“Harvard … was hit by a blizzard of historic proportions on Monday and Tuesday of this week,” reported the Harvard Post on Feb. 10, 1978. A nor’easter that became known as the Blizzard of ’78 stalled off Massachusetts for three days, blowing gale-force winds and dumping 24 inches of snow. Ten-foot snow drifts built up in some areas of town.
Although a storm moving up the coast was predicted to hit Boston that Monday morning, a combination of a later-than-predicted arrival and general skepticism about the accuracy of weather forecasts meant that most commuters had gone to work. By midday Monday, it was evident a major storm was under way and businesses began letting employees leave early. But not soon enough. Blinding snow and traffic snarls left hundreds of cars stranded on Interstate 95 and other roads.
In Harvard, the schools closed for three days and private vehicles were banned from the roads. Harvard’s road ban was lifted a day earlier than other parts of eastern Massachusetts, which meant that drivers could get out on Harvard roads, but were subject to arrest if they went beyond the town borders.
Students were not required to make up the three snow days.
Shaker journal entries compiled in the Harvard Shaker Book of Days by Janet Streeter Fowke and James McMurtry Longo offer a glimpse of former Harvard winters:
- Jan. 3, 1860: The thermometer insists on 19 degrees below zero.
- Jan. 3, 1894: All is usual—the men are harvesting ice.
- Jan. 10, 1857: We sled home ice today. I had two yoke of oxen from the South Family on one sled and three teams of our own. The ice was 15 inches thick. We brought 19 cakes a load—16 loads today.
- Jan. 10, 1859: The thermometer insisted on 32 below zero, the coldest I have ever known.
- Jan. 11, 1854: I take a bath. Have taken two this week.
- Jan. 22, 1882: The wind toward night at 3 a.m. was perfectly furious. It menaced, screeched, whispered, groaned, and shook the house with powerful rage so that the inmates could not sleep, for fear of calamity.
- Feb. 4, 1861: Cold! Cold!
- Feb. 6, 1844: It is extremely cold. William freezes his ears.
According to the 1910 Annual Report, the town spent $471.96 for snow clearance, out of a total $13,938.48 town expenditure; $500 had been allocated. The report enumerated Harvard’s population as 1,075 people, 321 houses, 356 horses, 980 cows, 295 neat cattle, 11 sheep, 86 swine, and 2,570 fowls.