Old Berwick Historical Society lecture:
“Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death”
Thursday, October 23, 7:30 pm
Fogg Memorial at Berwick Academy
Admission is free and refreshments will be served
More information:
www.obhs.net or (207) 384-0000.
About two centuries ago, several New England newspapers, including the Dover Sun of Dover, New Hampshire, reported than an 85-year-old Vermont man was lost in the woods in a snowstorm. What made the story remarkable was that this exposure occurred in the month of June.
History teacher Brad Fletcher will follow the infamous “year without a summer,” 1816, including its impact on seacoast New Hampshire and southern Maine. Sponsored by the Old Berwick Historical Society, the talk will address the causes and after-effects of this climate extreme, and will look at how we might find useful lessons from 1816 as we face our own, albeit warmer, environmental shifts.
When Vermonter Joseph Walker was found, he was suffering from exposure to the cold and was expected to die. Walker recovered and lived another eight years, but he became a footnote in the history of the most famous, which is to say coldest, summer in U.S. history.
“Eighteen hundred and froze to death,” as the year was sometimes called, witnessed unseasonable and bitter cold in each summer month, with predictably dire results.
In the months after the notorious summer, the northeastern population faced food shortages and the possibility of famine, compounding what were already grim economic times following the War of 1812. A short period of social, economic, and political turmoil followed.
Fletcher is an upper school history teacher at Berwick Academy. His presentation is part of the Old Berwick Historical Society’s 2008 series of talks, walks and historical events.
The series, supported by members and a grant from Kennebunk Savings Bank, includes seven monthly Thursday programs, all starting at 7:30 pm at Berwick Academy, as well as other local history events around South Berwick, including the society’s Counting House Museum.
