Did you feel the Earth Move like it was 1727?
THROWBACK THURSDAY is appearing early this week in light of today’s relatively rare occurrence.
The earthquake experienced here in 1727 was noted as the fourth great earthquake that had happened in New England since the Pilgrams landed at Plymouth Rock. The first one had been in 1638, the second in 1658, and the third in 1663.
The one on Oct. 29, 1727, was more violent than any of the preceding ones. There were also several reports of an unusual phenomenon called “Earthquake Lights” before and after the 1727 earthquake. Kennebunkport Historian, Charles Bradbury wrote that many chimneys and stone walls were shaken down in Arundel. He credits the earthquake for inspiring temporary reformation among citizens of Arundel, a large number of them finding religion during the months followed the quake. If there had been a Richter Scale in those days, it might have registered approximately 5.6, way more robust than the rumble and shake that startled us all, today.
The town of Arundel had been dragging its feet about building a proper church building during 1727. It was supposed to be finished by October, but the construction hadn’t even begun. The earthquake was interpreted by ministers in southern Maine as a sign of God’s wrath against his unholy flock. Sermons were delivered on the subject of earthquakes in meetinghouses, in towns that had one. Rev. Mr. John Eveleth, the Arundel minister, called for a fast by the congregation to atone for their sins.
For the right price, “Thomas Perkins, Esq. of Cape Porpoise agreed to “raise it, [the new Meetinghouse] underpin it and shingle it, make seats below, and Glase it, by the last day of October 1728,” according to historian Bradbury.
Major and minor earthquakes have been fairly common in New England, in the whole scheme of things. Many of the early ones were opportunistically seized upon by the powers that be to express dissatisfaction with public behavior.
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