were not only a source of meat and eggs, however, but also helped to keep the bug population under control in colonial gardens. The following are several early breeds you would have found down on the farm.

Dominique Chicken

Dominique Chickens. One of the first breeds of chickens developed in the United States. Black and white, they are small to medium in size and very hardy as their heavy plumage protects them in freezing temperatures. They were developed during 1700s in Massachusetts from English breeds introduced by European who settled in New England.

Dorking Chickens. This silver or dark poultry breed has five toes. They are large and broad-breasted, well suited to the outdoors due to their ability to forage for their food.

Hamburg Chicken

Hamburg Chickens. These small chickens are known for their slender legs, neat combs, symmetrical form, and for producing large quantities of eggs. Thought to have originated in Holland before the 14th century, they come in a variety of colors. Colonial Williamsburg breeds the silver spangled variety.

Spanish Black Turkey. These completely black fowl descended from Mexican turkeys domesticated by the Aztecs, which were brought back to Spain by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. They spread to England and from there were brought back to North America by settlers in the 18th century. Crossed with North American wild turkeys, they produced breeds such as the Bronze.

Bronze Turkey

Bronze Turkeys. This is the turkey that comes to mind when we think about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. Remember all those pictures you colored in elementary school during the fall? That’s the one. This breed was developed in the 18th century, though they weren’t called by that name until the 1830s. Descendents of the Spanish Black Turkeys were brought from England to the colonies, where they were crossed with wild North American turkeys to produce a bird that was larger and stronger than the European turkey.

Horses

The horses that transported riders; pulled carriages, carts, and plows; and treaded wheat from the stalks in colonial times were mostly noted in records simply as plow or carriage horses. However, George Washington inventoried Arabian and Andalusian horses in his herd, along with Chincoteague ponies.

Andalusian horse

Andalusian. The Andalusian horse is descended from the Iberian horses of Spain and Portugal, and derives its name from Andalusia, where it originated. The breed was considered the “first place for its perfection, because it is the most beautiful, noble, graceful and courageous.” The breed peaked in popularity in Great Britain during the 17th century, but with the introduction of the thoroughbred, its popularity faded after the mid-18th century.

Arabian. Arabian horses originated on the Arabian Peninsula and have a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage that we probably are all familiar with. These beautiful horses are one of the oldest breeds; archaeological remains of horses in the Middle East that resemble the modern breed date back 4,500 years.

Chincoteague Pony

Chincoteague Pony. Also known as the Assateague horse, this is a breed of feral ponies that developed on Assateague Island off the coast of Virginia and Maryland. They can be any color, including pinto. Legend holds that their ancestors were survivors of wrecked Spanish galleons off the Virginia coast, but it is more likely that they descend from stock released on the island by 17th-century colonists.

Belgian. This large draft horse, also known as Belgian Heavy Horse, Brabançon, or Brabant, originated in the Brabant region of modern Belgium. It was a favorite for pulling heavy loads.

Marsh Tacky Horse

Marsh Tacky Horse. These sturdy horses are native to South Carolina and may have been left behind by Spanish explorers and settlers in the 1500s. During the American Revolution they were ridden by many of the troops of the famous—or infamous—“Swamp Fox” Francis Marion because they were well adapted to the rough and swampy terrain of the region. Because of their gentle nature and size they became a preferred mount for women and children, but their strength and fearlessness also made them popular for hunting and herding cattle. They are a direct descendent of the horses of the Golden Age of Spain, a type that is mostly extinct in Spain today and is critically rare today.

Cows

Cows provided meat, milk, leather, and labor for colonial farm families. The following 2 breeds were widespread throughout the colonies.

Milking Red Devons

American Milking Red Devons. Descended from the British Red Devon breed native to Devonshire, England, these large, red cows with long horns were brought to New England by the Pilgrims in 1623. They were valued for their ability to provide labor, meat, and high butterfat milk ideal for making butter and cheese as well as for their ability to forage and thrive even on poor pasture. They are gentle, active, intelligent, and relatively strong for their size, which made them popular as oxen.

Kerry Cows. Now a historic rare breed of dairy cattle, Kerries are native to Ireland and are probably the breed records of the early Plymouth Colony described simply as “black cows.” They are believed to be one of the oldest breeds in Europe. Their coat is almost entirely black, with a little white on the udder, and their horns are pale colored with dark tips.

Other Animals

Goat at Plymouth Plantation

Spanish Goats. Beginning in the 1500s, Spanish explorers brought goats from Spain to the Caribbean Islands, and from there they spread across North America and Mexico. They are hardy and thrive on rough forage and in challenging environments. As a source of milk, meat and hides, they became an integral part of subsistence farming, especially since eating goat meat allowed cattle to be used as draft animals for crop production and transportation. Spanish goats were the only goats known across the southern United States and in most other parts of the Americas for more than 300 years. Spanish goats are usually horned and are found in a variety of different colors. Later immigrants from the British Isles brought with them the Old English Goat, Irish Primitive Goat, Old Irish Goat, Old Scottish Goat, and Old Welsh Goat.

Ossabaw Island Hog

Ossabaw Island Hogs. Hogs were valued by the colonists because they could be allowed to run wild and forage in the woods until the fall when they were caught, fattened, and slaughtered. Early explorers brought livestock to the Americas beginning in the 1500s, including pigs that escaped or were deliberately set free to forage. The Ossabaw Island Hog, a feral breed that has lived for centuries on Ossabaw Island off the coast of Georgia, is the closest genetic representative of these swine. They’re usually black, although some are black with white spots or light with black spots. Adult pigs are hairy, with heavy bristles around the head and neck.

Leicester Longwool Sheep

Leicester Longwool Sheep. The Leicester (pronounced leister) breed, known for its docility and the length and sheen of its wool, was introduced to North America from Britain before the Revolutionary War and remained popular into the 1800s. These sheep mature quickly and produce a soft, heavy fleece that falls in long ringlets. The wool is very desirable for spinning, weaving, and making felt and hair for dolls. They were used as a pioneer breed in America, Australia, New Zealand, and other British colonies, but today are quite rare in Britain and North America. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation reestablished this breed in the United States by importing sheep from Tasmania, but it remains globally rare.

Having grown up on a farm, I’ve gone to a number of county fairs, and I always find myself drawn to the fancy chickens. For some reason I love the different breeds and colors. Believe me, if I owned any acreage, I’d have a flock!

Do you like to go to county fairs and check out the livestock? Do you find yourself drawn to a particular type of animal? Have you ever had an unusual pet? Please share a bit about your animal preferences and experiences with us!

~~~

J. M. Hochstetler is an author, editor, and publisher. The daughter of Mennonite farmers, she is a lifelong student of history. Northkill, Book 1 of the Northkill Amish Series, won Foreword Magazine’s 2014 Indy Book of the Year Bronze Award for historical fiction. Book 2, The Return, released in April. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. One Holy Night, a contemporary retelling of the Christmas story, was the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year.

~~~

Bronze turkey image: CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=284803

Goat image: https://www.plimoth.org/

Ossabaw Island Hog image: CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5894230

Portland, Maine’s First Capital

From Colonial days, Maine was part of the colony, and later the state, of Massachusetts. But the two locations were separated by land, industries, and by political leanings.

When Maine became a separate state on March 15, 1820, the city of Portland became its capital without opposition. It remained the capital until 1832, when the seat of government was moved to Augusta.

The present state house in Augusta, Maine. Photo by Terry Ross from Corpus Christi, Texas, United States (Maine State House) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The first State House was a modest two-story Federal style building at the corner of Congress and Myrtle Streets in Portland. It served as Maine's State House until 1832 and was eventually destroyed in Portland’s Great Fire of 1866.

Portland is the largest city in Maine, located on the state’s southern coast. In 1832, the city was a stage coaching center, and its commercial fleet was the largest on the eastern seaboard.

Portland has an excellent sheltered harbor, and it became a shipping center for timber and other products. Fishermen also thrived there. Fishing fleets caught tons of cod, mackerel, haddock and herring, much of which was exported.

The Jenny Flood Kreger, one of the last large sailing ships built in Maine, launched in 1919.

In the early nineteenth century, the United States became the world’s second largest maritime nation. Maine businessmen owned one fifth of America’s merchant fleet. Maine experienced a boom in shipbuilding. Many clippers and coastal trading ships were built in the Maine shipyards.

Another sought-after product from Maine, and a renewable one, was ice. Every winter, Maine ships carried ice south. Often these ships would unload in the southeastern U.S. and pick up cotton to convey to British textile mills.

Ice harvest

Timber continued to be the most lucrative product of Maine for many years. It was needed for construction all over the nation and in other countries. The wood for many buildings, vessels, and railroad ties came from Maine forests.

In the book Portland by the Sea, Augustus F. Moulton said, “The growth of Maine at this time was and continued to be rapid. The census of 1830 showed an increase of more than one hundred thousand. The Eastern part, with its timber lands and ship building was especially prominent in the general development. As there were no railroads and few public conveyances, it was thought best after a few years to select some place nearer the geographical center of the state of the legislative sessions and the keeping of public records” (for the capital).

Several cities and towns were considered for the honor of becoming the state capitol, including Brunswick, Hallowell, Waterville, Belfast, Wiscasset and Augusta. 

In 1827, the Legislature selected Augusta as the new capital, and construction of a statehouse there was begun. The first session of the legislature was held there January 4, 1832, and Augusta became the permanent capital.

The city of Portland made repeated attempts over the years to have the capital moved back there, without success.

Portland, Moulton notes, “retained its priority as a port and as the principal business emporium of the state and kept upon its prosperous course with undiminished vigor.”

I'm excited to have a new Maine series launched, with three books now available. To enter the giveaway of the first book in the romantic suspense Maine Justice series, leave a comment with your contact information. If the selected winner has read book 1, The Priority Unit, he or she may choose the second book, Fort Point, or another of my books.

 
Susan Page Davis is the author of more than seventy published novels. She’s a two-time winner of the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, and also a winner of the Carol Award and two Will Rogers Medallions, and a finalist in the WILLA Awards and the More Than Magic Contest. A Maine native, she lived for a while in Oregon and now lives in Kentucky. Visit her website at: www.susanpagedavis.com , where you can sign up for her occasional newsletter and read a short story on her romance page.