I had just started at the Eagle-Tribune in the final days of 1977 and just over a month later covered the Blizzard of ‘78, which was a big deal for a rookie. I couldn’t leave my house in Salisbury because the road wasn’t plowed, so I couldn’t get to work. But my cousin plowed for the town and had a good-sized truck with four-wheel drive. He offered to take me around the area. Bridge Road was flooded in parts, and it looked like a bomb went off at Salisbury Beach with much of the 5 O’clock Club blown into the ocean or onto the street in front, called Ocean Front South.
In Hampton Beach, sections of Route 1A were covered with rocks the size of grapefruit and nearby several cars were piled on top of each other. The tops of the old metal seawalls were curved like pretzels, some blown off completely. Since I couldn’t drive to the Eagle-Tribune the company sent a newspaper delivery truck with three guys to nearby Route 110, which was plowed, to pick up my film and take it back to the photo chief for processing. Bryan Eaton chief photographer/Newburyport Daily News.
Click here for more photos from the Blizzard of ‘78.
