This is page two of the
Blizzard of 78 stories from Hull
This page was last updated on: January 29, 2022
Gervaise (Haley) Calos left this for me in the first Guest Book.
What a great site!! Brings back lots of memories.. I was in 4th grade during the Blizzard & was pretty lucky for the most part. We lived on Allerton Hill, so we didn't get the flooding etc. But my father was a Fire Captain & we didn't see much of him, only to come home for clean & dry clothes & socks... I do remember going stir-crazy in the house.. my poor Mother!!!
Aunty Rozz
Pet Sitting
Copyright © 2000-2022 Bruce E. Simons. All rights reserved.
These next three photos come from the Hull Lifesaving Museum collection
If you know where these were
taken please send an email
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
HENRY F. MARSHALL of Strawberry Hill
You want a story? I was the wire inspector at the time. I am in Florida at the moment. and will send you an earful later.I was often told that I should have written a book about it. It would be a novel. Just afew notes, the Memorial was called the Memorial Hilton. The sewer plant that was waiting for a final inspection from me to open had 45 feet of water in it. Which amounted to more than 8 inches on the first level.The sewer lift staton across from the high school had a generator in it and when the power to the town was shut off the generator started up automatically and ran unnoticed for months and ran up one helluva gas bill, thousands of dollars.
The food delivered to the Memorial School was ordered by me & Dave Berman the night we were in charge of the town . We opened Mercurio`s market in village and manned it with the men of the U.S.Army, to feed the people in the village and to prevent looting.
I had the wires in every house from the monument to xyz street bayside and ocean cut to prevent fires.
Paragon Park:
We had 5 feet of water in the park, the water was up to the hoofs of the horses in the merry go round. Every single ride in the park had to be completely rewired as they all were fed electrically from underground. I had 38 electricians putting the park back together for Good Friday of that year. The coaster didn`t make it until April due to structual problems that we had to overcome. we had to install a new chain which pulled the train up the hill.
Paragon had some great employees that were dedicated to Mr. Stone, the Owner. besides the park rides we also had the games and 6 snack bars to get back together, and operating. If not for a lot of dedication and concern the park never would have made it, but it did. All of the skiball machines floated out to the area of Golf Land, when the water from the ocean came across Nantasket Ave. and knocked the overhead doors right off the tracks.All in all it was an experience that to this day Is on I will never forget.
I got this story in bits and pieces from someone only known to me as Grandmatru.
We lived in Hull for twenty-seven years. 64 Samoset Ave
The "blizzard of '78" was a tragedy to all hullonians. We were stuck in our home without lights, plumbing or water. We had gas heat and cooking, so we kept warm with the oven door open and we cooked melted snow. We put plastic bags in the toilet and lots of cologne, but we survived.
We couldn't leave although boats came to take us to the school. We had two dogs and a cat and parakeet that we wouldn't leave. When I say two, it's because we had a two-family house. My sister lived downstairs, and had half the animals to care for. But we survived! My husband ran down to the cellar and pumped the gas heat manually to give us some warmth, but the oven and the gas jets and the candles gave us some semblance of comfort.
We saw the ocean roaring into wards us and we prayed. It came up to the back porch floor.
Henry Marshall thinks this is Atlantic Hill
This is an actual satellite shot of the Blizzard of 78
Rozz's brother Bob Glikin on K Street
Snow piles on K Street
Rozz's dad tried to pick her
up in Hingham but lost
control and hit this house
with his car
Here are a few more
pictures taken by
Rosalyn Glikin Simons
Laura Maxwell
Thank you so much for the trip down memory lane. I was in Hull During the Blizzard. I will never forget it. I was aprox. 10 or 11 yrs. old. The beach and the bay met. Me lived on "B" street at the time. My brother and I got up to play that morning and when we stepped off our porch he started floating down the street.
Fortunately my grandmother lived on Spring Valley Road at the time (near the rectory) and she had a gas stove so we spent the entire month or so there. I think I remember most missing so much school.
Kathy (Young) Wasik, Buried in Bridgewater
When the blizzard struck my husband and I were in Bridgewater and the rest of my family was in Hull. My parents, brother and sister were evacuated by the National Guard from "C" St. and brought up to my grandparents home on Halverson where they had gas heat.
My brother and his friends went down to the beach and filled trash bags full of lobsters. They were feasting on them for a week! That, I suppose was the silver lining to it all. My parents' home suffered much damaged and had to be renovated.
Bonnie Hastey, 10 Malter Street 1st floor
I was only eight years old but I still rememmber as though it was yesterday. How dark it got, silince at first then the sound of the ocean comeing to get us. I had night mares for a long time after that.
We were taken in from the people who lived up stairs on the third floor. I want to thank her. So if you read this, thank you. I remember she was pregnent at the time but didn't bring back a baby from the hospital. Now I'm old enought to know why. Her husband tryed to fix our kitten. We use to help them bring in there grogeres i hope she rememmbers us Sue and Tom Hastey.
Thanks to her we were safe.
Jeanne Doyle
I was living on the corner of B Street and Nantasket Ave (ocean side) in those small apartments in 78. My daughter was only 6 months old at the time. I had invited my mom, older brother and a friend over to play monopoly on the night of the storm. We figured we would just ride it out like all snow storms. But we had only moved to Hull about 18 months before and never even thought about the tides or the ocean.
To us it was just the inconvenience of the snow. The power went out around 8 PM and my company (who lived on B St.) left shortly after. When we woke up in the morning it was freezing in my apartment. Before we knew it the National Guard was evaucating us and making us get into an army truck with just a traditional green tarp over the back. I was on the phone with my mom at the time and told her what was going on. She said to have them drop us off at the fire station. My brother came up the street after us to make sure we were all set.
Well when we were leaving I had Jenifer wrapped up in so many blankets and coats and scarfs that I thought I was going to smother her. But the snow was almost blinding us. When I looked down in the snow I saw a lot of large brown pieces of seaweed, the long slimy kind that makes girls run. It never dawned on me that the ocean was with it, thank god!! We all ended up in the back of the truck heading towards another rescue off of Central Ave, when the truck got stuck in the snow.
Everyone but my daughter and I were out of the truck trying to push it, but it wasn't going anywhere. Then out of no where a little ole Chrysler jeep pulled up and the driver offered to take me and my daughter with him to Central Fire Station. I told him I needed to take my husband and brother too. He was reluctant at first but finally said okay.
We got off at the fire station and our very good friend Bill came over and took us to his house across the street from the station. We all ended up in his house for the next week. In all there were two babies, three youngsters, and 7 adults. We managed to play alot of pass the baby and monopoly, and rode it out more pleasantly than most. I am to this day grateful for the kindness of my friends who really came to our rescue. The lobsters weren't bad either!!
Darlene (Brooker) Kaminski,
3 house down Central Ave from Bruce's mom
Yes, I remember the Blizzard, we lived on the other corner of Central Ave. We ran electricity from your moms house to ours, she got the electricity before we did. Neighbors all helped each other. We were stuck in Hull for 3 days, no hot water, no heat in Feb. We lost two cars, and a complete bedroom.
Jerry Grenier
I worked on the State Disaster Team during the Blizzard of 78, mostly in Hull. We were stationed in the Knights of Columbus Building.
My partner was Tom Menino, the Mayor of Boston. I don't think I left Hull until April of that year.
Lisa McColgan, Jamaica Plain, MA - a kid in Hull
I was in second grade at the time of the Blizzard, but remember it vividly. My family lived at 175 Samoset Avenue (right on the corner of Samoset and Brewster). We had an "in-law" apartment on the ground floor which, thankfully, was unoccupied that winter, as it was completely ruined by the several feet of water which poured in.
I remember thinking it was all a big adventure and was thrilled about having to jump off our little second-floor balcony into the motorboat that arrived to assist with the evacuations. We were able to grab a change or two of clothes and a couple of blankets so were better off than a lot of folks we met over at Memorial (school), where most of my neighborhood had been evacuated. We "lived" for several days in the school's library, sleeping on the floor for at least the first night. It was a big deal when the Army cots arrived.
I seem to remember that the fire alarms at the school kept going off, creating a terrible din in the hallways, so that every time someone came in to the library, he or she was greeted with a chorus of "CLOSE THE DOOR!" My best friend Celia (who lived over on Kenberma) and I spent a lot of time prowling through the hallways and talking to other kids our age. As I said, we all thought it was very cool at the time, and couldn't understand why our parents weren't sharing our enthusiasm.
Some friends of my parents (who lived in Hingham) eventually took us in (we attended St. Paul's and would have had no way to get to school otherwise). Naturally, in talking things over with my folks so many years later, I understand the huge toll that the flood took on the house. I don't remember much about the substantial cleanup that followed. Thought maybe you'd be interested in reading a child's take on it all. Thanks!
