Hidden History

Hidden History of Hilton Head offers a lively array of historical tidbits and tales, focusing on people, lifeways, believe-it-or-not snippets and beloved local places.

Discover the ties that Harriet Tubman and Clara Barton had to the region and learn about the lives of oyster shuckers, root doctors, debauched Jack-ashores and many other characters in the island's rich history. From beautiful poems written by renowned locals to the songs that guided the slaves to freedom and time-tested regional recipes, author Alice Sink's collection truly encompasses the spirit of the Lowcountry.

Did you know that the Dust Bowl hit New Jersey? Twice? How about that a mysterious experiment in subliminal advertising was conducted at a Fort Lee, New Jersey movie theater? Or that railroad communication was advanced on a northwest New Jersey railroad line? Or that America first heard about the Russians launch of Sputnik 2 (with a dog onboard) thanks to a Ukrainian refugee in Perth Amboy, New Jersey? Or that prisons could buy a custom electric chair from a Trenton, New Jersey electrician? Or that aviation matured into an industry thanks to Newark Airport? This book is a collection of articles from www.GardenStateLegacy.com, an online quarterly magazine devoted to New Jersey history that the author began in 2008. The Garden State features to some degree even as a footnote in larger historical stories far more often than one might think. It could just be a matter of someone from the state going on to something of historic importance somewhere else; or that by dumb luck something just happened to occur within its borders. New Jersey may be a footnote in these tangential tales, but they are the kind of unexpected connections that makes exploring New Jersey's history so delightful.