Eleanor Roosevelt's character was shaped by the history and culture of the Hudson Valley. More than that, Eleanor Roosevelt loved the Hudson Valley. A woman who knew and cared for the whole world chose this place, Val-Kill, as her home in a cottage by a stream. Eleanor Roosevelt: A Hudson Valley Remembrance reflects her unaffected simplicity and caring interest in her neighbors' concerns. Remembered by friends, colleagues, neighbors, and young people, these qualities inspired a community-based group to lead efforts to save her home in 1977 as the country's first national historic site dedicated to a First Lady. The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill continues her work on issues that affect life today.

The Oceanfront's Cottage Line, the music halls of Seaside Park, and dunes so large they dwarfed the old Cape Henry lighthouse are a memory. Gone too are many of the city's iconic landmarks and open spaces, lost to flood, fire, storm and the relentless onslaught of post-World War II development. With a deft hand and rare vintage images, historian Amy Waters Yarsinske recalls a time when the likes of Chuck Berry and Ray Charles played beneath the sizzling lights of the Dome and locals shagged the night away at the Peppermint Beach Club. Join Yarsinske as she takes one final stroll through a Virginia Beach lost to time.

Located along the northern shore of scenic Long Island Sound, New Haven is perhaps best known for its diverse architectural history (it boasts every American style) and as an intellectual capital the city vied with Hartford to establish Yale University within its borders. In this pictorial history, Colin Caplan, author of "A Guide to Historic New Haven, Connecticut" and "New Haven: Then and Now" offers readers a glimpse into the character, elegance and bustle that define the city.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Oregons legendary bridge engineer Conde B. McCullough designed a first-rate collection of aesthetic bridges on the Oregon Coast Highway to enhance an already dramatic and beautiful landscape. The six largest of these, at Gold Beach, Newport, Waldport, Florence, Reedsport, and Coos Bay, eliminated the last ferries on the Oregon Coast Highway between the Columbia River and California. McCullough planned to build one bridge each year after completion of the Rogue River Bridge at Gold Beach in 1932, but the tightening grip of the Depression threatened his plans. In 1933, McCullough and his staff worked day and night to finish plans for the remaining five bridges, and in early 1934, the Public Works Administration funded simultaneous construction of them. The combined projects provided approximately 630 jobs, but at least six workers perished during construction. After the bridges were complete, Oregon coast tourism increased by a dramatic 72 percent in the first year.

Los Angeles and the movies grew up together, and a natural extension of the picture business was the premium presentation of the productthe biggest, best, and brightest theatres imaginable. The magnificent movie palaces along Broadway in downtown Los Angeles still represent the highest concentration of vintage theatres in the world. With Hollywood and the movies practically synonymous, the theatres in the studios neighborhood were state-of-the-art for showbiz, whether they were designed for film, vaudeville, or stage productions. From the elegant Orpheum and the exotic Graumans Chinese to the modest El Rey, this volume celebrates the architecture and social history of Los Angeless unique collection of historic theatres past and present. The common threads that connect them all, from the grandest movie palace to the smallest neighborhood theatre, are stories and the ghosts of audiences past waiting in the dark for the show to begin.

Surprising tales and unexpected anecdotes color Rhode Island's legacy, from the accounts of its three brave "Titanic" survivors to the whirlwind Revolutionary War romance between a Smithfield girl and a French viscount. Rhode Island historian Glenn Laxton uncovers the exceptional citizens whom history has forgotten, like Robert the Hermit, a man who endured three escapes from slavery before finding liberty and peace in Rumford; the illustrious Lippitt family, who spearheaded advancements in deaf education; and Christiana Bannister, a Narragansett tribe member, nineteenth-century entrepreneur and wife to the most successful African American artist of the time. With moments of tragedy, as in the "Lexington" steamboat disaster, as well as triumph, as in the case of small-town boy turned baseball hero Joe Connolly, "Hidden History of Rhode Island" delivers the best Ocean State stories you've never heard before.

Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is one of the best-known works of American literature. But what other myths lie hidden behind the landscape of New York's Hudson Valley? Imps cause mischief on the Hudson River; a white lady haunts Raven Rock; Major Andre's ghost seeks redemption; and real headless hessians search for their severed skulls. Local folklorist Jonathan Kruk tells these and other tales of the lore of the Hudson Valley the stories that have created an atmosphere of mystery that helped inspire Irving's legend.

The Sea Ranch, translated from the Spanish aDel Mar Ranch, a occupies the northwest corner of Sonoma County and is renowned for its architecture and environmental sensitivity. The development of a second-home community in 1965 was just one more chapter in a long history that began in 1846. The Sea Ranch is part of the German Rancho, the most northern coastal Mexican land grant, which was confirmed by the United States following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. It was home to German cattlemen, loggers, and an early-20th-century Russian Baptist colony. Over the years, shepherds, World War II soldiers, and bootleggers have called it home. Early maps and photographs tell the history of the area, and contemporary photographs reveal remnants of historic buildings and sites on the current Sea Ranch landscape.

On June 29, 1776, Fr. Francisco Palou dedicated the first site of Mission San Francisco de Asis on the shores of Dolores Lagoon. At the time, it was a just a patch in the village of Chutchuii, the home of the Ohlone people, and Palou could never have foreseen the vibrant city that would eventually spring up around the humble settlement. The final mission building, popularly known as Mission Dolores and San Francisco's oldest complete structure, was dedicated on August 2, 1791, at what became Sixteenth and Dolores Streets. After the gold rush, the district around the mission began its dramatic evolution to the diverse area we know today, a bustling mix of immigrants from other states, Europe, and South and Central America.

Venture back to the Boston of the 1800s, when Back Bay was just a wide expanse of water to the west of the Shawmut Peninsula and merchants peddled their wares to sailors along the docks. Witness the beginning of the American Industrial Revolution; learn how a series of cultural movements made Boston the focal point of abolitionism in America, with leaders like William Lloyd Garrison; and see the golden age of the arts ushered in with notables Longfellow, Holmes, Copley, Sargent and Isabella Stewart Gardner. Travel with local historian Ted Clarke down the cobbled streets of Boston to discover its history in the golden age.

Folly Beach native Gretchen Stringer-Robinson takes the reader through a history of this delightful beach town covering the war years, the innocence of the fifties, the recession of the seventies, Hurricane Hugo and times in between. Visiting colorful characters and beautiful locations, this book will be enjoyed by both residents and visitors.

Before he was a civil rights leader, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a man of the church. His father was a pastor, and much of young Martin's time was spent in Baptist churches. He went on to seminary and received a Ph.D. in theology. In 1953, he took over leadership of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Atlanta. The church was his home. But, as he began working for civil rights, King became a fierce critic of the churches, both black and white. He railed against white Christian leaders who urged him to be patient in the struggle-or even opposed civil rights altogether. And, while the black church was the platform from which King launched the struggle for civil rights, he was deeply ambivalent toward the church as an institution, and saw it as in constant need of reform. In this book, Lewis Baldwin explores King's complex relationship with the Christian church, from his days growing up at Ebenezer Baptist, to his work as a pastor, to his battles with American churches over civil rights, to his vision for the global church. King, Baldwin argues, had a robust and multifaceted view of the nature and purpose of the church that serves as a model for the church in the 21st century.

From Harmond Husband's rebellious roots that led him to settle in and establish the village of Somerset to the Meyers family of maple fame, Pulling includes images from many of Somerset's treasured boroughs. As the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor wound its way through central Pennsylvania and coal mining towns like Boswell and Jerome sprang up across the countryside, Somerset County changed and evolved with the times. Pulling revives the lost memories of curiosities like the ?Ship of the Alleghenies? and extols the virtues of the snowmakers at the Seven Springs resort. She also recounts the tragic accident at the Quecreek mine that trapped nine miners for more than three days, and shares the sorrow and mourning of the community of Shanksville?forever changed on September 11. Join Sister Pulling as she relives the triumphs and tragedies, the heroes and headliners of this historic mountain county.

Unlike many small towns in the South that were occupied by the Union army, beautiful Staunton, Virginia, emerged from the Civil War largely unscathed. Join historian Edmund Potter on a walking tour through the many architectural gems and notable buildings of downtown Staunton's five National Historic Districts. From the picturesque Wharf Area to the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson to the town's many historically African American businesses, "A Guide to Historic Staunton" offers visitors and residents alike a deeper appreciation of their remarkable surroundings.

On November 1, 1957, traffic officially opened on the Mackinac Bridge. That was the culmination of 70 years of talking and dreaming about a bridge across
the Straits of Mackinac, of discouraging attempts for legislative and congressional approval, of efforts to raise the funds, and finally of a three-year construction program necessary for the world's longest and costliest (to date) suspension bridge.
Michigan's greatest symbol is expertly maintained, fully funded, and amazingly resilient to the many forces and factors of man and nature that have failed to seriously affect its status as the lone highway link between Michigan's two main peninsulas. The "miracle bridge" at the Straits of Mackinac truly allows a view that epitomizes the state motto of Michigan, Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circumspice, or "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you."

Maine is well known as a land of fresh air and clean water, as the home of L.L. Bean and as one of the most popular camping and outdoor recreation destinations in the country. But what lies behind this idyllic facade? Unmapped roads. Whispering rocks. Deadening fog. Ghost pirates. Lonely islands. THINGS in the woods. This is the great state of Maine, home of Stephen King, land of the Great Northern Woods and all the mystery that lies within their dark footprint. What better setting than this for tales of strange creatures, murderers, madmen and eccentric hermits? From the "Headless Halloween of 1940" to the mystery of who lies in the grave of V.P. Coolidge; from Bigfoot sightings to the "witch's grave" in a Portland cemetery, writer and illustrator Michelle Souliere brings to life these strange-but-true tales from the Pine Tree State.

Deer Isle, a coastal town in Penobscot Bay, was settled by farmers and mariners in the 1760s after the end of the French and Indian War. People, freight, and mail came by water to the secluded island where mackerel and lobster fishing were the mainstays of the island's economy. In the late 19th century, granite from booming Stonington quarries was shipped by boat. Summer visitors began arriving by the boatload to rusticate in gracious inns and seasonal cottages. These became the subjects of vintage postcards, many created by local photographers capturing the views of harbors and towns, rural roads and bridges, masts of the great sailing vessels, and derricks of the large quarries.

The United States is considered the world's foremost refuge for foreigners, and no place in the nation symbolizes this better than Ellis Island. Through Ellis Island's halls and corridors more than twelve million immigrants-of nearly every nationality and race-entered the country on their way to new experiences in North America. With an astonishing array of nineteenth- and twentieth-century photographs, Ellis Island leads the reader through the fascinating history of this small island in New York harbor from its pre-immigration days as one of the harbor's oyster islands to its spectacular years as the flagship station of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration to its current incarnation as the National Park Service's largest museum.

Ride the trolley up the ridge of Beacon Hill and discover one of South Seattle's most interesting districts. Unique among Seattle neighborhoods, Beacon Hill is a community where immigrants from all over the globe have settled side by side for over 100 years. This new book tells the story of the people and businesses of Beacon Hill in vintage photographs, the majority of which date before World War II. Readers will learn about the immigrants who worked on farms, opened shops, and labored in shipyards, the building of Jefferson Park, as well as the activism and political struggles that shaped the Beacon Hill neighborhood.