American History Books

Explore the history of Camp Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan as two camp staff members Ian Hopkins and Matt Horbal detail the adventures and adversities of the camp throughout the years.

Camp Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan opened in the summer of 1929 with a vision of providing an outdoor experience for young people. It is owned and operated by the Northeast Illinois Council, Boy Scouts of America (BSA), in Highland Park, Illinois, and located in Pearson, Wisconsin. The camp's name comes from the Native American phrase meaning ""spring fed lake"" and originated in a contest won by a Scout from the North Shore Area Council, BSA. Thousands of young people and adults have hiked the trails, boated on the lakes, developed their scouting skills, and had countless adventures at the camp. The stories of how the camp was developed, built, and maintained by the North Shore Area Council, BSA, during difficult times, including war and the Great Depression, are shared within. Camp Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan still serves young people, adults, and families from more than 40 communities.

Briarcliff Lodgeis a record of a New York landmark that disappeared from the landscape in a spectacular fire in September 2003.

When it opened in 1902, Briarcliff Lodgewas America's premier resort hotel. Located some thirty miles north of New York City, this magnificent Tudor-style building was surrounded by dairy barns and greenhouses, all built by Walter Law, the laird of Briarcliff Manor.

Here, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were hosted, as were Tallulah Bankhead, Johnny Weissmuller, Jimmy Walker, Babe Ruth, and other luminaries. The hotel business declined in the 1930s, here and at other nearby resorts, but Briarcliff Lodgecontinued in use as the home of the Edgewood Park Schoolfrom 1936 to 1954 and as the King's Collegefrom 1955 to 1994.

Rob Yasinsac is a lifelong Westchester County resident who documents neglected historic sites throughout the Hudson Valleyin an attempt to save them. He works for Historic Hudson Valley, serves as a trustee on the boards of the Westchester Countyand Irvington Historical Societies, and is a member of numerous other historical organizations.

Explore the once quaint farming town of Historic Monte NE. With images throughout the centuries, witness its transformation into a tourism hotspot during the 1920s.

Situated in a lush, spring-fed valley, the town of Silver Springs in Northwest Arkansas was once home to a small community of people who farmed, enjoyed the riches of rural life, and gathered at the local auditorium, gristmill, or tavern. Their world was forever changed in 1900 with the arrival of William Hope ""Coin"" Harvey. A fervent supporter of the ""free silver"" movement in the 1890s, Harvey had become disgruntled with the American financial system. Retreating to the pastoral valley, Harvey purchased 320 acres, renamed the community Monte Ne, and began to build a grand resort. It attracted visitors from across the country with its fertile landscape, large hotels, and private rail line. By the 1920s, Harvey had turned his attention to building a large ""time capsule"" pyramid, of which only the foyer, or amphitheater, was completed.

In the 1880s, Oscar Townsend and the Cleveland, Lorain, & Wheeling Railroad developed a prosperous vacation resort, eventually called ""Chippewa Lake Park,"" on the banks of Ohio's largest natural lake.

The Great Depression and extinction of interurban service crippled the park, but in 1937, Parker Beach purchased the resort, and it enjoyed a swinging Golden Age through 1969, as he kept the park's ballroom filled with dancers and famous bands. In 1978, after more than 100 years of operation, Chippewa Lake Park joined the ghostly ranks of the last traditional amusement parks. Chippewa Lake Park keeps the memory of one of Ohio's longest-lived and best-loved amusement parks alive through vintage images and captivating history.

What was once a whale-processing center in the 1700s emerged as a destination for sun and fun by drawing the biggest names and the classic American families of the early twentieth century.

Nestled along the New Jersey coastline and built to be one of the original seaside tourist destinations, Ocean City still sets the standard for resort living along the mid-Atlantic. As our country's search for the ideal vacation grew, this 7-mile stretch of beach cultivated a rich history and a reputation as one of the most alluring communities on the East Coast.

With this glimpse into Beverly Shores' past, readers of all ages will delight in discovering the unique heritage of this town in northwestern Indiana. From developer Frederick Bartlett's introduction of the Mediterranean Revival style of architecture, to Robert Bartlett's most enduring publicity stunt of buying pieces of the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair and stationing them in the town, this architectural study includes nearly 200 vintage images of the evolution of this suburban dunes resort community.

A beautiful vacation destination today, the Berkshires has been the chosen enclave for many influential and artistic notables since the 18th century.

Those hustling to find lodging in the Berkshires today may not know they are repeating a two-hundred fifty- year-old ritual. In the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, the Berkshires played host to some of the most fascinating characters in American literature, politics, business, and the arts. They came with the warm breezes and left when they felt the first cold snap in the autumnal air. The Berkshires: Coach Inns to Cottages is a photographic record of Berkshire dwelling places from the rough simplicity of stagecoach inns to the glittering luxury of Gilded Age cottages. Come inside the Berkshire coach inns where ""one might be subjected to disagreeable exposures,"" as Timothy Dwight noted in 1823. Come inside the Berkshire cottages where the rich and powerful were entertained according to the precepts of fashionable society. Use this volume as a guide to the many structures that have been preserved.