Edward Rowe Snow | |
---|---|
Born | August 22, 1902 |
Died | April 10, 1982 |
Alma mater | Harvard University (B.A., 1932) [1] Boston University (M.A., 1939) |
Occupation(s) | Historian, writer, teacher |
Edward Rowe Snow (August 22, 1902 Winthrop, Massachusetts – April 10, 1982 Boston, Massachusetts) was an American writer and historian.
He was the son of Edward Sumpter and Alice Nichsols (Rowe) Snow. He graduated from Harvard University, and Boston University, with an M.A.
Snow married Anna Myrle Haegg, on July 8, 1932, and they had a daughter Dorothy Caroline (Snow) Bicknell.
He was a high school teacher in Winthrop, Massachusetts. During World War II, he served with the XII Bomber Command, and he became a first lieutenant. He was wounded in North Africa in 1942, and discharged because of this in 1943. [2] He was a daily columnist at The Patriot Ledger newspaper in Quincy, Massachusetts, from 1957–82. [3]
Snow is widely known for his stories of pirates and other nautical subjects; he wrote over forty books and many shorter publications. In all, he was the author of more than 100 publications, mainly about New England coastal history. [4]
Mr. Snow was also a major chronicler of New England maritime history. With the publication of The Islands of Boston Harbor in 1935, he became famous as a historian of the New England coast and also as a popular storyteller, lecturer, preservationist, and treasure hunter. Forty years later, he was still publishing.
He is also famous for carrying on the tradition of the "Flying Santa" for over forty years (1936–1980). Every Christmas he would hire a small plane and drop wrapped gifts to the lighthouse keepers and their families.
In the 1940s and early 1950s he hosted a weekly Sunday radio show for youngsters and early teens called "Six Bells" where one precisely at 3:00 PM would join in hearing of the adventures of pirates and buccaneers along the Atlantic Coast.
Many credit him with saving Fort Warren, located on Georges Island in Boston Harbor, in the 1950s. [5] [6]
In August 2000, a plaque was dedicated to Mr. Snow on his beloved Georges Island. [5] A Boston Harbor ferry boat was named for him. [7]
Since 2002, several of his books were released in new editions published by Commonwealth Editions of Beverly, Massachusetts.
Edward Ellsberg, OBE was an officer in the United States Navy and a popular author. He was widely known as "Commander Ellsberg".
Spectacle Island is a 114-acre (46 ha) island in Boston Harbor, 4 miles (6.4 km) offshore of downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is part of the city of Boston. The island has a varied history, and today is a public park with a marina, visitor center, cafe, lifeguarded swimming beach, and five miles of walking trails, forming part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. It is served all year by ferries from Boston, and on weekends and summer weekdays by a shuttle boat to and from nearby islands.
The Yankee Gale was a major storm in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Prince Edward Island, Canada, that began on the night of October 3, 1851 and continued for two days. It is considered the worst marine disaster in the history of the island. In addition to local ships, the storm wrecked much of the New England fishing fleet that was working in the waters, giving the gale its name. At least 74 ships were destroyed, and 150 crew were killed.
Duxbury Pier lighthouse also called Duxbury Light is a lighthouse located in Plymouth Harbor, Massachusetts. Duxbury Pier Light was built in 1871 on the north side of the main channel in Plymouth Harbor to mark the dangerous shoal off Saquish Head. The unusual coffeepot-shaped lighthouse is locally known as "Bug Light" or simply "The Bug." It was the first so-called sparkplug lighthouse in the United States. Application was made to list the lighthouse on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
Long Island is located in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The island is part of the City of Boston, and of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. The island is 1.75 miles (2.82 km) long and covers 225 acres (0.9 km2).
The Flying Santa is the name given to a tradition that dates to Christmas of 1929, when packages of gifts were dropped from a plane to lighthouse keepers and their families along the New England coast.
Falkner Island Light, also known as the Faulkner Island Lighthouse, is a lighthouse in Connecticut, United States, on Falkner Island which is off Guilford Harbor on Long Island Sound. The lighthouse was constructed in 1802 and commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson. The lighthouse has had three keeper's houses: the original house of 1802 was rebuilt in 1851 and then again in 1871. The 1871 keeper's house survived to 1976, when it was destroyed by fire; the Coast Guard repaired and automated the lighthouse two years later. A volunteer group, the Faulkner's Light Brigade, has undertaken the restoration and preservation of the lighthouse since 1991, completing the last major restoration work in March 2011. Access to Falkner Island and the light is restricted during the nesting season of the roseate terns from May to August yearly. The Falkner Island Lighthouse, as the second oldest extant lighthouse in Connecticut, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Black Rock Harbor Light, also known as Fayerweather Island Light, is a lighthouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States which stands on the south end of Fayerweather Island and marks the entrance to Black Rock Harbor. The first lighthouse at the site, built by Abisha Woodward under contract with the United States government, was a wooden tower that was lit and made operational by 1808. A storm destroyed the tower in 1821 and the current, stone lighthouse was erected in its place in 1823. The Black Rock Harbor Light was an active navigational aid until 1933 when it was replaced by two automatic lights offshore. The beacon was subsequently given to the City of Bridgeport in 1934. Two significant efforts during the 1980s and 1990s served to restore the aging tower and the light was relit as a non-navigational aid in 2000. Black Rock Lighthouse is listed as a contributing property for Bridgeport's Seaside Park historic district.
The Prudence Island Lighthouse, more commonly known locally as the Sandy Point Lighthouse, is located on Prudence Island, Rhode Island and is the oldest lighthouse tower in the state. Sandy Point is nicknamed Chibacoweda, meaning "little place separated by a passage", because the location is a little more than one mile offshore.
Mary Francis Shura Craig was an American writer of over 50 novels from 1960 to 1990. She wrote children's adventures and young adult romances as Mary Francis Shura, M. F. Craig, and Meredith Hill; gothic novels as Mary Craig; romance novels as Alexis Hill, Mary Shura Craig and Mary S. Craig; and suspense novels as M. S. Craig.
Rachel Wall was an American female pirate, and the last woman to be hanged in Massachusetts. She may also have been the first American-born woman to become a pirate.
Long Island Head Light is an historic lighthouse on Long Island in Boston Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts. The current brick tower is the fourth lighthouse on the island.
Palmer Island Light Station is a historic lighthouse in New Bedford Harbor in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA. The lighthouse was built in 1849 out of stone rubble. It was discontinued when the harbor's hurricane barrier was built in the early 1960s, as its location immediately north of the barrier was no longer an outlying danger and there are lights on either side of the barrier opening.
Joseph Lewis French (1858–1936) was a novelist, editor, poet and newspaper man. The New York Times noted in 1925 that he may be "the most industrious anthologist of his time." He is known for his popular themed collections, and published more than twenty-five books between 1918 and his death in 1936. He initiated two magazines, The New West and The Wave. Afterward he worked for newspapers "across the country" contributing poetry and articles. He struggled financially, and during 1927 the New York Graphic, a daily tabloid, published an autobiographical article they convinced him to write, entitled "I'm Starving – Yet I'm in Who's Who as the Author of 27 Famous Books."
The Nantucket Beacon formed a range with the Brant Point Light to guide vessels into Nantucket harbor. Operated at various times in the 19th century, it was deactivated sometime after 1870. This range was eventually succeeded by the Nantucket Harbor Range Lights, which are still in operation.
The Spectacle Island Range Lights were a pair of range lights on Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor. They were established in 1897 and discontinued in 1913 after changes in the entrance channels to the harbor made them obsolete.
Abisha Woodward (1752–1809), also known as Abashai Woodward, was an architect and contractor from New London, Connecticut, that is best known for building lighthouses in the United States. He oversaw the construction of many of Connecticut's earliest lighthouses, but also worked in New York and North Carolina during his career. The oldest surviving beacon built by Woodward is the New London Harbor Lighthouse, which he completed in 1801.
Sheep Island is a small uninhabited island of about 3.2 acres (1.3 ha) in Hingham Bay, an outer arm of Boston Harbor. It is within the bounds of the town of Weymouth, Massachusetts, is owned by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation, and is part of the Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park.