"Flying Santa" Edward Rowe Snow in action (video)

Edward Rowe Snow ’32 dropped bundles of presents to lighthouse families around New England every holiday season.

Greetings from Boston Light (1958)

Read Sara Hoagland Hunter’s article on Edward Rowe Snow ’32, from the January-February issue of Harvard Magazine, about the life of the Winthrop High School teacher and maritime writer turned “Flying Santa,” known for his annual holiday flights throughout New England during which he dropped bundles of presents to lighthouse keepers and their families. Then visit the Friends of Flying Santa website, formed in 1997 to help ensure the future of annual Christmas flights to New England lighthouses, to view videos of Snow and his team in action, including a 1946 helicopter flight to Martha's Vineyard; aerial footage of Snow dropping packages at Nauset Light, Great Point Light, and Sankaty Head Light; Snow in full Santa attire preparing for flight at an airport; a 1967 interview; Snow and daughter Dolly delivering gifts by boat to Ken Black and crew at Boston Light; and other aerial footage

Related topics

You might also like

The 140th Harvard-Yale Game: Fandom Tiny Mic Edition

“The Game” is celebrating its 140th year. We tiny-mic’d some Crimson supporters. 

A Ray of Light amid Middle East Devastation

Harvard’s Lisa Randall on Israeli and Palestinian scientists working together

Harvard Researchers on Speaking to Whales

Project CETI’s pioneering effort to unlock the language of sperm whales

Most popular

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Five Questions with Peter R. Girguis

A Harvard professor of evolutionary biology on what lurks in the deep sea  

A Harvard Constitutional Scholar on Star Wars and the Supreme Court

The Harvard Law professor and constitutional scholar on what Star Wars can tell us about today’s Supreme Court

Explore More From Current Issue

Illustration of college students running under a large red "MAGA" hat while others look on with some skeptisim.

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Catherine Zipf smiling, wearing striped shirt and dark sweater outdoors.

Preserving the History of Jim Crow Era Safe Havens

Architectural historian Catherine Zipf is building a database of Green Book sites.  

Whimsical illustration of students rushing through ornate campus gate from bus marked “Welcome New Students.”

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The Medical School goes coed, University poet wins Nobel Prize.