Postcards of America

The Postcards of America history book series explores the history of an area through American postcards. Take a road trip down Route 66 in the Missouri Ozarks or board one of San Francisco’s famous cable cars. Visit forgotten department stores, from Marshall Field’s to Hess’s in Pennsylvania. From early Hollywood to San Fernando Valley, these postcards of America send greetings from the past to eager readers with a passion for history.

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Florida's Space Coast

Grand Hotels of West Volusia County

$7.99

Cape St. George Lighthouse and Apalachicola Bay

$7.99

Biscayne National Park

$7.99

Coconut Grove

$7.99

Key West's Duval Street

$7.99

Marco Island

9781467108959

$7.99

These mailable vintage-photograph postcards celebrate the history of Marco Island, the largest of Florida's Ten Thousand Islands. Marco Island projects prominently from Florida's mainland at the peninsula's southwestern fringe, where the waters of the Everglades and the Gulf of Mexico commingle. Its tropical climate, verdant landscape, unique topography, and abundant wildlife sustained prehistoric Native American cultures for centuries. The first pioneer settlers arrived in 1870, carving out a niche on the harsh Florida frontier. Bustling villages soon sprang up on the island, bolstered by strong leaders and economies centered around farming and fishing. The crash of Florida's land boom, along with the Great Depression, devastating hurricanes, and a series of failed developments, ultimately stunted the island's growth. Most of Marco Island was sold to the Deltona Corporation in 1964, which transformed the island into a place its early residents might find unrecognizable.

Cape St. George Lighthouse and Apalachicola Bay

9781467126311

$7.99

The beacon of the historic Cape St. George Lighthouse still guides mariners into Apalachicola Bay more than 150 years after it was built.

Founded in 1831, the town of Apalachicola took its name from Creek Indians, to whom it signified a land of friendly people. Sheltered from the Gulf of Mexico by a string of barrier islands, the port flourished as the only site in Florida on a river that is navigable for over 300 miles to the fall line at Columbus, Georgia, Apalachicola's sister city. Generations of lighthouse keepers were bound to St. George Island and its great bay by an intense sense of duty to sustain seagoing commerce and a love for a place where they could raise their families in freedom. When the foundation washed away in 2005 after a very active hurricane season and a final surge from Hurricane Wilma, residents took action to salvage and rebuild the historic lighthouse. Visitors may still climb the lighthouse tower, surrounded by bricks that were first laid in 1852. Enjoy the rich history of the Cape St. George Lighthouse in this collection of 15 historic black-and-white postcards.

Biscayne National Park

9781467127462

$7.99

Biscayne National Park protects the larger portion of south Florida's Biscayne Bay, a uniquely tropical lagoon harboring crocodiles, manatees, dolphins, and Caribbean fish. Tropical trees cover its islands, while the world's fourth-longest coral reef sits offshore. Native Americans lived here thousands of years ago; the Spanish held it for 200 years. In the late 1800s, hardy homesteaders created an agricultural and fishing community. In the 1920s and 1930s, it became a playground for the newly rich and famous. To protect these unique natural and historical resources and to assure its enjoyment by future generations, a half century ago, the federal government created Biscayne National Monument, which later became Biscayne National Park.