1703 - October 29th - Another hurricane that first made landfall in Virginia, destroying ships and damaging plantations. Winds and flooding once again with this storm, driving vessels out to sea in Maryland as well. This storm perhaps curved quickly Northeast toward New England and maintained its hurricane strength, however it's also probable that it morphed into a similarly strong but 'extratropical' state, as there a cold rain fell, having followed a snow event a week earlier. This hurricane should not be confused with the 'Great Hurricane of 1703' that struck England nearly a month later.

1706 - October 14-15 (or perhaps November 6th) - Some accounts have this storm going up through eastern New York and Western New England after churning up the waters East of Virginia. Storm surge inundated two fishing villages along the shore, and 14 ships were lost at sea before the hurricane swept up the coast.

1716 - October 24-25 - Apparently not a very notable hurricane, perhaps because, as this rendering presents, its track was primarily east of the States. Nevertheless, this storm did affect Eastern Massachusetts. Another item of note, though most certainly unrelated, this storm followed, by just a few days, one of the famously odd 'dark days' (the sort-of 'candles at noon' kind of thing).

1723 - November 7th - Not much remains to tell about this hurricane, perhaps just single entry into the Boston News Letter. Seems pretty sparse, even for claiming to have just hit Rhode Island. Not to be confused with a storm of earlier February, which has been proposed as a hurricane ... However, it is much more likely to have been extratropical, akin to the ferocity of the Blizzard of 1978.

1727 - September 27th - This hurricane marches up through Southern New England, but is documented the most moving through Cape Ann in Eastern Massachusetts. Local historians have many little snippets from citizens of chimneys blown off, and trees down. Perhaps the most famous quote of this hurricane came from the Rev. Samuel Phillips, who dubbed it the "Great rain and horrible wind." This storm was followed only days later by what some call a top-ten disaster all-time for New England, the 1727 New England Earthquake.

1743 - November 2nd (or October 22nd if you couldn't tell by now there's different dating styles going on) - Most commonly referred to as "Ben Franklin's Eclipse Hurricane". As the story goes, he was going out to view a lunar eclipse, one which he was prevented from viewing because of a hurricane. This storm passes close to Philadelphia, but most likely stays offshore until Long Island. Originally, it was feared this hurricane would strike the Carolinas as well, leading to an unnecessary increase in crop prices for Brittain. During this storm, some of the first pressure readings were taken, by Professor Winthrop of Harvard, showing 29.35Hg (994mb). Not a very strong hurricane, but yet one from which much damage was reported. Ben Franklin was later to deduce from this storm that hurricanes don't exactly move in the same direction the wind is blowing.

1749 - October 19th - Another notable hurricane that devastated parts of Eastern Virginia on it's way up the eastern seaboard. Fort George, reinforced after a hurricane from 1667, is completely destroyed by this one. Considerable crop and property damage occurred as well. This hurricane managed to quickly wash up 800-acres of sand, known now as the "Willoughby Spit". Some eye-witness accounts imply that this storm tracked just to the east of the Tidewater area, though that may be a hard sell, considering a storm surge up the Chesapeake Bay of over 15 feet high in 4 hours...unless of course this storm was something like a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which would make it just about the most powerful storm to hit the Bay area. Regardless, this hurricane made it's way up the coast, and is part of Connecticut and Boston's storm histories.

1757 - September 24th - Perhaps more well recognized in the Canadian Maritimes than New England itself, this system probably curved to the east of Massachusetts (given the wind patterns described here). Nevertheless it is incidentally included because of the fame it garnered by swamping a British naval ambush attempt on ships at Louisbourg during the French and Indian War, sending the 64-gun HMS Tilbury to the bottom, where it remains to this day. If every hurricane that skirted by New England toward Nova Scotia were included in this list, it would certainly get much longer than intended.

1761 - October 23rd-24th - Also referred to as the "Southeast New England Hurricane of 1761" (how original). This storm came through the overnight hours, had many eye-witness accounts from noted hurricane/weather enthusiasts of the day. It is possible that this storm, like so many others, skirted the Virginia coastline, bringing Tropical Storm winds, and perhaps in North Carolina as well. The storm turned northeastward, cutting across CT, RI, and MA, blocking many roads with fallen trees. This storm then caused gale-force winds across the Casco Bay of Maine, uprooting trees on its way out toward the Canadian Maritimes.

1769 - September 8th - Also known as the "Great Chesapeake Bay Hurricane". The hurricane was reported to first come ashore between Southport and New Berne, NC, damaging crops, and washing away an entire street of NC homes. It knocked down the courthouse of the soon-to-be-abandoned Brunswick Town. The Governor of North Carolina at the time attempted to correlate the arrival of this hurricane (and probably others) to various astrological phenomena. Many vessels were damaged, and had to be put into Charleston for repairs. The storm then tracked just to the east of Williamsburg, and east of New Jersey, into the open water, before landfalling again on the SE New England shoreline at about 40 mph. Once reaching east of Boston on the evening of the 8th, it is possible this storm was by then of only Tropical Storm strength, measuring only 1001mb on John Winthrop's barometer (admittedly west of the center). This storm them blew gale force winds in Maine as the center raced northeastward into Canada. Receiving the most damage would be the Chesapeake Bay area in the Tidewater region, with 12' storm surge.

1770 - October 20th - Also known as "Stile's Hurricane" ... may not have been a hurricane at all, as often a 'Noreaster is capable of bringing similar winds/rains/damage. Clues to it being a hurricane would be the storm surge driving the ocean up to State Street in Boston, the highest since the 1723 hurricane. Evidence instead to a 'Noreaster would be the clear extratropical nature of colder air entrenchment into the system...The temperature drops from 67 degrees in Boston at 3pm, to 35 degrees at 7pm during continual gales, with hail (or rather ice pellets or sleet) being reported. This is corroborated by a larger-scale cold pool feature that brings snow to George Washington's crew on their descent down the Ohio River during the same time. Best guess would put it originally as a hurricane then turned extratropical over New England...though in deference to Ezra Stile and his trusty Newport Thermometer, we'll leave his namesake intact as a hurricane...after all, it did manage to mess up the Trinity Church spire in Newport, RI like just about every other hurricane of the day.

1775 - September 2nd - Also known as the "Independence Hurricane", this storm seems to have taken a similar track to the 1769 storm, coming ashore over the Outer Banks of North Carolina, clipping the Delmarva peninsula area, and continuing offshore to the northeast. Winds, rains, and damage were reported in Annapolis, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, though it is likely the storm passed to the east of those locations, possibly passing over Cape Cod. This hurricane continued all the way to Newfoundland, most likely in an extratropical state, but nevertheless became Canada's deadliest hurricane, killing around 4000 people, caused around a 20 foot storm surge, and for years it was said the bones of the dead washed ashore. This storm is also included in this list for the impact it had on the Revolutionary War movement. A ship The Liberty, becomes stranded, and colonists loot and burn her in one of the first acts of war. Benedict Arnold's secret plan to seize British Quebec was stunted by the hurricane. And the thousands of British sailors killed at their Newfoundland stations no doubt hurt the early response to Revolutionists.

1778 - August 12th - Hurricane first makes landfall between Georgetown and Cape Fear, NC, causing extensive damage along the coast, destroying crops not yet harvested, and prevents the Continental Army from being fully funded. Continues east of Virginia, eventually passing offshore of Rhode Island. The storm was key (Ezra Stile called it 'providential') as even though the French fleet lost some skirmishes to the British off Newport, this hurricane caused more damage to both sides than battles themselves, avoiding a more disastrous one-sided outcome. There were some reports of damage over Southeast New England, but this storm too may well have passed offshore on a more eastward direction than the 1775 storm. There are also reports of tropical storm in October, and even November, though they may all be one in the same, or otherwise these latter two may not rise to an actual hurricane (non-extratropical) level.

1788 - August 19th - Not to be confused with "George Washington's Hurricane" of a month earlier, this hurricane could very well have had a long track up from the Caribbean through to the states, perhaps first witnessed effecting Martinique on August 14th...Then two days later is seen battering Puerto Rico. It tracks northward, and makes landfall on the Jersey Shoreline a few days later. There were large overwash deposits in New York barrier areas, the west side of the battery nearly in ruins. Responsible for a storm surge in NYC of more than 10 feet, it has been estimated at a Cat-3 storm at landfall. It was known as a 'compact storm' with the breadth of it's core winds between 75 and 100 miles wide. The storm continued up through Western Massachusetts, causing considerable damage. This was the first hurricane reported on by the Keene, NH newspaper, and it provides a few pithy accounts, despite unfortunately mislabeling it a tornado.