1800 and Froze to Death

1816 has long been known as the year without summer. Vermonters still call it“1800 and Froze to Death,” a year of frosts every month, dark skies, andmysterious lights that caused a widespread belief that a higher power wasdispleased.

This talk includes scores of anecdotes about the dark year of failed crops, scarce food, and religious revival. The horrible weather also came in the aftermath of the War of 1812, which produced shortages and an economic crisis.

Vermonters coped with the cold year with neighbor helping neighbor. But some greedy merchants sought to exploit shortages by charging higher and higher prices.

The cold year seems to have hit Vermont harder than any other state. But the effects of the disaster were very much worldwide. In Europe, visitors to the continent mistook bands of beggars along the roadways for invading armies. And out of it came literary accomplishments, including a grand poem by Lord Byron and a dark novel by Mary Shelley.

A seventh-generation Vermonter, Presenter Howard Coffin is the author of four books on the Civil War with a focus on Vermont and the Champlain Corridor. A Vermont Humanities (Vermont Reads) sponsored talk, and in partnership with Windsor Vermont Historical Association.

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Windsor Welcome Center, 3 Railroad Ave, Windsor, VT