A Blazing Bicentennial

Weston, Conn. - Darkness clung to the
early morning sky on Dec. 14, 1807, as Judge Nathan Wheeler started out
on his morning constitutional along a country road near here. Suddenly
the heavens exploded as a fireball raced across the horizon – whizzing
sounds and three sonic booms cracked the quiet as rock rained down.

Judge Wheeler ran back to his home, and, for a brief moment, thought Armageddon had arrived.

At the same time, 30 miles down the road, Isaac Bronson, a former field surgeon in the American Revolution, dozed in a speeding
stagecoach. Suddenly the cab rattled and shook, and the inside lit up like daylight. Nearby houses shuddered.

Dr.
Bronson urged the terrified driver to continue, even though he, too,
feared the end of the world was nigh. He’d seen horrible things on the
battlefield, but nothing had prepared him for this.

Both learned men, Wheeler and Bronson were sought by journalists and scientists for testimony of the event. According to their
accounts, the two were positively stumped about what had zoomed before their – and much of New England’s – eyes.

Though scientific understanding of what happened would not jell for decades, the awesome event is considered a scientific
turning point: It was the first recorded meteorite fall in America. 

First recorded U.S. meteorite