The Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington is perhaps the single most significant stretch of railroad in the country, connecting dozens of cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. The line carries thousands of passengers daily on a mix of long-distance, regional, and commuter trains. Before it emerged as a vital stretch of railway, some of the earliest railroads in America created a foundation for the future corridor. They constructed a patchwork of lines that laid the groundwork for the Northeast Corridor of today, which later formed integral portions of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. The impact of this line is still felt in the many communities that developed along the tracks. While the Northeast Corridor continues to evolve, it remains as relevant as it was when the original developers conceived the rail link nearly two centuries ago.

The United States is considered the world's foremost refuge for foreigners, and no place in the nation symbolizes this better than Ellis Island.

Through Ellis Island's halls and corridors more than twelve million immigrants-of nearly every nationality and race-entered the country on their way to new experiences in North America. With an astonishing array of nineteenth- and twentieth-century photographs, Ellis Island leads the reader through the fascinating history of this small island in New York harbor from its pre-immigration days as one of the harbor's oyster islands to its spectacular years as the flagship station of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration to its current incarnation as the National Park Service's largest museum.

The Morris Canal was not the longest canal in the world, but it did have one superlative to its credit--it climbed higher than any other canal ever built. In its time, it was world famous, visited by tourists and technical people from as far away as Europe and Asia. For nearly 100 years, it crossed the hills of northern New Jersey, accomplishing that feat with 23 lift locks and 23 inclined planes. From Lake Hopatcong, the canal ran westward through the Musconetcong valley to Phillipsburg, on the Delaware River, and eastward through the valleys of the Rockaway and Passaic Rivers to tidewater at Newark and Jersey City--a little over 100 miles horizontally and a total rise and fall of nearly 1,700 feet vertically.
??The Morris Canal, once an important soldier in the American Industrial Revolution, has been gone for most of the 20th century, but its memory lives on in the many photographs, postcards, and other memorabilia that its unique presence inspired.

Campbell soup is as American as apple pie and the Fourth of July. Cans of tomato, chicken noodle, and cream of mushroom soup, sporting the company's distinctive red-and-white labels have found places on millions of dinner tables around the globe. In 1869, fruit merchant Joseph Campbell and icebox manufacturer Abraham Anderson formed the Joseph A. Campbell Preserve Company, purveyors of canned tomatoes, vegetables, jellies, soups, condiments, and mincemeat. In 1897, general manager Arthur Dorrance decided to hire his twenty-four-year-old nephew, John T. Dorrance. It was on John Dorrance's ingenious invention of condensed soup in 1897 that the company's fortunes grew and expanded far beyond its Camden, New Jersey headquarters. Campbell Soup Company opens the company's archives with a wonderful assortment of photographs. Among the images are those of aproned workers dicing carrots and of white-hatted chefs stirring vats of boiling soups. Also pictured is the factory where America's original comfort food was conceived. In these pages, readers will learn the history behind the iconic red-and-white cans touted by such celebrities as Ronald Reagan, George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Johnny Carson. Today, in addition to soup, the company produces such well-known brands as Pepperidge Farm, Franco-American, V8, Prego, and Godiva. Campbell Soup Company traces the history of a small, southern New Jersey canning concern that made its products staples of American living.

Armed with incredible power and an array of technological and weaponry innovations, Fort Hancock protected New York Harbor from any mode of attack for almost 80 years. Named in 1895 after Civil War hero Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, it sits on the northern tip of New Jersey's seashore on the Sandy Hook peninsula. The fort's evolution serves as a classic example of how the U.S. Army defended American harbors from the War of 1812 through most of the cold war era. It blazed the way in defending a prime U.S. harbor, while boasting impressive and unique architecture. Since 1975, Fort Hancock has been administered by the National Park Service and thousands of visitors delight in its history year round from sunrise to sunset.

Located among the beautiful rolling hills of Sussex County, the
rural farmland of Wantage Township has been providing fruits of nature since before the Revolutionary War. The town of Sussex (formerly Deckertown) was a significant milk-shipping center that has long provided fresh agricultural products to the nearby cities. Set between the Kittatinny Ridge and the Hamburg Mountains, Wantage was settled in the early 1700s and incorporated as a township in May 1754. The township contained many hamlets, including Beemerville, Libertyville, Mount Salem, Colesville, and, until October 14, 1891, the village of Deckertown, which officially became Sussex Borough on March 2, 1902. As the area grew and developed busy main streets with stores and railroad stations, agriculture and livestock farms thrived--even producing famed horse Goldsmith Maid, known as the "Queen of the Trotters." Family roots have always run deep in these communities, and some notable family names include Decker, Kilpatrick, Cortwright, Beemer, Von Bunschooten, and Kanouse.
Today, Sussex and Wantage continue to boast the rural traditions that have attracted families for decades.