Many years ago I saw a TV newscast about the work of Edward Rowe
Snow and the Flying Santa program in New England. It was a service provided by
Wiggins Airways, and every time I pass by the Manchester Airport and see the
Wiggins sign, I think of the Flying Santas – even in the heat of summer!
Since colonial times the New
England lighthouses were manned by families. In 1929 William Wincapaw started a
tradition of dropping presents from Santa from planes to children of lighthouse
keepers. In the footage I saw on the television special, most of these
lighthouses were on isolated islands or other inaccessible points of land. Over
the years the program was expanded to more lighthouses and Coast Guard
stations. Edward Rowe Snow participated in the program for more than forty
years as a pilot. He paid for the gifts –
a toy, a candy cane, and a copy of his latest book – out of his own pocket.
Edward Rowe Snow is a familiar
name to New England Yankees. He attended Harvard, and studied under historian
Samuel Eliot Morrison, who was a maritime expert. Snow wrote over 100 books on
the maritime history of New England, with subjects as wide as pirates and ship
wrecks. There is a boat named for him plying the waters of Boston Harbor, and
providing ferry service to George’s Island and the state parks. He was a
driving force behind saving Fort Warren, on George’s Island as part of the
state park system. He led ghost story tours of the Civil War fort, and used to
tell the story of the “Lady in Black”, which I think of every time we are in
the dark tunnels there!
Snow served as a Flying Santa
from 1936 to 1980, and some years he brought his little girl, Dolly, along for
the rides to help drop the packages to the children waiting below. She loved to
see the faces of the island children when her father buzzed the lighthouses.
When a memorial to Snow was established in 2000, a granite marker was placed at
the pavilion for tourists on George’s Island, and the plaque reads “Author,
historian, and ‘Flying Santa’ to lighthouse keepers, Edward Rowe Snow was the
president of the Society for the Preservation of Fort Warren and led the fight
to preserve the fort as a public park. The presence of Edward and his wife,
Anna-Myrle, will always be felt on George’s Island.” Dolly Snow Bicknell, his
daughter, was part of the memorial committee.
At the dedication of the
memorial marker Seamond Ponsart Roberts read a letter about how when she was
little, Snow dropped a gift from Santa on Cuttyhunk Island, where her father
was lighthouse keeper. Inside the package, the doll broke during the fall from
the plane. The next year Snow personally rented a helicopter and directly handed
her a new doll. She wrote, “He is my Flying Santa, a man I’ll love forever. I
know this because I know he cared very much for people and gave of himself. I
hope this will be a big part of what people remember him for when they see this
monument to Edward Rowe Snow.”
Eventually, lighthouses became
automated and children were no longer living on the isolated islands off New
England. Now helicopters provide the flights as a tradition to Coast Guard
stations as a gift of thanks for the work performed by these brave men and
women. Edward Rowe Snow’s tradition is still alive, and being carried on by
George Morgan and the Friends of the Flying Santa.
I learned about Edward Rowe
Snow because I had a Civil War ancestor who served six months as a guard at
Fort Warren on George’s Island, when it was a prisoner of war camp. We enjoyed
several Civil War reenactments and encampments on George’s Island, and my
daughter (she is now 32 years old!) used to love exploring the tunnels of Fort
Warren and searching for the Lady in Black when she was little. Only later did
I find out that one of my favorite historians was also the “Flying Santa!”
Also, when you visit the Boston
Harbor islands, you are onboard a ferry named "The Edward Rowe Snow"! Look for this ferry which is usually moored
near the New England Aquarium at Long Wharf when it isn’t out in the harbor.
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A Mayflower Lineage:
Gen 1: Nicholas Snow, born 25
January 1598 in England, died 15 November 1676; married to Constance Hopkins,
daughter of Mayflower Passenger Stephen Hopkins and Constance Dudley, born
before 11 May 1606 and died October 1677.
Gen 2: John Snow, born about
1638 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, died 1692 in Eastham, Massachusetts; married
19 September 1667 to Mary Smalley, born 1647.
Gen. 3: John Snow, born 3 May
1678; married to Elizabeth Ridley
Gen 4: Isaac Snow, born 11
February 1713/4 in Eastham, died 15 February 1799; married to Apphia Atwood
Gen
5: Reverend Elisha Snow, born 26 March 1739, died 30 January 1832;
married on 6 December 1759 at Cape Elizabeth, Maine to Betsey Jordan.
Gen. 6: Elisha Snow, born 29
May 1769, died 20 January 1843; married Nancy McKown as his second wife.
Gen. 7: Larkin Snow, born 27
September 1799 in Maine, died on 19 October 1861; married Alice Small
Gen. 8: George L. Snow, born in
1828 in Rockland, Maine, died 1891 in Rockland; married to Lucy Ann Snow (also
descended from Nicolas Snow, common line through Isaac Snow (above), she
descended from Elisha's (1739 -1832) brother Robert- so they were 2nd cousins).
Gen. 9. Edward Sumpter Snow,
born 26 April 1861 in Rockland, Maine and Alice Rowe
Gen. 9: Edward Rowe Snow, born
22 August 1902 in Winthrop, Massachusetts, died 10 April 1982; married on 8
July 1932 to Anna-Myrl Haegg. One daughter, Dorothy (Dolly) Caroline Snow. He
is buried in Marshfield, Plymouth County, Massachusetts and his grave can be
seen at www.findagrave.com #7295384 Snow’s gravestone is beautifully engraved
with a lighthouse! https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7295384/edward-rowe-snow
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For more information:
The History of the Flying Santa
program (including a cute photo of little Seamond Ponsart and Santa Snow!)
This article from the archives
of ‘Lighthouse Digest’ has the letter from Seamond Ponsart Roberts.
Historic Nantucket Magazine,
from the Nantucket Historical Association, Winter 2008, Volume 57, No. 1, page
18, an article entitled “Flying Santa: Edward Rowe Snow and the Romance of
History”
Santa tells about the Flying
Santa Program
A story written by Seamond
Ponsart Roberts herself about her beloved Santa Snow
A delightful children’s book about Edward Rowe Snow, The
Lighthouse Santa, written by Sara Hoaglund Hunter, 2011
This is an updated version of the original blog post which was posted in 2009:
---------------
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “The Flying Santa- Edward Rowe
Snow”, Nutfield Genelealogy, posted December 21, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-flying-santa-edward-rowe-snow.html: accessed [access date]).
