Colonial America

Warfare in the Wilderness

Few images reflect the character of hardy New Englanders like that of the eighteenth-century colonial ranger. Rugged characters such as Robert Rogers, Israel Putnam and John Stark spent much of their lives carving a living out of the harsh wilderness of the region, while later proving themselves in battle against seasoned Abenaki warriors. The Wright and Porter families fought throughout western New England, from skirmishes in Charlestown, New Hampshire, to climactic battles on Lake Champlain and Lake George. From the bloody King Philip’s War battlefields of Massachusetts to the fight for the wilderness of New Hampshire and Vermont, author Anthony Blasi explores the journey from frightened homesteader to toughened wilderness warrior.

Eat, Drink, Be Merry and Join the Revolution

New Jersey was the Crossroads of the American Revolution, and its colonial taverns were havens for Patriots and Loyalists alike to debate the political question of independence and even plan much of the Revolution itself. Taverns were the social and political centers of colonial society and the Garden State had a myriad of establishments that played prominent roles in the founding of the nation. Taverns became recruitment stations for colonial militias and provided a meeting place for local committees of safety. George Washington used them as headquarters and safe houses for his spies and local troops.

Discover the intoxicating history of the driving force in the fight for freedom, the colonial tavern in New Jersey.  

Historian Joe A. Mobley recounts events in the Carolinas from prehistory and the first settlement by colonists through North Carolina’s emergence as a state in a new, democratic nation.

The history of North Carolina began before the first European explorers gazed upon its shores. Its Native inhabitants had long dominated the land and waterways. Before the colonial era ended vast numbers of English, Scottish, Swiss, Germans, French, Welsh and Africans had immigrated to North Carolina, pushing Native Americans to the margins and leaving their mark on the culture of the colony. In some ways, colonial North Carolina was unique in the early American experience. The peculiar configuration of the Outer Banks limited its commercial opportunities, but the colony was very much a part of the Atlantic world.

The history of infamous witch trials and witchcraft accusations is deeper than just those most often discussed at Salem. The Empire State has had numerous moments of pandemonium over the potential existence of witches.

From Native Americans viewing European colonists as witches in the Mohawk Valley to witchcraft hysteria among early Long Island colonial settlements, the history of New York state's witchcraft accusations encompases all regions and communities in the state.

Join author Scott R. Ferrara as he presents harrowing narratives of those who were accused of witchcraft, the feverish community dramas that resulted and the lives of those who faced their community as an outsider.

Death in early New England came early and often during those harsh first decades of settlement.

Epidemics, hunger, accidents and childbirth contributed to a heavy toll in New England. Disease in some cases erased entire families, and almost always affected the majority of individuals in the communities. For most families, death was still a private affair. Traditions brought over with European customs and others that were strictly American were eventually interwoven, and these ceremonies, tokens and portraits of remembrance became part of these rites and rituals of mourning. Other forms of remembrance were carved into stone with heart-wrung epitaphs, the cause of death and brief biographies. Burial sites themselves evolved from family plots and church graveyards to public, garden-like cemeteries.

Historian Robert A. Geake explores the development of rites and rituals of death in this New World. 

Carved out of a rocky wilderness, Marblehead grew to become one of the most important significant in the British Empire.

Far from the religious hysterics associated with their Salem neighbors, Marbleheaders earned a reputation as a hard-drinking and godless people--people who nonetheless played a significant role in establishing the colonies' independence. In addition to being the fishing capital of Massachusetts, Marblehead is also often referred to as the birthplace of the American Navy, and even the site of George Washington's famed crossing of the Delaware River. In Colonial Marblehead: From Rogues to Revolutionaries, historian and Marblehead resident Lauren Fogle records the story of this grand old town's birth and its significant role in building a nation.

Nestled in the town square of Concord, Massachusetts, the windows of the Colonial Inn have gazed upon more than three centuries of bloodstained history.

Known for its role in the American Revolution, the Inn was originally built as three separate buildings with the oldest section of the property dating back to 1716. A stone's throw from Old North Bridge, the Inn is notoriously haunted by the ghosts from its Revolutionary War past. Guests report phantom footsteps, disembodied voices, and spirited soldiers lurking in the shadows of the labyrinthine hallways and empty rooms of this infamous inn.

Local author Sam Baltrusis has worked the graveyard shift at Concord's Colonial Inn trying to unravel the chilling mysteries and lingering legends associated with one of the country's oldest and most haunted hotels.

The story of a high stakes rivalry between Governor Francis Nicholson and pirate captain Louis Guittar.

Governor Francis Nicholson of Virginia was a proven pirate-hunter and enforcer. By the spring of 1700, his concerns about pirate activity in the Chesapeake Bay and rivers of Virginia were at a fever pitch. Nicholson was unimpressed with the HMS Essex Prize and its commander, John Aldred, who had been tasked with keeping colonial shores safe from smuggling. The HMS Shoreham was sent to Virginia to secure the area from the scourge of piracy, and its arrival brought some relief. Then, the arrival of the ship La Paix, commanded by buccaneer captain Louis Guittar, brought Nicholson on high alert and ready for action.

Author Jeremy Moss tells the stories of Nicholson and Guittar through their fateful battle on the Lynnhaven Bay.