Hermanville, NY hail storm, Aug 1857

Terrific Hail Storm in the Valley of the Housatonic.

About five o'clock on Sunday afternoon, 23rd inst., Hermanvillewas visited by a most terrific hail storm, acoompanied with thunder and lightning. Though the hail did not fall for more than ten minutes, it came with such violence as to smash hundreds of window lights, and to completely ruin the tobacco crop, which was more than usually promising. The damage thus done must amount to many thousand dollars. The stones were perfectly round, of a milkish whiteness, most of them of the size of a bullet, but many were seen as large as a hen's egg. They were very hard, so that a heavy blow was needed to crush them. Altogether the sotrm was the most severe that the inhabitants of the neighborhood remember. Accounts are constantly coming in of damage done wherever the hail fell; and though it did not cover an area of more than ten miles in width, yet a great amount of property must have been destroyed. Many had placed their sole dependence on the tobacco crop, but this terrific visitation has left them destitute.

The New York Herald, New York, NY 27 Aug 1857
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Transcribed by Tim Taugher. Thanks, Tim!