Townie Tidbits

Is it just me or has the 40th anniversary of the Blizzard of ‘78 got here much too fast. I remember it well to this day.  One big difference for me is I was a mere 29 years old, ready to battle the snow. I caught  my dad shoveling it a few days after the storm ended and started yelling at him to stop, telling him, “You’re too old to shovel.” He looked over at me and told me to please mind my own business as he shoveled on. He was then, five years younger than I am now. Anybody  wanna tell me I’m too old for shoveling or anything else? Don’t even try it.

Back then I was writing in the old Charlestown Patriot and took some great photos of that blizzard that happened over a two-day period  between Feb. 6-7. It shut down Greater Boston for nearly an entire week. It has become a legend in Boston winter history and named the Blizzard of the Century.I’ve been told we have had worse snow storms since but I’m not buying this revisionist look back on 1978.

I remember  Townies cross-country skiing  all over town, especially going down Monument Avenue. I lived on Winthrop Street then across from Engine 50, and Winthrop Street stayed in pretty good shape considering this snow disaster because the fire apparatus needed to come and go during any and all emergencies.

If you survived it, you were proud of it and love telling stories about the snow of the century to all younger folks of which the older you get, the more you know. I found three photos of mine that speak volumes of the impact that storm had on the entire Charlestown community and everywhere else that February. We still remember, those old enough, that the February blizzard had followed a January  blizzard that had also been called the “Blizzard of the Century’ two eels earlier on Jan. 20. Al in all, Boston got some 50 place inches of snow inside 17 days. OUCH!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.