When Edgartown Harbor Froze
Harbor just off ferry wharf becomes prime sledding spot; behind the sledder, a car-carrying barge is iced in at slip.
Harbor just off ferry wharf becomes prime sledding spot; behind the sledder, a car-carrying barge is iced in at slip.
A channel had to be cut so Chappy ferry could run.
A channel had to be cut so Chappy ferry could run.
The big freeze of 1934 lasted until early March.
The big freeze of 1934 lasted until early March.
Coal wharf, now site of Seafood Shanty, as photographed from iced-over Edgartown harbor on Feb. 9, 1934.
Coal wharf, now site of Seafood Shanty, as photographed from iced-over Edgartown harbor on Feb. 9, 1934.
Four adventurers standing on ice on the harbor-side of Edgartown Yacht Club.
Four adventurers standing on ice on the harbor-side of Edgartown Yacht Club.
Gazette editor Henry Beetle Hough stands at the harbor entrance after walking over ice from Edgartown lighthouse to entrance of Cape Pogue Pond on Feb. 10, 1934.
Gazette editor Henry Beetle Hough stands at the harbor entrance after walking over ice from Edgartown lighthouse to entrance of Cape Pogue Pond on Feb. 10, 1934.
Bill Roberts embraces channel marker at harbor entrance after walking to and from Cape Pogue.
Bill Roberts embraces channel marker at harbor entrance after walking to and from Cape Pogue.
Fishing schooner Josephine II, belonging to Phil Norton, lies at family pier on Feb. 9, 1934. To the left is fishing boat Malvina B., belonging to Isaac Norton.
Fishing schooner Josephine II, belonging to Phil Norton, lies at family pier on Feb. 9, 1934. To the left is fishing boat Malvina B., belonging to Isaac Norton.
It was the kind of winter that is talked about for generations, the winter of 1933 -1934. Ice caked and silenced bells and covered the spars and riggings of fishing boats. It was so cold that steamboats were iced in and schools were cancelled, and seagulls searched for food at backyard bird feeders.
Friday, Feb. 9 was 16 degrees below zero, S. Bailey Norton wrote in a journal. After days of sub-zero temperatures, the Edgartown Harbor froze over, making it possible to walk from Edgartown to Chappaquiddick. On Feb. 10, the ice was so thick that Gazette co-editor Henry Beetle Hough and Gazette linotype editor and pressman Bill Roberts walked across Edgartown outer harbor, from the Edgartown lighthouse to Cape Pogue Pond, and back.
“Within sight of [Edgartown Memorial Wharf] we had our heart's desire that day, and I have thought of it often since,” Mr. Hough wrote. “How over the blue, deep, shining strait where the steamboats used to run and where the tall yachts sail, we walked one February morning.”