Landmarks

Hobcaw Barony is a beloved 17,500-acre plantation and wildlife refuge on the South Carolina coast between Charleston and Myrtle Beach.

Plantation Between the Waters, by Lee Brockington, senior interpreter at Hobcaw, brings the centuries of history surrounding Hobcaw Barony to the public in remarkable clarity. The images and text provide an intimate glimpse into the lives of the people who have been connected to this unspoiled landscape for generations.

This well-illustrated book follows an exhibition at the National Building Museum, highlighting the ways that this specialized architecture and landscape served the mentally ill.

St. Elizabeth's has been a mental health hospital in Washington, D.C., since 1852, when it was established by the United States Congress as the Government Hospital for the Insane. St. Elizabeths, experienced rapid expansion in its first century Deinstitutionalization in the second half of the twentieth century emptied out the historic buildings on campus. It continues the story of St. Elizabeths, a National Historic Landmark, through its current redevelopment as a federal campus and mixed-use neighborhood.

At the height of America's Arts and Crafts movement, Detroit neighbors Horace J. Caulkins and Mary Chase Perry pooled their talents together to found Pewabic Pottery.

With modest beginnings in 1903, Pewabic transformed from a rented stable in Brush Park to an English Tudor building on East Jefferson Avenue, where it has operated since 1907. Today, the iconic enterprise continues Perry's dedication to handcrafted ceramics and remains known for its iridescent glaze on everything from vessels and architectural tiles to ecclesiastical installations in churches across the country, including the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Author Cara Catallo illuminates the story behind one of the oldest American handcrafted pottery traditions.

Historic Theaters of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley traces the evolution of modern cinema through the rich local history of the Mahoning Valley.

From the days of the gaslit opera houses through the era of the drive-in, the Mahoning Valley's theatrical culture has thrived. The finest theaters in northeastern Ohio rose with the manufacturing might of the Steel Valley. The Warner brothers, who started their careers in Youngstown, opened their first theater in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and celebrities from Katharine Hepburn to Red Skelton graced local stages. The finest vaudevillians and the lovely ladies of burlesque were always a ticket away. Take a trip back to the Park Burlesque and the opulent Palace Theater and revisit the theater culture of Warren and Trumbull County. Author Sean T. Posey traces the evolution of modern cinema through the rich local history of the Mahoning Valley.

Make a reservation at the Hotel Galvez and enjoy the storied hospitality that has marked the Queen of the Gulf's reign for over a century.

Come walk the timeless halls of the Hotel Galvez. No expense was spared in the creation of this beautiful statement of Galveston's resilience, which stands as the only historic beachfront hotel in the state of Texas. Perched on the city's famed seawall, the building has weathered a century of hurricanes and even "served'? in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II. Presidents, beauty pageant contestants, gamblers, movie stars, military heroes, newsmen, and countless other guests have gazed out at the Gulf through its gracefully arched windows. Kathleen Maca recounts the legends and shares the secrets of this extraordinary hotel.

The largest civilian cemetery in the Southeast holds the history of famous and infamous alike.

In 1884, several leading citizens purchased 577 acres to open Atlanta's Westview Cemetery. The rolling terrain, part of which was a site in the Civil War battle of Ezra Church, became the final resting place for more than 100,000 people. Prominent locals buried here include Grant Park namesake L.P. Grant, author Joel Chandler Harris, High Museum benefactor Harriet High, Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler Sr. and Havertys founder J.J. Haverty. The cemetery's Westview Abbey mausoleum is one of the nation's largest, with more than eleven thousand crypts. Throughout its history, Westview dabbled in other business ventures, including a cafeteria, a funeral home and an ambulance service. And for decades, the cemetery's Westview Floral Company sold flowers to lot owners and local businesses, leading to its own advice column in the Atlanta Constitution. Author Jeff Clemmons traces the complete history of this treasured necropolis.

Explore the rich history and mysteries of this Preserve America Community through the eyes of the people who live there!

German Village's iconic homes, bustling businesses and other beloved sites harbor fascinating stories.

Did you know that German Village's Recreation Park, now gone, is thought to have had the first baseball concession stand? Or that the four-story Schwartz Castle was the site of two murders? Or that the popular restaurant Engine House No. 5 closed its doors after the mysterious disappearance of its owners in the Bermuda Triangle?

Longtime resident and tour guide John M. Clark goes behind the bricks of more than seventy German Village properties to explore the places and people who made the Old South End into a Columbus treasure.

Thomas Jefferson developed the idea for the Virginia State Penitentiary and set the standard for the future of the American prison system. The prison endured severe overcrowding, three fires, an earthquake and numerous riots.

Vice President Aaron Burr was incarcerated there in 1807 as he awaited trial for treason. More than 240 prisoners were executed there by electric chair. At one time, the ACLU called it the "most shameful prison in America." The institution was plagued by racial injustice, eugenics experiments and the presence of children imprisoned among adults. Join author Dale Brumfield as he charts the 190-year history of the iconic prison.

From the opera house and movie palace to the modern multiplex, the big screens in Delaware have been delighting moviegoers for more than a century.

Hollywood legend Cary Grant visited the Playhouse Theater in 1955, fondly recalling his days on its stage as a child actor. Clint Eastwood came to Wilmington for a secret test screening of his film The Gauntlet at the Branmar Cinema. The groundbreaking history of Star Wars includes a Delaware theater that was one of only forty-five in the country to open the film. Author Michael J. Nazarewycz recounts the cinematic history of Delaware's grand movie theaters.

"The bells rung all day, and almost all night..."

John Adams wrote this timeless observation when the Declaration of Independence was signed and publicly proclaimed in early July of 1776 to a jubilant crowd in Philadelphia. This is the story of those bells - a search to discover which bells did indeed ring, or are believed to have rung, when America was born. It is the story of the most famous bell in the world, the Liberty Bell, and the other historic bells of Philadelphia, during the era of the American Revolution.

Author Thomas Kaufmann traces the joyous history of sound and instrument as the nation is forged among uplifting tolls of Philadelphia's historic independence bells.

Visit a Louisiana landmark that tells a big piece of the American story.

Fort Jesup was founded two centuries ago, a bulwark on the youthful nation's western frontier. During its long run as a military post, it was visited by over one thousand soldiers and officers, many of whom would make a lasting impact on American history. The long list of luminaries includes Presidents Zachary Taylor and Ulysses S. Grant, over forty officers who would become Civil War generals, and two Surgeons General, one of whom would treat Abraham Lincoln after he was shot. Thousands of settlers also passed through on their way to Texas, using the fort as a waypoint on their journey. As citadel and stopping post, Fort Jesup played a critical role during the nation's formative years. Author Scott DeBose shares the sprawling story of this Louisiana icon.

A window into the past of Historic Eastern Cemetery, illuminating centuries of Portland's history through the stories of those laid to rest.

Eastern Cemetery holds more than 350 years of Portland's rich history. From bank robbers and murdering mutineers to Quakers and war heroes, the lives of those interred offer a window into the past. Within the sacred burial ground rest settlers who struggled with the natives over resources, citizens who had to choose their allegiance to the king or independence and abolitionists fighting for the end of slavery. Author and cemetery guide Ron Romano tells the fascinating tale of this historic landscape, illuminating centuries of Portland's history through the stories of those laid to rest.

Shallow Ford, the natural rock path across the Yadkin River, served as the gateway for pioneers to the western North Carolina frontier and as a stage for history.

The ford was the site of the Battle of Shallow Ford in the Revolutionary War and Stoneman's Raid during the Civil War. The eye of the needle for General Cornwallis in the Race to the Dan, it was also the silent witness to the Great Wagon Road and the trans-Appalachian migration led by local son Daniel Boone. Bypassed for the last hundred years, Shallow Ford faded from view but remains a landmark of another era.

Local historian Marcia D. Phillips recounts the history of a time when safe passage across the river provided the way to reach the American future that lay beyond.