Revolutionary War & Colonial History

Before there was a Los Angeles or a San Francisco, there was Spain’s first colony in upper California, El Presidio de San Diego.

Founded in 1769, this small fortress and mission was the seedling for the twenty-one missions and four presidios that followed. It was here that Franciscan priest Junípero Serra planted the first Catholic cross in what became Alta California. The nearby harbor provided a safe port for sailing ships from all over the world, ensuring a steady stream of goods and supplies. Over its many decades, the San Diego Presidio was home to Spaniards, Mexicans, Native people and, toward the end, Anglo-Americans. Its cemetery became the final resting place for many of them.

Author and historian Richard Carrico provides insights into San Diego’s beginnings.

Before there was a Los Angeles or a San Francisco, there was Spain’s first colony in upper California, El Presidio de San Diego.

Founded in 1769, this small fortress and mission was the seedling for the twenty-one missions and four presidios that followed. It was here that Franciscan priest Junípero Serra planted the first Catholic cross in what became Alta California. The nearby harbor provided a safe port for sailing ships from all over the world, ensuring a steady stream of goods and supplies. Over its many decades, the San Diego Presidio was home to Spaniards, Mexicans, Native people and, toward the end, Anglo-Americans. Its cemetery became the final resting place for many of them.

Author and historian Richard Carrico provides insights into San Diego’s beginnings.

Built in 1747 in the center of Concord, the Wright Tavern has witnessed the evolution of America for over 200 years. The Minutemen met here the morning of April 19, 1775, and a few hours later, the British Redcoats searched for munitions and supplies of the rebels before being defeated in the Battle of Concord.  The building has been used as a tavern, inn, bakery, bookseller, and office as it witnessed the transformation of the town from a frontier agricultural community to a bustling commercial center and commuter hub. Closed to the public for most of the last forty years, The Wright Tavern Legacy Trust was established in 2021 to oversee the restoration and renovation of the building. From modest beginnings under Amos Wright to the Battle of Concord, author Tom Wilson uncovers the fascinating history of this National Historic Landmark. All royalties from the sale of this book will go to the Wright Tavern Legacy Trust. 

"The bells rung all day, and almost all night..."

John Adams wrote this timeless observation when the Declaration of Independence was signed and publicly proclaimed in early July of 1776 to a jubilant crowd in Philadelphia. This is the story of those bells - a search to discover which bells did indeed ring, or are believed to have rung, when America was born. It is the story of the most famous bell in the world, the Liberty Bell, and the other historic bells of Philadelphia, during the era of the American Revolution.

Author Thomas Kaufmann traces the joyous history of sound and instrument as the nation is forged among uplifting tolls of Philadelphia's historic independence bells.

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.

Less than an hour by train from New York City...

Croton Point Park encapsulates the history, beauty and promise of the Hudson Valley. The Westchester County Park encompasses miles of Hudson River shoreline with astonishing views and remnants of the region’s past. Incredible shell mounds shed light on the Native peoples who inhabited the area generations prior to European colonization. The remains of the first commercial vineyards in the Northeast are just steps away from historic brickyards that helped build Manhattan. The Point served as a dumping ground for years until local efforts restored the park into a model of environmental conservation. Today, bald eagles have returned to nest alongside visitors exploring remarkable landmarks, sailing the waters of the Hudson or enjoying a scenic picnic.

Authors Scott Craven and Caroline Ranald Curvan present Westchester’s crown jewel, Croton Point Park.

In October 1781, American independence was achieved on the battlefields of Yorktown, Virginia--a glorious event that the Continental Congress determined was worthy of a monument. Moving at the speed of government, it took one hundred years to act on this resolution. In that time, Yorktown had to come to terms with its role as a site of preservation rather than a center of industry or commerce. The story of the development and preservation of The Monument to Alliance and Victory at Yorktown is a tangle of government, military, artists, historians and forces of nature. Local author Maria Hepner explores the story of this monument and the town that surrounds it.

Winslow has grown up around Fort Halifax in its many, many incarnations. Beginning as a French and Indian War garrison and trading post, the fort welcomed historic figures from Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr to Paul Revere and Chief Joseph Orono. Reduced to one small blockhouse in the 1800s, Fort Halifax hosted archaeologists, travelers, artists, politicians and students. The Flood of 1987 swept away the blockhouse, leaving the fort and its supporters to fight an uphill battle for reconstruction. Throughout varied iterations, uses, trials and tribulations, Fort Halifax has remained the symbol of a community. Join historian Daniel J. Tortora in this engaging narrative of Fort Halifax's fight for survival. Meet the famous visitors to the fort, the local residents who have cared for it and the figures who have kept its memory relevant and its future hopeful.

As the most significant eighteenth-century estate assembled in the British American colonies still in existence, Drayton Hall is an icon of American history, design and preservation.

Its story is told through archaeological artifacts, architectural research and documentary investigations, with a focus on the inhabitants and their connections to the wider Atlantic world. A multitude of scholars contributed to our understanding of Drayton Hall as the first complete example of Palladian architecture in North America, its placement at the intersection of the European Enlightenment and America's slave society and as a family home where extraordinary events became landmark historic moments. Today, Drayton Hall is valued as the most authentic pre-Revolutionary southern plantation that helps examine the creation of American identity.