Northeaster
A Story of Courage and Survival in the Blizzard of 1952
Published on 3. January 2023
288 pages
978-1-63936-342-1 (ISBN)
Description
A vivid and gripping story of an epic Maine snowstorm that tested the very limits of human endurance.
For many, the past few years have been defined by climate disaster. Stories about once-in-a-lifetime hurricanes, floods, fires, droughts and even snowstorms are now commonplace. But dramatic weather events are not new and Northeaster, Cathie Pelletier's breathtaking account of the 1952 snowstorm that blanketed New England, offers a valuable reminder about nature's capacity for destruction as well as insight into the human instinct for preservation.
Northeaster weaves together a rich cast of characters whose lives were uprooted and endangeredby the storm. Housewives and lobstermen, loggers and soldiers were all trapped as snow piled in drifts twenty feet high. The storm smothered hundreds of travelers in their cars, covered entire towns, and broke ships in half. In the midst of the blizzard's chaos, there were remarkable acts of heroism and courageous generosities. Doctors braved the storm to help deliver babies. Ordinary people kept their wits while buried in their cars, and others made their way out of forests to find kind-hearted strangers willing to take them in.
It's likely that none of us know how we would handle a confrontation with a blizzard or other natural disaster. But Northeaster shows that we have it inside to fight for survival in some of the harshest conditions that nature has to offer.
More details
Person
Cathie Pelletier was born and raised on the banks of the St. John River, at the end of the road in Northern Maine. She is the author of twelve novels, including The Funeral Makers (a New York Times Notable Book), The Weight of Winter (winner of the New England Book Award) and Running the Bulls (winner of the Paterson Prize for Fiction). As K. C. McKinnon, she has written two novels, both of which became television films. With theoretical physicist S. James Gates Jr, she co-authored Proving Einstein Right, winner of the Brown University Book Award. After years of living in Nashville, Tennessee Toronto, Canada and Eastman, Quebec, she has returned to Allagash, Maine and the family homestead where she was born.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Map
- Dedication
- Author's Note
- Epigraph
- Prologue: The First Storm
- The Principal Players
- Part One
- February 16, Saturday
- Bath, Maine: The City of Ships
- The Tardiff Family of Bath
- James Haigh, of Portsmouth
- Harland Davis, of Pleasant Point
- Brownville
- Sonny Pomelow, of Brownville
- Bar Harbor, on Mount Desert Island
- Rockefeller's Vision at Winter Harbor
- Paul Vincent Delaney, Seaman 1st Class
- Saturday Night
- James Morrill and Peter Godley
- The City of Bath
- William Dwyer and Snooky the Cat
- The Tardiffs, On Varney Mill Road
- Sonny Pomelow, in Brownville
- The Seaman First Class, at Winter Harbor
- Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- Pleasant Point, Maine
- Cap Morrill's, in Brewer
- Bill and Snooky
- Part Two
- February 17, Sunday
- Haigh and Davis: Monhegan Island
- To Monhegan Island
- The Cousins in Brewer
- The Tardiffs on Varney Mill Road
- Bill Dwyer, 19 Bath Street
- The New York Sailor
- Leaving Monhegan Island
- Branch Lake
- Old Man Ledge
- Burnt Island Lifeboat Station
- Fisherman's Prayer
- Riding on Hope
- The Country Doctor
- The Sailor in Bar Harbor
- On the Lake
- Alice French Davis
- The Port Clyde Wharf
- The Wait
- The Sea Breeze
- Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- The Sailor in Bar Harbor
- The Ice Fishermen
- The Local Game Warden
- The Ice Follies Fans
- Charles E. Voyer
- Delaney Leaves Bar Harbor
- Sunday Evening
- Nine O'Clock in the Town of Bath
- George Aspey of Warren
- Ray "Sonny" Pomelow, in Brownville
- Ten O'Clock in Downtown Bath
- Hulls Cove in Bar Harbor
- Alice and Carolyn
- 55 Gates Street, Portsmouth
- The Morrills, in Brewer
- Plows to the Rescue
- Game Wardens on the Lake
- Tangled Traffic
- The Theater Technician
- The Howard Johnson's Restaurant, Kennebunk
- Branch Lake
- The Young Sailor, Hulls Cove
- New England: A World Filled with Snow
- Part Three
- February 18, Monday
- Northeasters in History
- Another Northeaster
- Jimmy Morrill, the Bartender from Brewer
- The Woolen Mill Worker
- At the Saco Exit
- Howard Johnson's: The Kennebunk Exit
- Bath: The Morning After
- Varney Mill Road
- Getting Off Branch Lake
- Buried in Snow
- Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- Pleasant Point
- The Ellsworth Game Wardens
- The Georges River Woolen Mill
- The Saco Countryside
- Camp Jordan
- Ray "Sonny" Pomelow
- Charles Voyer
- Memories of Isle au Haut
- George Aspey
- Sonny Pomelow Goes to the Y
- The Haigh Family of Portsmouth
- Mr. Voyer
- The Missing Snooky
- Riverside Drive
- Leaving Camp Jordan
- The Aspeys of Warren
- Monday Afternoon
- Trains, Plows, and Whistles
- Daniel Wesley Speed
- The Hitchhiker
- Emergency Call
- Scene of The Wreck
- Monday Evening
- Howard Johnson's at the Kennebunk Exit
- The City of Bath and Varney Mill Road
- Keniston Funeral Home, Milo
- Cap Morrill's Tavern
- Portsmouth
- Pleasant Point
- Hulls Cove at Bar Harbor
- Milo Hospital
- The Missing Cat
- Part Four
- February 19, Tuesday
- Digging Out: The Aftermath
- The Upbeat Stories
- Pleasant Point
- Along Route 1
- The City of Bath
- Varney Mill Road
- The Marden Farm, Saco Exit
- Virginia Clay Hamilton
- Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- Hulls Cove
- Winter Harbor Naval Station
- A Mission on Snowshoes
- At the Tardiff Home
- Jimmy Haigh Comes Home
- Bath Memorial Hospital
- Under the Snow
- Jimmy Haigh's Wake
- The Aspey Home in Warren
- Brewer
- Stickney Hill
- Dreaming a Love Story
- A New Life
- 55 Gates Street, Portsmouth
- Bill Dwyer's House
- Part Five
- February 20, 21, Wednesday and Thursday
- A Northeaster Baby
- Resurrection
- Daniel Speed
- Sonny Comes Home to Stickney Hill
- The Last Christmas
- The Families Say Goodbye
- Barbie Ann Remembers
- Maine Fatality Number 6
- Part Six
- The Epilogue
- Photographs
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Endnotes
- Bibliography
- In Memoriam Edgar Comee (1917-2005)
- Special Thanks
- Photo Credits
- Copyright
