The Entire Northeast, Including the Pelham Region, Was Shaken by a Large Earthquake in 1638

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"It came with a report like continued thunder, or the

rattling of numerous coaches upon a paved street.

The shock was so great that, in many places, the tops

of the chimneys were thrown down, and the pewter

fell from the shelves.  It shook the waters and ships in

the harbours, and all the adjacent islands."

-- Benjamin Trumbull's History of Connecticut, Vol. I, p. 72.  

Some said the duration of the massive earthquake, one of the largest to strike the northeast coast of America in historic times, was about four minutes.  It began between 3 and 4 p.m. on June 1, 1638 (old style Julian Calendar).  In more recent times seismologists using descriptions of the event and its aftermath have estimated that the magnitude of the quake was up to 7.0 and that its epicenter was within today's New Hampshire.  The massive quake shook the entire northeast all the way to southwest Connecticut and today's Pelham region.  There was a monumental aftershock barely thirty minutes after the initial seismic event, followed by several weeks of smaller aftershocks.  This was the first major earthquake to shake Pelham that was recorded in historic times.

The Pelham region, of course, was sparsely populated at the time.  By 1638, smallpox and other European-borne diseases already had decimated Wiechquaeskeck Natives in the region.  There were few Dutch outposts on the mainland north of Manhattan.  That year Willem Kieft was named Director by the Dutch West India Company to oversee New Netherland.  The two-year war between English settlers and Pequot Natives was coming to a bloody and brutal end.  English Puritans planted a new colony at New Haven that year, the same year Harvard College was founded.  

Connecticut historian Benjamin Trumbull described the massive earthquake that hammered the northeast that day as follows:

"On the 1st of June, between the hours of three and four in the afternoon, there was a great and memorable earthquake throughout New-England.  It came with a report like continued thunder, or the rattling of numerous coaches upon a paved street.  The shock was so great that, in many places, the tops of the chimneys were thrown down, and the pewter fell from the shelves.  It shook the waters and ships in the harbours, and all the adjacent islands.  The duration of the sound and tremor was about four minutes.  The earth, at turns, was unquiet for nearly twenty days.  The weather was clear, the wind westerly, and the course of the earthquake from west to east."

Source:  Trumbull, Benjamin, A Complete History of Connecticut Civil and Ecclesiastical From the Emigration of the First Planters, from England, in the Year 1630, to the Year 1764; and to the Close of the Indian Wars In Two Volumes, Vol. I, pp. 72-73 (New London, CT:  H. D. Utley, 1898).   

Though Pelhamites rarely consider the risk of earthquakes, there have been quite a few that have shaken the region in historic times.  Moreover, our region constantly shudders with small earthquakes.  According to the United States Geological Survey, our region has experienced nineteen small earthquakes of magnitude 1.5 or smaller in the last three years (since August 27, 2015).  See United States Geological Survey, Earthquakes: Earthquakes Hazards Program (visited Aug. 27, 2018).  There have been several articles on the topic published in the Historic Pelham Blog.  See., e.g.:

Thu., May 17, 2018:  Did the Westchester County Region Experience Yet More Earthquakes in Early 1885 or Not?

Tue., Sep. 19, 2017:  Another Account of the Earthquake that Shook Pelham in 1872. 

Mon., Feb. 20, 2017:  Brief Account of Damage in Pelham During the Earthquake of August 10, 1884. 

Mon., Aug. 25, 2014:  Earthquake! Is Pelham on Shaky Ground? 

Tue., Sep. 15, 2009:  An Earthquake in Pelham and Surrounding Areas on Sunday, August 10, 1884. 

Mon., Aug. 08, 2005:  The Day the Earth Shook in Pelham: July 11, 1872.

Of course, the earthquake that struck the northeast in 1638 was among the largest in recorded historic times.  The following is another fascinating account of the 1638 earthquake that gives a rather unsettling account of its power closer to the epicenter.  It was written by William Bradford who served as second governor of Plymouth Colony beginning in 1621 and remained in that role, off and on, for the remainder of his life until his death in 1657.  He wrote:

"This year [1638], aboute ye 1. or 2. of June, was a great & fearfull earthquake; it was in this place heard before it was felte.  It came with a rumbling noyse, or low murure, like unto remoate thunder; it came from ye norward, & pased southward.  As ye noyse aproched nerer, they earth begane to shake, and came at length with that violence as caused platters, dishes, & such things as stoode upon shelves, to clatter & fall downe; year, persons were afraid of ye houses them selves.  It so fell oute yt at ye same time diverse of ye cheefe of this towne were mett together at one house, conferring with some of their freinds that were upon their removall from ye place, (as if ye Lord would herby shew ye signes of his displeasure, in their shaking a peeces & removalls one from an other.)  How ever it was very terrible for ye time, and as ye men were set talking in ye house, some women & others were without ye dores, and ye earth shooke with yt violence as they could not stand without catching hould of ye posts & pails yt stood next them; but ye violence lasted not long.  And about halfe an hower, or less, came an other noyse & shaking, but nether so loud nor strong as ye former, but quickly passed over; and so it ceased.  It was not only on ye sea coast, but ye Indeans felt it within land; and some ships that were upon ye coast were shaken by it.  So powerfull is ye mighty hand of ye Lord, as to make both the earth & sea to shake, and the mountaines to tremble before him, when he pleases; and who can stay his hand?  It was observed that ye somers, for divers years togeather after this earthquake, were not so hotte & seasonable for ye ripning of corne & other fruits as formerly; but more could & moyst, & subjecte to erly & untimly frosts, by which, many times, much Indean corne came not to maturitie; but whether this was any cause, I leave it to naturallists to judge."

Source:  Deane, Charles, ed., History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, The Second Governor of the Colony, Now First Printed From the Original Manuscript, for The Massachusetts Historical Society, pp. 366-67 (Boston, MA:  Little, Brown, and Co., 1856) (footnote omitted).  

As Bradford's account of the earthquake indicates, settlers (and likely local Natives), took the quake as a sign from God.  Indeed, there are records that Anne Hutchinson, who moved to the Pelham region a few years after the earthquake, was in a prayer meeting with her followers in Rhode Island at the time of the earthquake and took the event as a meaningful sign from God.  Indeed, Christy K. Robinson has written:

"The Hutchinsonians (followers of Anne Hutchinson's religious faction) had been in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, for about a month after having been exiled from Massachusetts Bay Colony.  On Tuesday, June 1, 1638. . . an earthquake struck New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. . . .There was a large aftershock about 30 minutes after the main shock, and many more tremors before the earth stilled about three weeks later -- just in time for a full eclipse of the moon, which showed itself a dried-blood color on June 25, 1638 [old style Julian Calendar].  The moon turning to blood is an apocalyptic sign.  Revelation 6:12 describes the end-times that the Puritans believed were upon them, 'and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.'  Another prophecy of the end was in Acts of the Apostles 2:20-21:  'And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' . . . We have a very good idea of what Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer were doing at the time of the earthquake, thanks to Gov. John Winthrop who tells us that they were having a prayer meeting, as they'd done for several years in Boston.  When the quake struck . . . the Hutchinsonians were convinced that just as on the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after after Christ's resurrection, they were being blessed and honored by the descent of the Holy Spirit, giving them spiritual gifts in confirmation that they were firmly set in God's will."

Source:  Robinson, Christy K., The Great New England Quake of 1638, William and Mary Dyer Blog (Sep. 7, 2011) (visited Aug. 18, 2018).

Anne Marbury Hutchinson as Depicted in "Little Journeys to the Homes

of Great Reformers, Memorial Edition, by Elbert Hubbard, Published in

1916.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

For almost four hundred years during its recorded history, the Pelham region, it seems, repeatedly has suffered earthquakes.  Puritans, Hutchinsonians, and early settlers deemed such events signs from God.  If so, God has wrought such havoc many times since in Pelham and likely will continue in the future. . . . . 

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