A late July tornado in nearby Limington reminded us of the violent late July tornado and hurricane in 1767, in Windham. The event was described eloquently by eyewitnesses and preserved in the writings of historians of the time, although some describe it as a tornado and others call it a hurricane.

On July 31, 1767, it began near Sebago Lake, went through the northeast corner of Gorham, crossed the Presumpscot River near the covered bridge, through the middle of Windham, went over Highland Lake through Yarmouth and Falmouth and out to sea. It “prostrated” everything in its path, it is written, and was about three fourths of a mile wide.

A Windham man who was working at Whitney’s landing (below the Covered Bridge), rolling logs into the Presumpscot River with a crew and four oxen, remembered that the day was extremely hot and toward noon, “we heard a strange rushing noise, clambered up the steep bank and saw a “sulphurous” colored cloud approaching. It seemed filled with large trees, broken and twisted. We hurried down the banking and the storm passed by leaving a perfectly clear sky.”

No rain, hail, thunder or lightning accompanied this hurricane. The men went back to work, but had to spend a good amount of time freeing the oxen who had gotten hemmed in by the falling trees.

Over on the Swett Road in the Quaker District, 21-year-old Peltiah Allen and his wife, Hannah, had a new baby, Ebenezer, and a new house. When the tornado came through, Hannah and the new baby, Ebenezer, left the house and took shelter by a huge boulder in the yard. Peltiah was away at work. She watched as their new house was demolished. Peltiah Allen rebuilt in that same year, 1767, and lived there the rest of his life. His house is still standing.

The path of the hurricane became the path of a forest fire in 1775 that was accompanied by a strong wind. It began near North Gorham and ended at Highland Lake.

Other unusual weather “events” in the town’s history include the “Dark Day”, Friday, May 19, 1780, a “Cold Friday” on Jan. 18, 1810, and a meteoric shower in the evening of Nov. 13, 1833.

Those stories are for another day.