Thursday, September 18, 2014

A visit to Edward Rowe Snow and Marshfield Hills

I had a chance recently to seek out the resting place of a New England legend, Edward Rowe Snow. For those that don't Edward Rowe Snow an author, historian and storyteller who focused a lot on New England's rich maritime history. He was born in Winthrop Massachusetts in 1902 and was buried in Marshfield, Massachusetts in 1982. In between he wrote many books, had a column in the Patriot Ledger and even had his own radio show for a time. He also was "Flying Santa" for many years who would drop off packages at Christmas time to many lighthouse keepers and their families along the New England coastline. 



A quick Google search told me he was resting at the Marshfield Hills Cemetery located on Old Main Street in Marshfield, Massachusetts. I believe this cemetery was established circa 1729. It is adjacent to the North Community Church.

I took an initial drive through to see if I could find my main objective which was Snow's grave stone. It does have some road ways through it which you can drive around. It's not a very large cemetery. It has a mixture of colonial period grave stones to even a few from recent years.When I had no luck I set out to look on foot.














Started at one end  of the cemetery and found some interesting stuff along the way. Snow's resting place was on the opposite side of where I started. It's kind of set back a few rows almost hidden by another grave's hedges that have grown over. It was a modest setting for a man who lived his life large in comparison.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Vineyard Lightship



On this night in 1944 a powerful hurricane hit southern New England. It proved to be a fateful night for the Vineyard Lightship standing guard before Buzzards Bay and Nantucket Sound. Residents of Cuttyhunk reported seeing flares offshore that night. News of the tragedy was slow to be reported dew to wartime news restrictions. The ship was later found in 80 feet of water with no survivors. All twelve aboard(5 others were on leave that night) were lost that night.The ships bell was later recovered and is now on display in New Bedford, Massachusetts.