I was reading about the earthquake history of Massachussetts not too long ago and was shocked to discover this:
(The links are to historical accounts that the USGS has archived)
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ ... _10_hs.phpNorthern Cape Ann region, east of Newbury, Massachusetts
1727 11 10 03:40 UTC
Intensity VII
At Newbury, many stone walls and chimney bricks were shaken down, and almost all tops of chimneys were knocked off. Considerable changes occurred in the flow of water in springs and, in some springs, changes occurred in the character of the water. "Some firm land became quagmire, and marshes were dried up." The rise and fall of the ground made it difficult to walk, and houses shook and rocked as if they would fall apart. Sand blows were reported near Spring Island. Felt from the Kennebec River in Maine to the Delaware River on the New York-Pennsylvania border and from ships at sea to the "extreme western settlements." Aftershocks occurred in the area for several months. The strongest aftershock (MM intensity V) occurred in the Newbury area on Dec. 28, 1727, and Jan. 4 and Feb. 10, 1728 (local dates).
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ ... _14_hs.phpSouthern Cape Ann, Massachusetts region
1744 June 14 15:15 UTC
Intensity VI
Bricks were shaken from several chimneys in Boston and other towns, and pieces of stone fence were thrown down in the country. Many persons were alarmed at Newbury and Ipswich, Massachusetts. The shock was reported from Falmouth, Maine, to New York City. Several aftershocks occurred.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ ... _18_hs.phpCape Ann, Massachusetts
1755 11 18 09:11:35 UTC
Intensity VIII
Largest Earthquake in Massachusetts
This earthquake caused the heaviest damage in the region around Cape Ann and Boston. At Boston, much of the damage was confined to an area of infilled land near the wharfs. There, about 100 chimneys were leveled with the roofs of houses, and many others (1,200 to 1,500) were shattered and partly thrown down. Some chimneys, which were broken off below their tops, tilted dangerously 3 or 4 centimeters; others were twisted or partly turned. The gable ends of several brick buildings (12 to 15) were thrown down, and the roofs of some houses were damaged by the fall of chimneys. Stone fences were thrown down throughout the countryside, particularly on a line extending from Boston to Montreal. New springs formed, and old springs dried up. At Scituate (on the coast southeast of Boston), Pembroke (about 15 kilometers southwest of Scituate), and Lancaster (about 40 kilometers west of Boston), cracks opened in the earth. Water and fine sand issued from some of the ground cracks at Pembroke.
This earthquake was reported from Halifax, Nova Scotia, south to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and from Lake George, New York, east to a ship 320 kilometers east of Cape Ann. The shock was felt so strongly on the ship that those onboard believed the ship had run aground. Several aftershocks occurred.
It also ought to be mentioned that the last earthquake in that series, in 1755, struck only 17 days after a more well-known earthquake in the Atlantic Ocean destroyed Lisbon, Portugal.
Between three damaging earthquakes in three decades, and all the hurricanes the early settlers had to deal with in New England, and the Little Ice Age causing agricultural hardships.... man, that's not the Massachussetts we think we know today, is it?
