Architecture

Winner of the Association of New York Public Historians 2023 Excellence in Local History Award

Winner of the American Legacy Book Award 2024 for United States History

Winner of the NYC Big Book Award 2024 for Regional-Nonfiction

Winner of the IAN Book of the Year Award 2024 for Outstanding Non-Fiction: History 

The Van Wyck, the Major Deegan, the Jackie Robinson, the Hutch, the Merritt, FDR Drive, or the Henry Hudson...you might drive them regularly, without really noticing that those road names are, well, names. But, who were these people?

New York's many roads, bridges, tunnels, neighborhoods and institutions bear the names of a diverse cast of characters. The Kosciuszko Bridge honors Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a Polish American Revolutionary War hero and fervent abolitionist. The Outerbridge Crossing, named after the Port Authority's first chairman, Eugenius Outerbridge, is called a crossing because Outerbridge Bridge sounded absurd. Shirley Chisholm State Park celebrates the first Black woman elected to Congress, the larger-than-life Shirley Chisholm. Clifford Holland originally designed his tunnel under the Hudson River to accommodate horse carts. These place names embody the rich history of the city that never sleeps, yet few know their true stories. Author Rebecca Bratspies uncovers the vibrant personalities behind the names that have become New York's urban shorthand for traffic jams, culture and recreation.

History Enshrined

Within months of its founding, Denver required places to bury its deceased. They were initially interred at today’s Cheesman Park and Denver Botanic Gardens. As the city matured, its leaders established beautifully manicured and lushly irrigated garden cemeteries, graced with elegant funerary monuments and mausolea. Everyone being equal in death, mining millionaires, governors and senators are buried alongside prostitutes, gangsters and murderers. Journalists, lawmen and war heroes rest in peace together among stately trees. The intrepid cemetery explorer will find musicians, merchants and various eccentrics—even an Apollo astronaut and a storied cannibal.

Join Denver historian Mark A. Barnhouse and longtime Fairmount Cemetery employee and historian Jim Cavoto to explore more than a dozen Denver-area burial grounds and learn how the departed shaped today’s Colorado.

The Historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia is the final home to more than 70,000 residents in elaborate mausoleums and humble headstones alike. Explore the celebrated public figures who are interred here and the burial grounds in this unique book.

The first person buried at Oakland was laid to rest in May 1850, a month before the land was purchased by Atlanta to become its city cemetery. The fast-growing municipality eventually expanded the burial grounds to include 48 acres. Since then, what is now known as Historic Oakland Cemetery has become the final home to more than 70,000 residents. Among those are celebrated politicians, authors, and athletes and those whose impact has been felt but who are not as well recognized. A few of those residents include Gordon Burton Smith, who helped build the Panama Canal; Andre Steiner, who created the master plan for Stone Mountain; and Sally Connally Hardie, who helped run the National Trust of Scotland. They rest among gardened paths in elaborate mausoleums, exceptional funerary art, humble headstones, and sometimes unmarked graves.

Author Janice McDonald has spent countless hours strolling Historic Oakland Cemetery and delving into the stories behind its tombs. She believes that each of Oakland’s residents has a tale that should be told. In her seventh book for Arcadia, McDonald helps readers get to know some of the residents whose past helped shape our future.

Lake Shore Cemetery evolved as a burial ground of necessity rather than intention.

The cemetery’s first interments were French fur trappers and Native Americans, but as migrating settlers began populating Lake Erie’s shore and a community emerged, the need for a recognized burial site arose. The diminutive graveyard, also known as Avon Lake Cemetery, claims less than one-third of an acre abutting the shoreline cliff. It holds the remains of a Revolutionary War soldier, sailors wounded in the Battle of Put-in-Bay during the War of 1812, Civil War and World War I soldiers, and a World War II Flying Tigers crewman .Within this cemetery, pillars of the community and successful farmers share sod with a court-adjudicated drunkard, an alleged lunatic, and several who spent their last days in the county’s poorhouse. Recognized as a historic landmark by the Avon Lake Historic Preservation Commission in 2013, all burial sites within Lake Shore Cemetery’s grounds are claimed. The colorful stories of its permanent residents reveal the diverse nature of the community in which they lived and died.

Sherry Newman Spenzer is a retired magistrate, local historian, and vice president of Heritage Avon Lake, the city’s historical society, which has contributed many of the images in this book. Other images are the original work of photographer Andrew S. Fowkes, and various private donors have supplied vintage photographs.

Just fifty miles south of San Francisco stands Pigeon Point, one of California's tallest lighthouses. 

Named for the infamous wreck of the Carrier Pigeon on her maiden voyage, the beacon began operations in 1872 and has warned mariners away from the treacherous rocky shoals nearby for over 150 years. It has served as a home for many keepers and their families during its lifetime. 

The vantage point is not only perfect for signaling ships at sea, but it also gave Richard Fairchild, the second lighthouse keeper to serve at Pigeon Point, a view of a gunfight in 1875 that ended in the death of local wharf manager. Other memorable keepers include Henry Holbrook, who went on to become a private detective, and Jesse E. Mygrants, who was both the longest-serving keeper at Pigeon Point—from 1924 to 1941—and had the distinction of being kidnapped by rumrunners desperate for a ride to their rendezvous. 

Today, the lighthouse serves as a historical landmark, whale watching point, and incredible stargazing spot. 

Join author JoAnn Semones as she explores the unique history of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse.