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Edward Rowe Snow (August 22, 1902 Winthrop, Massachusetts - April 10, 1982) was an American author and historian.

Life

He was the son of Edward Sumpter and Alice (Rowe) Snow. He graduated from Harvard University, and Boston University, with an M.A. He married Anna-Myrle Haegg, on July 8, 1932, and they had a daughter Dorothy Caroline.

He was a high school teacher in Winthrop, Massachusetts. During World War II, he served with the XII Bomber Command, and he became a first lieutenant. He was a daily columnist at the Patriot Ledger, in Quincy, Massachusetts, from 1957-82.^[1]

Career

Edward Rowe Snow memorial plaque.

He is widely known for his stories of pirates and other nautical subjects; he wrote over forty books and many shorter publications. In all, he was the author of more than 100 publications, mainly about New England coastal history.^[2]

Mr. Snow was also a major chronicler of New England maritime history. With the publication of The Islands of Boston Harbor in 1935, he became famous as a historian of the New England coast and also as a popular storyteller, lecturer, preservationist, and treasure hunter. Forty years later, he was still publishing.

He is also famous for carrying on the tradition of the "Flying Santa" for over forty years (1936-1980). Every Christmas he would hire a small plane and drop wrapped gifts to the lighthouse keepers and their families.

Many credit him with saving Fort Warren, located on Georges Island in Boston Harbor, in the 1950s.^[3]

In August 2000, a plaque was dedicated to Mr. Snow on his beloved Georges Island.^[4] A ferry boat has been named for him.^[5]

Since 2002, several of his books were released in new editions published by Commonwealth Editions of Beverly, Massachusetts.

Publications

• Castle Island, Its 300 Years of History and Romance (Andover MA: Andover Press, 1935)
• The Islands of Boston Harbor, their history and romance, 1626-1935 (1935, updated by Jeremy D'Entremont and republished by Commonwealth Editions, 2002)
• Sailing Down Boston Bay (Yankee Publishing Company, 1941)
• Storms And Shipwrecks of New England (1943, updated by Jeremy D'Entremont and republished by Commonwealth Editions, 2005)
• Pirates and Buccaneers of the Atlantic Coast (Boston: Yankee, 1944; republished by Commonwealth Editions, 2004)
• The Lighthouses of New England (1945 and later editions; updated by Jeremy D'Entremont and republished by Commonwealth Editions, 2002)
• A Pilgrim Returns to Cape Cod (Boston: Yankee Publishing Company, 1946; republished by Commonwealth Editions, 2003).
• Mysteries and Adventures Along the Atlantic Coast (1948, updated by Jeremy D'Entremont and republished by Commonwealth Editions, 2006)
• Secrets of the North Atlantic Islands (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1950)
• True Tales of Pirates and Their Gold (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1957)
• Women Of The Sea (1962, updated by Jeremy D'Entremont and republished by Commonwealth Editions, 2002)
• An Island Citadel (Boston: Braintree MA, ca. 1965)
• Historic Fort Warren (Boston: Yankee Publishing, 1941)
• Two Forts Named Independence, (1967)
• True Tales and Curious Legends: Dramatic Stories from the Yankee Past (New York: Dodd, Mead 1969)
• Ghosts, Gales and Gold (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1972)
• Adventures, Blizzards, and Coastal Calamities (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1978)
• Supernatural Mysteries and Other Tales (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1974)

References

External links

• "Memorial Dedicated to Edward Rowe Snow: Historian", by Jeremy D'Entremont, in Lighthouse Digest, October 2000. An overview of Snow's life.
• Edward Rowe Snow at Amazon.com
• Lighthouses.net (catalog of publications)
• Edward Rowe Snow at Find a Grave
• "Flying Santa: Edward Rowe Snow and the Romance of History", by Joseph P. Theroux