Historical eventMay 191780

New England's Dark Day

A combination of thick smoke, fog, and heavy cloud cover caused darkness to fall on parts of Canada and the New England area of the United States by noon.

Everything on May 19Original source

In context

When
Friday, May 19 1780246 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
18th century · 1780s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

Russia, Greece and some other countries used the Julian calendar into the early 20th century, so local records may show a date up to 13 days earlier.

At a glance

Dates: From 1780.

What happened

A combination of thick smoke, fog, and heavy cloud cover caused darkness to fall on parts of Canada and the New England area of the United States by noon.

May 19 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1780New England's Dark Day
  2. 20072007 Moscow, Idaho, shooting
  3. 2007President of Romania
  4. 2010Royal Thai Armed Forces
  5. 2012Brindisi school bombing
  6. 20122012 Deir ez-Zor bombing
  7. 2015Refugio State Beach
  8. 2015Refugio oil spill
  9. 2016EgyptAir Flight 804
  10. 2018Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
  11. 20242024 Varzaqan helicopter crash

Also in 1780

  • September 11American Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War: Approximately ten American soldiers were killed by Loyalists and their Native American allies in the Sugarloa…
  • October 7American Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War: Patriots and Loyalist militias engaged each other at the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina.
  • January 16American Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War: The Royal Navy gained their first major naval victory over their European enemies in the war when they defeat…
  • October 9Great Hurricane of 1780The deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record began to impact the Caribbean, killing at least 20,000 people across the Antilles over the sub…
  • November 4Túpac Amaru IITúpac Amaru II led a rebellion of Aymara, Quechua, and mestizo peasants in protest against the Bourbon Reforms in the Spanish Viceroyalty…
  • September 23American Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War: British officer John André was captured by Patriot forces, thereby revealing a plot by Continental Army gener…

Everything we record for 1780 →

Sources

Cite this page

“New England's Dark Day”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/new-england-s-dark-day-1780-may-19, accessed October 28, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about this entry

When did New England's Dark Day happen?

May 19 1780 — 246 years ago, on a Friday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

How do I cite this page?

Use the ready-made citation near the sources at the bottom of the page, and follow the source link to cite the underlying record as well.

Text adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 and from Wikidata (CC0). Images come from Wikimedia Commons; credit and licence are shown with each image. Editorial entries are © What's On This Date. Sources & licensing · How this site works.