New England's Dark Day

[4][5] According to Professor Samuel Williams of Harvard College, the darkness was seen at least as far north as Portland, Maine, and extended southwards to New Jersey.

Professor Samuel Williams observed from Cambridge, Massachusetts, "This extraordinary darkness came on between the hours of 10 and 11 a.m. and continued till the middle of the next night.

At Harvard College, the obscuration was reported to arrive at 10:30 a.m., peaking at 12:45 p.m. and abating by 1:10 p.m., but a heavy overcast remained for the rest of the day.

A witness reported that a strong sooty smell prevailed in the atmosphere, and that rain water had a light film over it that was made up of particles of burnt leaves and ash.

[12] Seventh-day Adventist author and editor Arthur S. Maxwell mentions this event in his The Bible Story series (volume 10).

Progressive Adventists do not necessarily interpret this as a sign that Jesus would soon return,[13] but traditional historic and conservative Adventists who hold Ellen G. White's writings in higher regard still consider this date as one of the fulfillments of biblical prophecy,[14] specifically Matthew 24:29, in which Jesus declares to his disciples, "Immediately after the distress of those days [of anti-Christian persecution,] the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light..." (NIV).

[16][17] The Dark Day also provided motivation for Ann Lee, leader of the Shakers (then living in Niskayuna, New York), to present her religious testimony to the public.