Cow Hampshire

Some of us were wondering if this was going to be New Hampshire’s Year without a Winter.  In one year quite the opposite occurred.  That year, 1816 is known among the few old men who remember it as “the year without a summer.”  In every month there was a severe frost, and the greater part of the crops were substantially destroyed.  It was often referred to as “eighteen hundred and starve to death.”

January was mild, as was also February, with the exception of a few days.  The greater part of March was cold and boisterous.  April opened warm, but grew colder as it advanced, ending with snow and ice and winter cold.  In May ice formed half an inch thick, buds and flowers were killed and corn frozen.  Frost, ice and snow were common in June.  On inauguration day, in June, there was snow to the depth of four inches on a level in Warner; in Maine the snow was ten inches deep.  Almost every green thing was killed, and the fruit was nearly all destroyed.  Continue reading →