Since colonial times, when Yankee pioneers first planted villages and homesteads in New Hampshire's rugged hill country, the Granite State's rural settlers have cultivated a vibrant pastoral society. Bruce D. Heald offers a richly nostalgic recollection of the traditions, pastimes and storied names and locales that have helped New Hampshire's backwoodsmen carve out a unique identity. With stops to consider such classic northern New England activities as ice fishing, maple sugaring and blueberry picking, Memories from New Hampshire's Lakes and Mountains: Fence Building and Apple Cider takes the reader on a special journey through folk life during New Hampshire's olden days.

In Marblehead Myths, Legends and Lore, author Pam Peterson recounts the oral and written accounts that Marbleheaders have handed down over the past four hundred years. Here you will find stories of magic and witches, sailors, pirates and shipwrecks. Compiled with meticulous care, Marblehead Myths, Legends and Lore offers a diverse sampling of tales from one of New England's maritime treasures.

With this powerful, evocative new book, St. Petersburg residents Jon Wilson and Rosalie Peck present an informative narrative that explores the history of St. Petersburg, Florida's most vibrant African American neighborhood: 22nd Street South or ?the deuces.? Throughout the city's history, no other area has personified strength for the African American community like this segregation-era thoroughfare. A haven during the brutal Jim Crow years, 22nd Street South was a place where prominent businessmen and community leaders were the role models and residents and neighbors looked out for one another. The close-knit community encouraged strong, positive values even as its members were treated as second-class citizens in the wider world. Authors Wilson and Peck tell the story of this unique district and how its people and events contributed to and helped to shape the history of St. Petersburg in the context of the greater South and the Civil Rights Movement.

The area where Madras now stands was originally known as "The Basin." Sheep and cattle operators first utilized the site, where Willow Creek also flows, as a grazing zone. The Basin area was eventually settled by homesteaders in the late 1880s, and the location of present-day Madras is situated on the land of four early farmhouses. Madras was incorporated on March 2, 1910, and became a commercial center with the arrival of railroads in 1911, earning the nickname "Gateway to Central Oregon." With the arrival of irrigation water from the Deschutes River by means of the North Unit Project in 1946, intensive farming began in the surrounding areas, kicking off a new era in Madras.

In the early 20th century, there was no better example of a classic American downtown than Los Angeles. Since World War II, Los Angeles's Historic Core has been "passively preserved," with most of its historic buildings left intact. Recent renovations of the area for residential use and the construction of Disney Hall and the Staples Center are shining a new spotlight on its many pre-1930s Beaux Arts, Art Deco, and Spanish Baroque buildings.

Washington, D.C.'s Rock Creek Park stands as a wild and wonderful natural gem among a burgeoning metropolis. But while local residents flock to its trails and roads on weekends to hike, jog and bicycle, they are largely unaware of the its diverse history. The park's grounds were the site of the bloody Civil War Battle of Fort Stevens, and presidents like Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson exercised and picnicked in the park the same way many visitors do today. From the cabin of eccentric poet Joaquin Miller to the oldest house in Washington today, the many stories and legends surrounding the park are sure to entertain and inform. Join National Park ranger, author and historian Scott Einberger as he traces the human, natural and urban history of Rock Creek Park, the largest park in the nation's capital.

Come on in to Sumner, Washington, the "Rhubarb Pie Capital of the World." Settled in 1853 after a wagon train daringly crossed the Cascade Mountains through Naches Pass, Sumner quickly grew to become an established town. Find out how Sumner's name was literally drawn out of a hat. Learn about George Ryan's unique method for getting the railroad to stop here. Take a tour down Main Street, and watch how it changed--or didn't--through the decades. See Ryan House when it actually was a farmhouse and the Old Cannery when it was canning fruit. Join in celebrations over the years, from the Daffodil Parade to football championships. Meet schoolchildren, including Clara McCarty Wilt, who became the first graduate of the University of Washington. Follow the work at local industries, from the lumberyards to the fields, where daffodils, berries, and of course, rhubarb were grown.

In the 1800s, Tombstone was a rowdy silver-mining camp and the scene of a famous gunfight that enhanced its wicked reputation. When the rich silver mines were tapped out, Tombstone managed to survive and lived up to its motto, "The Town Too Tough to Die." The movie industry enhanced this wild reputation by portraying legendary gunfights at the O.K. Corral--which never actually took place at that location. For many years, the town has used its history to attract visitors by giving them a sense of life in the Old West. This volume includes many of the postcards tourists mailed home depicting romanticized and legendary views of Tombstone.

In the swamps and juke joints of Holmes County, Mississippi, Edward Tillman Branch built his empire. Tillman's clubs were legendary. Moonshine flowed as patrons enjoyed craps games and well-know blues acts. Across from his Goodman establishment, prostitutes in a trysting trailer entertained men, including the married Tillman himself. A threat to law enforcement and anyone who crossed his path, Branch rose from modest beginnings to become the ruler of a treacherous kingdom in the hills that became his own end. Author Janice Branch Tracy reveals the man behind the story and the path that led him to become what Honeyboy Edwards referred to in his autobiography as the "baddest white man in Mississippi."

The majestic beauty of Grand Teton National Park has moved people throughout time. Native Americans believed in the spiritual power of the towering mountain peaks and journeyed there to gain special powers. Early fur traders, who had just crossed less ominous mountain ranges, viewed with trepidation the massive obstacle that loomed before them on their passage to the Pacific Northwest. In others, the Tetons ignited vision and passion--a vision to preserve for all generations to come and a passion to protect the independent way of life known by the first settlers of this western frontier. The formation of Grand Teton National Park spanned the course of nearly 70 years. Although there were many people who shared the struggle before them, it was not until Stephen Mather and Horace M. Albright took up the fight in 1915 that steps towards success were taken. Albright's tenacity and ability to convey his vision to philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. set in motion a very long journey that culminated with Pres. Harry S. Truman signing today's Grand Teton National Park into existence on September 13, 1950.

Bainbridge Island sits in the middle of Puget Sound in Washington State. Its unique history starts with the Native Americans and includes logging, farming, fishing, and shipbuilding from the late 1800s through the present. Early explorers included George Vancouver in 1792 and the Wilkes expedition of 1841. Ferry service and other means of water transport were the only ways onto the island until 1950, when a bridge was completed. Bainbridge Island is only a 30-minute ferry ride from Seattle, and its only bridge approaches the island from the west. The City of Bainbridge Island, which includes the entire 65-square-mile island, incorporated on February 28, 1991. Its 23,000 residents today share the rich history that is told in images and captions within the pages of this book.

At the close of the nineteenth century in the Ozark Plateau, lawlessness ruled. Lawmakers, in bed with moonshiners and bootleggers, fueled local crime and turned a blind eye to egregious wrongdoing. In response, a vigilante force emerged from the Ozark hills: the Bald Knobbers. They formed their own laws and alliances; local ministers donned the Knobber mask and brought "justice" to the hills, lynching suspected bootleggers. As community support and interest grew, reporters wrote curious articles about Knobber exploits. Join Vincent S. Anderson as he uncovers these peculiar reports including trials, lovers' spats ending in coldblooded murder and Ozark vigilante history that inspired a folk legend.

Fueled by the dream to strike it rich, prospectors flocked to California during the gold rush. Yet the harsh lifestyle and backbreaking work led many to early graves. Join author Linda Bottjer on a tour through Gold Country's most chilling--and true--haunted tales. Tales such as the hangman of Placerville, whose distinctive wheeze is a sign of his continued presence. Or the Georgetown miner whose unrequited love for a much younger lady of the night finds him still pining for her in death as he did in life. And in Coloma, the ghost of James Marshall is said to dwell on the lonely hilltop where his cabin and monument now stand. These stories, and many others, capture the ghostly spirit of Gold Country.

Bounded on the north by the Little Satilla River from neighboring Glynn County and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, Camden County's southern boundary at the St. Marys River separates Georgia from Florida. Dating from a 1766 land grant, port of St. Marys and Camden County have faced a challenging past, present, and future. Camden's growth and development have been driven by businessmen, adventurers and opportunists, determined "wild swamp Crackers," and hardy, self-reliant, God-fearing men and women.

Accompanied by Jonathan Bryan, a planter with an insatiable appetite for virgin tracts of land, Georgia's third and last Royal Governor James Wright visited Buttermilk Bluff in June 1767 and envisioned a city. St. Marys was born, and its street names reflect the surnames of the 20 founding fathers. While the county seat was removed from a quaint St. Marys on more than one occasion, today, the garden spot of Woodbine serves as the seat of county government. Formerly the rice plantation of J.K. Bedell, this small city shares a symbiotic relationship with port of St. Marys and the "City of Royal Treatment" at Kingsland. The history of the county, with its three main towns as well as the outlying, rural areas, unfolds in striking photographs from days gone by. Preserved within the pages of this treasured volume, images reveal Camden and its people in times of tragedy and triumph.

Strange creatures and tales of the supernatural thrive in Pennsylvania, from ghostly children who linger by their graves to werewolves that ambush nighttime travelers. Passed down over generations, Keystone State legends and lore provide both thrilling stories and dire warnings. Phantom trains chug down the now removed rails of the P&LE Railroad line on the Great Allegheny Passage. A wild ape boy is said to roam the Chester swamps, while the weeping Squonk wanders the hemlock-shrouded hills of central Pennsylvania, lamenting his hideousness. On dark nights, the ghosts of Betty Knox and her Union soldier beau still search for each other at Dunbar Creek. Join Thomas White and company as they go in search of the truth behind the legends of supernatural Pennsylvania.

Massachusetts Bay stretches along the rocky coast and dangerously sandy shoals from Cape Ann to Cape Cod and gives the Bay State its distinctive shape and the Atlantic Ocean one of its largest graveyards. Author and longtime diver Thomas Hall guides us through the history of eight dreadful wrecks as we navigate around Mass Bay. Learn the sorrowful fate of the Portland and its crew during the devastating Portland Gale of 1898, how the City of Salisbury went down with its load of exotic zoo animals in the shadow of Graves Light and how the Forest Queen lost its precious cargo in a nor'easter. Hall provides updated research for each shipwreck, as well as insights into the technology, ship design and weather conditions unique to each wreck.

Join local food aficionado Bill Loomis on a look back at the appetites, tastes, kitchens, parties, holidays and everyday meals that defined eating in Detroit, from the earliest days as a French village to the start of the twentieth century. Whether it's at a frontier farmers' market, a Victorian twelve-course children's birthday party replete with tongue sandwiches or a five-cent-lunch diner, food is a main ingredient in a community's identity and history. While showcasing favorite fare of the day, this book also explores historic foodways--how locals fished the Detroit River, banished flies from kitchens without screens and harvested frog legs with miniscule shotguns. Wedding feasts, pioneer grub, cooking classes and the thriftless '20s are all on the menu, too.

In 1907, a young girl was found dead in the Lyric Theatre, leaving behind an unwanted pregnancy and an abusive lover. On an otherwise quiet morning in 1891, a cartful of nitroglycerin exploded. The remains of the driver had to be gathered in a peck basket. The Cannonball Express lived up to its name in 1888, when an open switch caused it to shoot off the track, sending two cars flying. Local journalist A. Parker Burroughs resurrects these and other stories from southwestern Pennsylvania's shadowy past. From foul play at the Burgettstown Fair to the tragic murder of North Franklin's Thelma Young, follow the trail with Burroughs as he uncovers the crimes and intrigues of Washington County.

For over a century, Ohio and Pennsylvania families have made an annual trek to a special spot on the shores of Lake Erie. This tiny piece of Northeast, Ohio, has made a huge impression on the hearts of thousands of visitors. But what is it about this town that draws generation after generation back for a vacation every summer? Why, when other resorts and amusements crumbled apart in the mid-nineteenth century, was Geneva on the Lake able to sustain some of the most trying times in the entertainment industry?

Perhaps, by tracing the history of the town, and by exploring what the town is today, one may discover the answers to these questions. By examining numerous accounts of happy times on the lakeside, one will discover that some feelings have held true since the resorts beginnings; Geneva on the Lake has a magical way of lingering in our memories, connecting us to our past, and forever remaining in our hearts

Located in the southeastern corner of Oregon, Harney County covers approximately 10,600 square miles and supports a population of just over 7,000 residents. The topography of the land has shaped the identity of the county as well as the character of the people who chose to make their livelihood here. Harney's vast and rugged landscape spans from the snow-swept summit of Steens Mountain to the green-forested slopes of the Ochoco and Malheur National Forests; from the lush valleys of the Blitzen, Silvies, and Malheur Rivers to the sagebrush- and juniper-dotted plains of the high desert. The geographic isolation of the county fostered a sense of independence among the early settlers as well as a great sense of community.