Impacting Vermont's Environment

By Jennie Shurtleff

In recent weeks, fires have been raging thousands of miles away in Oregon and southern Canada. While Vermont is far from the flames, the haze that has been wafting over the state shows how an environmental disaster in one area impacts another.

The fires of 2021 are not the first time that Vermont’s environment has been impacted by events in other areas. Last September, the wildfires in the West led to hazy conditions on the East Coast. In the 1960s through the 1980s, acid rain (largely caused by industry in the Midwest) wreaked havoc on Vermont’s forests. And, if one looks even further back in history, an event that happened in 1815, halfway around the world in Indonesia, was a contributing factor for the climatic aberrations that New England experienced the following year.

So what happened in 1815 that impacted New England’s weather in 1816?

In April of 1815, the Indonesian volcano Mount Tambora exploded in one of the largest eruptions in recorded history. The vast quantities of ash that were projected into the stratosphere limited the amount of sunlight that reached the earth. As this stratospheric cloud of debris drifted, it contributed to erratic weather patterns throughout the Northern Hemisphere in 1816.

In May of 1816, there were several cold spells in New England. In June, the temperature dropped so low that some parts of Vermont received substantial accumulations of snow. On July 9 there was a killing frost,  which was followed by two other frosts on August 21 and August 30.

 Many crops in northern New England withered or failed to germinate, and famine became widespread.

Hiram Powers

Hiram Powers, the celebrated sculptor of Greek Slave, was a child living in Woodstock, Vermont, in 1816. Years later, he referred to the hardships endured by the people of Vermont during the “year without a summer.” He stated: 

Then came a dreadful season, when famine threatened our whole neighborhood. I recollect we cut down the trees, and fed our few cows on the browse. We lived so long wholly on milk and potatoes, that we got almost to loathe them. There were seven of us children; five at home, and it was hard work to feed us.

The famine, in conjunction with other issues, led Hiram’s family to leave the area. His family was not alone. It’s been estimated that roughly 15,000 people left Vermont because of the hardships caused by the weather in 1816. In addition to initiating a migration, the aberrant weather of 1816 also spawned a period of religious revival, as many saw the disasters as acts of God.

The story of the weather 205 years ago is but one topic covered in the Woodstock History Center’s current exhibit Hindsight 20/20. Please come see this exhibit to learn more about Woodstock’s history!

Photograph of the Woodstock History Center’s back lawn. Notice the thick haze over Mount Tom.