Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog: #38 - Vanilla Ice, Cricket Whisperer, Northern Lights, etc.

1. It’s the time of year when people start pulling their boats out of the water. This past week one guy was pulling his 30-foot boat out at a ramp at a local beach. It was a weird dichotomy as it was definitely a cool boat, but he decided to blast Ice Ice Baby while hooking it up. I think within a few months of that song coming out in August 1990 I was embarrassed to play it and I was 13. Granted I didn’t see the guy super up close so maybe he was Vanilla Ice. That would be the only person on Earth I could see proudly blasting that song in 2024.

2. This week marked 15 years since my infamous Caught In A Rising Tide video. It was one of my first YouTube videos and was a funny experience of me walking out to Wing Island in Brewster to get some photos only to return an hour later with the tide coming in. I ended up walking through nearly 2’ of water, soaking my shoes and pants. People asked why I didn’t take my shoes/socks off and I figured I’d end up with splinters from the boards I was walking on which would lead to infections and then maybe losing a foot. Soaked shoes made more sense. I went back to Wing Island and shot a sequel video. No, I wasn’t stuck in a rising tide but it was a fun and fitting follow-up video.

3. I decided to treat myself to a pizza from Domino’s. Now I know that some people don’t like Domino’s but they do have over 20,000 locations worldwide so they’re doing something right. Anyway, I ordered a 3 topping medium pizza from them and went to pick it up. They were super busy inside so what happened next was understandable. They handed me my pizza and I immediately noticed it was a large. I checked the receipt and it said medium so I got an upgrade for free. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows though. In addition to the pizza being a large, it had additional toppings including mushrooms which I am not a fan of. I will say that picking mushrooms off a pizza was a fair trade for getting a free upgrade to a large.

4. I am approaching 47 years old and yet every year I am still amazed at how quickly the sunset times roll back in the fall. It’s like one minute you blink and the sunset is 8pm and then you blink again and you’re walking out of work at 6pm at dusk with an owl in the trees near you scaring all of the little creatures below. The way I found out it was an owl was not that I saw it, I didn’t stick around. No, my co-worker saw it do some swooping over the parking lot in search of dinner.

5. I was pretty zoned out at work trying to get caught up on some paperwork. I was so focused on my computer screen that I didn’t notice the encroaching intruder. A small spider was slowly descending from the ceiling on its web. I was so into my work that I didn’t see it until it was quite literally an inch from my face right between my eyes. Only then did I let out a yell in surprise. Don’t worry though the spider was not smashed. I grabbed its web up above and coasted it to the floor behind my desk.

6. In other insect news we have had a stowaway cricket inside my work for weeks. Sometimes it’s quiet, other times it chirps so loudly that it seems to echo off of the walls. Today its chirping was loud enough that I actually tracked it down. I grabbed a paper cup and a tissue and went to work trying to coax it into the cup. To my surprise, after I asked it nicely to get in, and promised I wasn’t going to just crush it, the cricket crawled into the cup. Then he got smashed. Just kidding, I brought it outside and let it go in the grass.

Am I the cricket whisperer? 

7. There are 2 days each week when I have to be at work early, typically around 6:40am. My body is now used to waking up around 4:45am. However, getting to bed the night before is still a harrowing task. The routine I have now that is working relatively well consists of popping 2 melatonin at 7:30pm followed by a 3^rd at 8:30. This usually results in me being knocked out by 9pm. It was easier in the summer to wake up so early. Now with sunrise being close to 7am when my eyes open at 4:45, it’s easy for my brain to try to trick me into thinking it can’t be time to wake up yet. Each time I get up on time is still a minor miracle.

8. Nothing better than being awakened from a deep sleep at 3:30am by thunder so loud that I could feel it shaking the house. I spent a half hour trying to go back to sleep for a little longer but the thunder and lightning were so severe I just gave up and got out of bed at 4:30. Despite being tired I would much rather deal with a few severe thunderstorms than the once a century Hurricane Milton that is wrecking Central Florida.

9. A fun memory that popped up on Facebook this week dates back to 2016. My sister Ashley and I were at Longnook Beach in Truro, MA which is very remote with little to no cell service. We spotted a middle-aged man with a bicycle walking up the 50-60’ sand pathway to the parking lot. Out of nowhere one of his bike tires popped. The weather was a bit misty and feeling bad we offered to pack him and the bike in my car and drive him home. Luckily he wasn’t far but it was another remote section of little Truro. Then things got weirder. We helped him get his bike inside his house and he offered us tea. We politely declined as it was a little odd. He was insistent on giving us something as a thank you. This ended up being in the form of a random CD. It looked like a mix of tracks by some unknown artist. Maybe it was him, but who knows since once we got back in the car I was already looking for a trash can to throw it in.

Longnook Beach in Truro, MA

10. A first for me happened this week as I got to see and photograph the Aurora Borealis, aka the Northern Lights. They are rarely visible this far south, typically being seen in Canada or maybe at best Northern New England. I took the long way home from my mother’s house and stopped at Gray’s Beach, aka Bass Hole, in Yarmouth Port. It was not even 7:30pm and I could see the pinks and greens in the sky. It was beyond words. I was mad that I didn’t have my regular camera, or my tripod for my phone, but still what I got ended up being some of my best photos ever. The atmosphere was like a rock concert. A chilly Thursday night at the beach on Cape Cod and there must have been 200 people there. The parking lot was overflowing. It was an experience I won’t soon forget.

Aurora Borealis at Bass Hole in Yarmouth Port, MA

Hurricanes Carol and Edna: New England's Twin Tempests of 1954

New England has had more than its fair share of powerful hurricanes cross its path over the centuries. From as far back as the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 to Hurricane Bob in 1991, these forces of nature have scarred and reshaped the region's landscape.

The only saving grace when it comes to such vicious tempests is the fact that they are few and far between. This gives the region ample time to restore and rebuild.

What if that wasn’t the case though? What if a powerful hurricane was nearly immediately followed by another? No, it is not a plot for a new disaster movie. It is something that actually happened in New England. 70 years ago those fears became reality.

This is the story of Hurricane Carol and Hurricane Edna, the twin tempests of 1954.

Busy Atlantic hurricane seasons are common. The years leading up to 1954 were no different. New England had seen a few major storms rampage across the region in the previous few decades.

The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 was a Category 3 that rumbled through the region in September 1938. It carried sustained winds as high as 121mph at Blue Hill in Massachusetts. Blue Hill also recorded the highest wind gust at a whopping 186mph.

The Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 was weaker but still extremely dangerous as a strong Category 1 storm. It steamrolled over the east coast in September 1944.

Damage in West Yarmouth, MA after the 1944 hurricane(Public Domain).

After the 1944 storm, the Atlantic waters were relatively quiet. No hurricanes or even tropical storms made landfall in New England. There were still dangerous hurricanes that struck the United States in general. These included Hurricanes Easy(Category 3) and King(Category 4) which devastated Florida within 6 weeks of each other in 1950. There was also Hurricane Able(Category 2) which plowed into Georgia in 1952(and yes it is spelled Able, not Abel).

For the New England region though the decade of relative quiet was quite literally the calm before the storm.

A typical hurricane season runs from June through November with August through October being the peak for development. The Atlantic Hurricane season of 1954 began rather benignly with an unspectacular unnamed tropical storm forming in the last week of May. The first hurricane (Alice) was a Category 2 that struck Texas during the last week of June.

The fact that the first 3 tropical storms had passed only a few hundred miles off of the New England coast was an ominous sign for the second half of the season. The last week of August proved to be the start of something unprecedented.

Hurricane Carol: The First Blow

Hurricane Carol was the first major hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. It originated near the Bahamas on August 25, 1954, and was the third named storm of the season after Alice and Barbara.

Carol rapidly intensified as it moved northward becoming a hurricane on August 27^th. It eventually reached Category 3 status with winds exceeding 120 mph as it passed North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The storm ran parallel to the East Coast eventually making landfall first on Long Island and then in the area around Old Saybrook, Connecticut on August 31.

Beached boats after Carol in Marblehead, MA(Samuel Chamberlain)

The impact on New England was massive. This included wiping out nearly half of the apple, corn, peach, and tomato crops along the southern coast. The hurricane's powerful winds and heavy rainfall caused widespread devastation. More than 3,000 boats and 3,000 automobiles were destroyed in the storm with more than 150,000 people being left without power.

In total Carol claimed 65 lives and caused over $460 million in damage (about $5.4 billion in 2024). More than 150,000 homes and businesses were destroyed or severely damaged. The storm uprooted trees, downed power lines, and disrupted transportation networks. Coastal areas suffered severe erosion, and many boats and ships were damaged or sunk.

WBZ-TV tower in Brighton, MA crushing an automobile.(George Dixon)

Making landfall just after high tide Carol caused massive flooding. New Bedford, Massachusetts saw a storm surge of over 14 feet. The highest recorded wind gust was on Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island. There the wind reached 135mph. More than 20,000 people evacuated Cape Cod ahead of Carol. Even up into Canada’s Quebec province damage from Carol topped $1 million CAD($11.68 million US/$16.07 million CAD in 2024).

The Red Cross Civil Defense team was on hand immediately after gathering the data used above. It would take months, perhaps in some cases years, to fully recover from Hurricane Carol. Unfortunately, New England had less than two weeks of calm.

Hurricane Edna: The Second Strike

On September 2^nd, a mere 24 hours after the remnants of Hurricane Carol passed north into the Arctic Ocean, a new storm was forming. Hurricane Edna formed east of Barbados.

Carol had traveled parallel to the United States east coast, and Edna traveled parallel to Carol’s path just slightly more eastward. Edna rapidly gained strength, becoming a Category 3 hurricane with peak winds of 125 mph by September 8^th.

How would New England prepare for a second powerful hurricane in a matter of weeks? At first, there was thought they wouldn’t have to. Some forecasters in New England weather offices were putting out a theory as late as September 9^th that Hurricane Edna would drift in the Atlantic before ultimately fizzling out. The hundreds of thousands of New Englanders still cleaning up Carol’s mess, some still without power, hoped that to be the case. Sadly, it was not.

Boston Globe, September 11, 1954

When it slammed into New England in the morning on September 11, 1954, Hurricane Edna compounded the devastation left by Carol, affecting much of the same areas still recovering.

The eye of the storm passed near Martha’s Vineyard bringing a brief eerie calm to Cape Cod. When it ramped back up Edna ended up being strong, but not as strong as Carol. A small bit of luck had Edna not making landfall at the time of high tide, sparing some weary coastal areas from a true double-dip of damage.

Though slightly less catastrophic Edna still packed a punch. Edna brought torrential rain, leading to severe flooding in many areas. Rivers and streams overflowed, inundating homes and businesses. The top wind gust of 120mph occurred on Martha’s Vineyard close to the eye of the storm. Many homes, businesses, and boats damaged by Carol were finished off by Edna.

Edna resulted in 20 fatalities and caused an estimated $42 million in damage (about $419 million in 2024). While the storm's damage was less severe than Carol’s, it added to the cumulative impact on New England’s infrastructure and economy. Though not as severe as Carol in Southern New England, Edna would end up being the costliest hurricane in the history of Maine. President Dwight Eisenhower called parts of the state a ‘disaster area.’

The Red Cross returned to the area while thousands of telephone and electrical workers poured into the affected towns to get amenities back up and running. According to New England Telephone & Telegraph, more than 260,000 homes were left without telephone service after Edna. This was actually 10,000 more homes than Hurricane Carol.

The back-to-back hurricanes of 1954 left a profound mark on New England. Carol and Edna caused extensive damage to the fishing industry, with numerous boats destroyed and fishing infrastructure damaged. The tourism sector also suffered. Summer ostensibly came to an end with the approach of Carol as people fled. Any hope of a return of summer after was dashed with many summer homes and tourist facilities being damaged or destroyed.

The combined storm surges and heavy rainfall led to severe beach erosion and changes in coastal landscapes. Carol and Edna highlighted the need for better disaster preparedness and response mechanisms. Communities in New England, including those on Cape Cod where 95% had been without power during Edna, invested in improved infrastructure. This included stronger seawalls and better drainage systems, to mitigate the impact of future storms.

The names of both storms, Carol and Edna, were retired from tropical naming. A bit of good that came from the 1954 storms was the United States government devoting research to start the National Hurricane Research Project. This later became known as the National Hurricane Research Laboratory and is a permanent institution within the Weather Bureau.

In the 70 years since the double header of Hurricanes Carol and Edna things have been relatively quiet on the storm front in New England.

Hurricane Donna in 1960 was a strong Category 1 when it made landfall in Connecticut, even reaching a peak wind gust of 140mph at the Blue Hill Observatory.

Hurricane Gloria in 1985 was also a Category 1 storm when it hit New England. Rehoboth, Massachusetts reported a tornado and a wind gust of 120mph.

Hurricane Bob in 1991 was a Category 2 when it made landfall in Rhode Island. This storm has been the closest in terms of strength in New England since Hurricane Carol.

Hurricane Bob's track in 1991(NWS Boston)

Besides an array of near-misses and weaker tropical disturbances, it has been few and far between when it comes to hurricanes in New England. This fact only amplifies how unique and deadly the twin storms of 1954 were. Lives were lost, property was destroyed, and parts of the environment were permanently changed.

Thankfully events like major hurricanes striking so closely after one another are a part of the ‘once every hundred years’ occurrences. Though as it has been 70 years since Carol and Edna the ‘hundred years’ continues to draw closer. 

Hurricane Lee, Cape Cod, MA 4K

In My Footsteps: 4K New England - Fort Phoenix, Fairhaven, MA

In Their Footsteps: Cape Cod History - The Great Colonial Hurricane, Anthony Thacher, and Yarmouth

     There are some events that shape and change people and history. Natural disasters, especially those of tremendous magnitude have a tendency to change the area they strike after the fact. Earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, and more ravage the Earth leaving death and destruction in their wake. Along coastal areas the hurricane/typhoon is often the natural disaster that causes the most damage.

     There have been many deadly hurricanes whose names bring back horrible memories to those who lived through them. Katrina in 2005, Maria in 2017, the Galveston, Texas Hurricane in 1900, and Florida’s Okeechobee Hurricane in 1928, are among the costliest storms to ever hit America. In the New England area the list of famed storms is far less deadly due to the cooler ocean waters. The most recognizable names like Bob in 1991, Gloria in 1985, and Carol in 1954 did their share of damage yet were not as deadly as the southern storms.

   

      However, centuries ago, during the infancy of European colonization of America, a major hurricane struck New England. This storm changed the landscape. It changed the lives of countless colonists and Native Americans. It decimated a family and gave rise to one of Cape Cod’s original settlements. The storm was the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635. This is the story of the storm and how its effects are still felt today.

     Though the storm itself occurred in 1635 the story begins in 1589. It was in this year, in the village of Queen Camel in Somersetshire County, England that Anthony Thacher was born. After receiving a good education Thacher became curate at St. Edmunds Church in Salisbury, where his brother Peter was the minister, in 1624. By that point the first of the Pilgrims had left England for America due to the perceived religious persecution. This had not changed in the years after and eventually would cause Thacher to travel the same route as the others.

     In July 1634 Thacher’s wife Mary died after roughly 15 years of marriage. He was remarried to Elizabeth Jones in February 1635. Shortly thereafter on April 6, 1635 he boarded the 220-ton ship James with Elizabeth, her father, and four of his five children, along with his brother Peter’s son Thomas. Anthony Thacher was listed in the registry as a tailor, likely to disguise his true relationship with the church. The vessel departed England and arrived in Boston in June.

     Thacher started his time in America in Newbury working alongside his cousin John Avery. However after much pleading from its citizens Avery decided to move south to Marblehead to establish a church there. Thacher and his family decided to join him in starting the church.

     In late August 1635 the entire entourage, except for Anthony’s nephew Thomas, boarded a vessel called the Watch and Wait. Thomas, who had a bad premonition about the ship, decided to travel to Marblehead by land. In total 23 people left Ipswich on the ship which would soon collide with an historic storm.

     What would become known later as the ‘Great Colonial Hurricane’ first formed during the last week of August narrowly avoiding the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia. As the storm headed northeast it quickly gained strength until eventually topping out at what today would be a high Category 3 to low Category 4 hurricane. It is estimated by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that the storm took a path similar to Bob in August 1991.

     On August 26, 1635 the storm crossed near Providence, Rhode Island just after 6am with wind speeds hovering around 130mph. The storm surge was estimated at 14 feet there with many Natives being swept out to sea with their homes. It plowed through Boston near 7:30 as it began to lose some strength. Governor of Plymouth William Bradford noted seas as high as 20-feet above normal as the hurricane barreled through the area. It was as the storm exited to the Atlantic just north of Boston that it met up with the Watch and Wait and Anthony Thacher. With winds still topping 105mph the storm crashed into the vessel east of Gloucester driving it onto a small, rocky island. 

The likely path of the Great Colonial Hurricane. (Harvard Forest Archives/Brian R. Hall)

     The wind and waves dashed the vessel to pieces. Before his very eyes Anthony Thacher watched as his cousin John Avery and his six children drowned. For a time Thacher’s family clung to the rocks, however the crashing waves eventually pulled all of his children out to sea as well. Anthony and his wife Elizabeth managed to hold on. They were the only survivors.

     All told according to NOAA the Great Colonial Hurricane was likely the most intense storm north of the Carolinas in recorded history. The storm surge above 14-feet in Providence was topped by a surge above 20-feet at the head of Buzzards Bay. Thousands of trees were downed in its path, and many buildings were destroyed and people washed away in Providence, Plymouth, Boston, Bourne and more. It was said that the damage from the hurricane was still evident decades later.

Thacher Island in Rockport.

     Anthony and Elizabeth survived for two days on the rocky island before being rescued by a passing vessel. The island was given to them as consolation with Anthony initially naming it ‘Thacher’s Woe.’ Years late it was named Thacher Island in commemoration of the couple’s immense loss. The death of the children diminished their desire to remain on the North Shore and when an opportunity arose to leave they took it.

     On January 7, 1639 the Plymouth Court granted a large tract of land on Cape Cod to Anthony Thacher, Thomas Howes, and John Crow. Formerly referred to as ‘Mattacheeset’ it was henceforth known as Yarmouth. Technically the lands given included the future town of Dennis as well. Thacher settled in the area later that year near the marshland of present-day Yarmouth Port just north of Rt. 6A.

     Not long after arriving Thacher became Town Clerk and Town Treasurer of Yarmouth, both positions he held until his death. After the horrific loss of four children during the Great Colonial Hurricane Thacher had three children with Elizabeth. In 1664 Anthony had a home built for his son John upon his marriage. This home sat at the corner of present-day Thacher Street and Thacher Shore Road. It was moved in 1680 to its current location at the corner of Route 6A and Thacher Street across from the Yarmouth Port Post Office.

The home Anthony Thacher had built for his son John now at 240 Rt. 6A Yarmouth Port.

     Anthony Thacher remained of major importance in Yarmouth and its affairs throughout his life. His exact date of death is not known, though it is between June 30-August 22, 1667. Thacher died at the likely age of 78. He was buried on his land near the marsh in Yarmouth Port. His grave was never marked with a stone. His wife Elizabeth died only a few months later.

     In 1905 a stone tablet was erected near the site of Anthony Thacher’s homestead. Three years later in 1908 the Thacher family gave the Town of Yarmouth Thacher Shore Road which was purported to have been the old Colonial road built along and over some of Anthony’s property. Thacher Island in Rockport became a popular tourist destination with its twin lighthouses. The current lighthouses were built in 1861 and it is accessible by boat or kayak from the shore.

     Through immense suffering and sadness Anthony Thacher persevered and helped to found the town of Yarmouth. He came face to face with the strongest hurricane these parts has ever seen and did not allow it to define him. The Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 did tremendous damage yet also shaped and changed New England in its aftermath. It led to the formation of a Cape Cod town and serves as a tale of destruction and redemption not only for the New England area affected but for Anthony Thacher himself as well.

For more about the story of the Great Colonial Hurricane check 

out: NOAA.gov - Storm Tides 

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My first eBook in 10 years, In Their Footsteps, featuring the interesting stories of Cape Cod's history, is on sale at Amazon.com. 

View my previous blog posts: In Their Footsteps: Cape Cod History - Cape Cod and the Telephone

In Their Footsteps: Cape Cod History - The Cape's Conservation Story

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Be sure to check out my website: Christopher Setterlund.com