New England

Peter F. Stevens offers an entertaining and compelling portrait of the Irish immigrant saga and pays homage to the overlooked episodes of the Boston Irish experience.

When it comes to Irish America, certain names spring to mind - Kennedy, O'Neill, and Curley testify to the proverbial footsteps of the Gael in Boston. However, few people know of Sister Mary Anthony O'Connell, whose medical prowess carried her from the convent to the Civil War battlefields, earning her the nickname the Boston Irish Florence Nightingale, or of Barney McGinniskin, Boston's first Irish cop, who proudly roared at every roll call, McGinniskin from the bogs of Ireland - present! Along with acclaim or notoriety, many forgotten Irish Americans garnered numerous historical firsts.

From the Age of Discovery and the earliest settlement of America, Midcoast Maine has played surprising roles in America's history.

Europeans might not have survived in the New World without the Kennebec beaver trade, the lessons of the Popham Colony and the friendships Maine's first settlers built. Experience the storied survival of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's military grandfather in precarious Revolutionary Maine and meet resilient, creative, noteworthy and notorious Midcoasters. Pat Higgins recounts Puritan power plays, the sea fight between the Boxer and the Enterprise, duels, U-boats and much more. Discover the fascinating and quirky bits of history that have remained hidden along the rocky coast from Portland to Acadia--until now..

Discover four hundred years of Maine's history through the tales of its unique residents.

Maine history would be bare but for the contributions of hardy and impassioned individuals whose lives make up the story of Maine's hidden history. Author Harry Gratwick creates intimate and detailed portraits of these Mainers, from the controversial missionary Sebastien Rale to Woolwich native William Phips, whose seafaring attacks against French Canada earned him the first governorship of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Gratwick also profiles inventors such as Robert Benjamin Lewis, an African American from Gardiner who patented a hair growth product in the 1830s, and Margaret Knight, a York native who defied nineteenth-century sexism to earn the nickname the female Edison. From soprano Lillian Nordica, who left Farmington to become the most glamorous American opera singer of her day, to slugger George Piano Legs Gore, the only Mainer to have ever won a Major League batting championship.

Sitting on a hillside overlooking a spectacular lake and mountains, Burlington was destined to attract greatness, although much of its history has remained hidden.

It was the territory of the Alnôbak, who lived in concert with nature for thousands of years, and later the swashbuckling Green Mountain Boy Ethan Allen and his kin. Self-made tycoon Lawrence Barnes helped make the city the third-largest lumber shipping port in the country. The resilient Fanny Penniman created the first herbarium, and her daughter inspired a nineteenth-century hospital. Bootlegger Cyrus Dean was convicted of murder and publicly executed in the hill section. Irish, French Canadian, Jewish and Italian neighborhoods all combined to give a unique character to the city.

Join author and historian Glenn Fay as he reveals stories and images of Burlington's forgotten past.

Author Susanne Saville explores the history of Salem, Massachusetts, shedding light on those stories which are shadowed most often by witches.

Salem, nestled along the rocky coast of Massachusetts, has long been synonymous with witches, despite efforts to emphasize other aspects of the city's rich history. In this fascinating collection of stories, author Susanne Saville sheds light on the forgotten moments of this noteworthy New England community. Discover Salem's profitable Age of Sail, the important role coffeehouses played during the American Revolution, the scandalous life of Richard Crowninshield Jr. and the unforgettable writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. These revealing stories will not leave the history of Salem in the shadows for long.

Lake Champlain is one of America’s most historic waterways, but much of its history has remained hidden. With the arrival of Europeans, the lake became a vital route between the English in New England and the French in Quebec.

Its isolated beauty contrasted sharply with the bloody military campaigns that unfolded there. While enormous forts were erected, colonial villages blossomed, and 18th century naturalist Peter Kalm spread the word of its bucolic charm. William Miller attracted large audiences as he preached that the world would end in the 1840s. Valcour Island developed its own commune, and when Prohibition took effect, the towns near the Canadian border became a hotbed of bootlegging.

From presidential visits to shipwrecks, local authors Jason Barney and Christine Eldred chronicle some of the lake’s lesser-known contributions to American history.  

Discover the story behind the Nantucket Civil War Monument, King Alcohol and more in Hidden History of Nantucket.

The celebrated history of Nantucket's great whaling days often overshadows the fascinating changes that took place in the years following. Learn about some named on the Civil War Monument, some left off and some who may not belong. Meet the Cold Water Army of seven hundred schoolchildren who paraded against King Alcohol in hopes that the island would become a temperance oasis. Little remains of the bathing pavilion and water slide of the long-lost town of Coatue that once had big plans for expansion. With surprising facts and captivating tales, authors Frank Morral and Barbara Ann White explore these and other lost accounts of the faraway island.

Down East Maine is well known for its breathtaking scenery and art museums. However, much of the history in the traditional mining and fishing area of Rockland and St. George remains untold.

Hanson Gregory from Clam Cove invented the donut. Mary Brown Patten sailed a clipper around Cape Horn. Captain Albert Keller was shipwrecked on Easter Island and Effie Canning of Rockland composed the lullaby "Rock a Bye Baby.'? Captain Charles Holbrook of Tenants Harbor and his ship, the Hattie Dunn, fell victim to a German U-boat in the Atlantic.

Local author Jane Merrill uncovers the forgotten stories and personalities that bring this unique area's history into focus.

The New Hampshire Seacoast has a wealth of overlooked history - some remnants are hidden in plain sight, while others are just plain hidden.

Meet the minister and early religious founder who was involved in an armed confrontation in Dover with another preacher in 1640. Find out how a one-time high school assistant principal in Rochester became a world-famous business leader and ended up meeting President Grover Cleveland. Discover the story of “ghost” racetracks in Somersworth before they disappear, as well as the “pile of rocks” that stopped a multimillion-dollar building project in Windham. Author Terry Nelson reveals some of New England’s most fascinating history, from Durham and Madbury to North Hampton and Portsmouth.

Meriden, Connecticut was once known as the “Silver Capital of the World” for its prominent silver manufacturing. By 1867, the city was part of a manufacturing boom that produced everything from ivory combs, buttons, tinware, and cutlery to coffee grinders and organs. In 1944, the business of manufacturing in the city would find the War Manpower Commission naming Meriden “The Nation’s Ideal War Community,” for its industrial and patriotic contributions during World War II. While many of those traditional manufacturers have closed, the city still plays host to several world-recognized establishments, especially in the fields of culinary arts and medicine. From baseball legend Connie Mack to the invention of the steamed cheeseburger, local author Justin Piccirillo reveals some of the lesser known but fascinating history of this vibrant community. 

The salty waves and sandy beaches of majestic Cape Cod disguise its fascinating and nearly forgotten history.

From Provincetown to Falmouth, the Cape's fifteen towns offer a plethora of hidden and enchanting tales. Learn why one of the most famous rescues in Coast Guard history spent nearly fifty years in the shadows without public notice. Discover which wild creature went from the nineteenth-century soup pot to enjoying conservation protection under state law. Historian Theresa Mitchell Barbo explores these mysteries and more, from the lost diary of a nineteenth-century schoolteacher to the reason Cape Codders call their lunch the noontime dinner. Join Barbo as she lifts the lid on the quirky and remarkable character of Cape Cod and its forgotten happenings.

While Middlesex County is one of the most historic communities in the nation, some of its past is little known.

Researchers found dinosaur tracks in Middlefield that date back 200 million years. The author of Dr. Dolittle, Hugh Lofting, lived in Killingworth, and a young Dr. Seuss spent summers in Clinton. Constance Baker Motley, the first female African American federal judge, resided in Chester. A Portland lake has water levels that fluctuate for no apparent reason. An Essex blacksmith shop was America's oldest continuously run family business. Local authors Robert and Kathleen Hubbard reveal these and many other unforgettable stories.

Hidden History of Rhode Island delivers the best Ocean State stories you've never heard before.

Surprising tales and unexpected anecdotes color Rhode Island's legacy, from the accounts of its three brave Titanic survivors to the whirlwind Revolutionary War romance between a Smithfield girl and a French viscount. Rhode Island historian Glenn Laxton uncovers the exceptional citizens whom history has forgotten, like Robert the Hermit, a man who endured three escapes from slavery before finding liberty and peace in Rumford; the illustrious Lippitt family, who spearheaded advancements in deaf education; and Christiana Bannister, a Narragansett tribe member, nineteenth-century entrepreneur and wife to the most successful African American artist of the time. With moments of tragedy, as in the Lexington steamboat disaster, as well as triumph, as in the case of small-town boy turned baseball hero Joe Connolly, Laxton reveals Rhode Island beneath the surface.

Over fifty thousand Connecticut soldiers served in the Union army during the Civil War, yet their stories are nearly forgotten today.

Among the regiments that served, at least forty sets of brothers perished from battlefield wounds or disease. Little known is the 16th Connecticut chaplain who, as prisoner of war, boldly disregarded a Rebel commander's order forbidding him to pray aloud for President Lincoln. Then there is the story of the 7th Connecticut private who murdered a fellow soldier in the heat of battle and believed the man's ghost returned to torment him. Seven soldiers from Connecticut tragically drowned two weeks after the war officially ended when their ship collided with another vessel on the Potomac. Join author John Banks as he shines a light on many of these forgotten Connecticut Yankees.

Celebrated local historian Thomas Dresser unearths the little-known stories that laid the foundations for the community of Martha's Vineyard.

Behind the mansions and presidential vacations of Martha's Vineyard hide the lost stories and forgotten events of small-town America. What was the island's role in the Underground Railroad? Why do chickens festoon Nancy Luce's grave? And how did the people of the Vineyard react in 1923 when the rum running ship John Dwight sank with the island's supply of liquor aboard? Delve deep below the surface of history to discover the origin and meaning of local place names and the significance of beloved landmarks.

Connecticut's history is full of engaging and fascinating stories, rocks that are national monuments, the "people's sculptor," football players on chapel finials, moons on the Travelers calendars, artists Frederic Church and Eric Sloane and even a Thanksgiving Day touch football game with a future president.

These are tales from Greenwich to Enfield, from Sharon to Old Lyme and so much in between. Follow along with historian Wilson Faude in this "must-have" Connecticut book as he traverses the state in search of hidden history.

Boston is one of America's most historic cities, but it has quite a bit of unseen past.

Riotous mobs celebrated their hatred of the pope in an annual celebration called Pope's Night during the colonial era. A centuries-long turf war played out on the streets of quiet Chinatown, ending in the massacre of five men in a back alley in 1991. William Monroe Trotter published the Boston Guardian, an independent African American newspaper, and was a beacon of civil rights activism at the turn of the century. Author and historian Dina Vargo shines a light into the cobwebbed corners of Boston's hidden history.

The celebrated history of New Haven often overshadows its fascinating and forgotten past.

The Elm City was home to America’s first woman dentist, an architect who designed the tallest twin towers in the world and a medical student who used toy parts to create an artificial heart pump. The city’s share of disasters includes Connecticut’s worst aviation crash, a zookeeper who was mauled to death and a fire at the Rialto Theater. Local authors Robert and Kathleen Hubbard reveal the rich and fascinating cultural legacies of one of New England’s most treasured cities.

Quincy Whitney's compilation of stories makes for a colorful narrative of some of New Hampshire's most notable newsmakers and remarkable historic events.

The resourcefulness of Granite Staters in their efforts to innovate and improvise is the reason for this incredible and intriguing cast of true stories about New Hampshire people living what they love and loving what they do. Hidden in the cracks and crevices of the Granite State are the stories of pioneers who pursued their passions, creating legacies along the way. There is the tale of the mountain man who became an innkeeper; the Bird Man who took his passion to the White House; the gentleman who ascended the highest peak in the Northeast in a steam-powered locomobile; the story of one skier's dramatic win at the 1939 American Inferno Mount Washington race; the Shaker Meetinghouse, built in just one day, in complete silence; and the gallant efforts to save the Old Man of the Mountain.

Greenwich in the seventeenth century was a lost world with tythingmen and meeting warners, wild horse hunters, herdsmen, townsmen, pounders and planters.

Faced with an ever-changing environment, citizens set many new-world boundaries. Farmers created common fields along the coast and redesigned wilderness. They balanced religious and civic authority, private and common interests and financial inequities across communities. The first comers found it more challenging to please their own than it was to please their God. Their departure from the past fashioned an idealized, yet still imperfect, new society the Puritans proudly called the Greenwich Plantation. Author Missy Wolfe details the strategies and setbacks of creating community in colonial America's First Period.

Local historian Peter C. Vermilyea tells stories of some forgotten moments in Litchfield County, CT from Native American legends to Cold War relics.

Traces of Litchfield County's past are hidden in plain sight. Vestiges of long-abandoned railroad tracks crisscross the county while a decaying and unmarked cinder block structure in Warren is all that remains of a cornerstone of national defense. All but forgotten today, a fire roared through Winsted in 1908, causing residents to flee their rooms at the Odd Fellows boardinghouse. In Bantam, art deco chairs made by the Warren McArthur Corporation prompted the War Department to order bomber seats from the company during World War II. Author Peter C. Vermilyea explores these and other obscure tales from the history of Litchfield County, Connecticut.

Explore the hidden history of Portsmouth and uncover the city’s enduring spirit

One of New Hampshire’s oldest towns, Portsmouth has always been known for its historical sites. These encompass a rich heritage that has often been well documented. And yet, there is more to this seaside city than meets the eye. A closer look reveals some colonial-era advertising on historic headstones, while the remnants of the old statehouse are now in a shipping container. The houses on The Hill only hint at the historic neighborhood that once existed in the northern part of town, and the Portsmouth African Burying Ground Memorial points to an extensive history that dates back more than 375 years. Of course, maritime and naval history abound here, while St. John’s and North Church are representative of a religious history that stretches far back in time. Join historian and author Glenn Knoblock as he uncovers some hidden gems of Portsmouth history.

A look back on the riveting history of Vermont, featuring stories from the American Revolution and the summoning of spirits.

Vermont's history is marked by fierce independence, generosity of spirit and the saga of human life along its steep slopes and fertile valleys. Meet the widow who outwitted Tories and may have spied for the Green Mountain Boys. Encounter the family who gained a national following by summoning spirits. Discover why one governor opposed women's suffrage and how that may have involved spirits of another sort. Visit an island retreat where Harpo Marx cheated at croquet and satirist Dorothy Parker wore nothing but a garden hat. Historian Mark Bushnell offers a glimpse of the Green Mountain State rarely seen.