The 1648 thing refers to the fact that there hasn't been one on the Winter Solstice since that year, and no others on that date since the BC days. Otherwise they're fairly common. I've seen quite a few, the last one was just a couple of years ago, and I didn't even know it was supposed to happen. I was driving home, looked up and the moon was orange, I said "oh a lunar eclipse", then went inside and had dinner. lol They're still cool to see. I'd love to see a total solar eclipse. There will be one that passes over the entire United States in
August 2017, with the path of totality going smack dab across the middle of the country. It'll be the first total eclipse to hit the US mainland since 1979.