‘Considerably frightened’: How Arkansans reacted during previous total solar eclipses
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The Natural State is just weeks away from a total solar eclipse but what did the state look like during previous eclipses?
There have been two total solar eclipses with paths of totality through Arkansas before 2024. One was in 1834 and the other was in 1918.
November 30, 1834
About a year before the eclipse, the Little Rock newspaper The Arkansas Democrat announced the upcoming event with information from the American Almanac.
“The most remarkable of the phenomena that this year will happen, is the eclipse of the sun on Sunday, the 30th of November,” the publication said.
In preparation, the newspaper told viewers to protect their eyes. “One of the very darkest green or red glasses of a sextant, and in default of this, a piece of common window glass…rendered quite black by the smoke of a lamp, only, can be used with safety,” according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
EclipseWise says the eclipse’s path of totality went northwest to southeast through some of what are now the biggest cities in the state, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Conway, Little Rock and Russellville.
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A newspaper clipping from December 2, 1834, said the conditions to view the eclipse a few days earlier were perfect and that it was “witnessed here in its fullest grandeur.”
“The weather was perfectly clear—not a cloud to be seen—affording a most excellent opportunity of witnessing this magnificent phenomenon of nature in all its sublimity,” the clipping continued.
Fayetteville was given two minutes of totality, and Little Rock got one minute and 30 seconds of totality.
June 8, 1918
While those who saw the eclipse in 1834 had a clear view for nearly two minutes, those in 1918 weren’t so lucky.
Cloud coverage blocked views of the eclipse after a maximum of one minute and 12 seconds of totality in the state, according to The Sky Live.
The path of totality went through most of southern Arkansas, through Mena, Arkadelphia, Fordyce, Monticello and Camden.
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Newspaper clippings from Camden and Arkadelphia detailed the towns’ experiences during the eclipse.
The Arkadelphia paper said when the total eclipse began, clouds interfered. “However, the effects were startling.”
Darkness came on quickly forcing automobile drivers to turn on their headlights. Lightning bugs jumped from the grass and scattered. “To all appearances, it was night,” the paper said.
In Camden, hundreds of spectators got their smoked glasses ready only to see clouds blocking the totality shadow.
Those in Hermitage were “considerably frightened, some running out of their houses into the street calling on the Lord for mercy,” according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
A day that was called “a gala day for astronomers” by the Arkansas Gazette was later reported by the Southern Standard as “somewhat of a disappointment.”
For more information on the 2024 solar eclipse, visit Chief Meteorologist Dan Skoff’s weather blog.
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