Roads & Routes

The Franconia Gateway opens the way from a new perspective. With nearly one hundred fifty breathtaking views and fascinating stories, this history and guide leads from lore of the Native Americans, explorers, and early entrepreneurs to the logging boom years and the subsequent preservation era on to the days of the artists and poets and, ultimately, the tourists. The journey progresses through the communities of Plymouth, Campton, Thornton, Waterville Valley, Woodstock, and Franconia, and includes all the wonder and mystery of sites such as the Lost River, the Flume, and the Old Man of the Mountain.

The maritime history of Cape Ann, on the northern coast of Massachusetts, is filled with stories of heroism, adventure, and human endeavor.

The lighthouses and lifesaving stations surrounding Cape Ann since the late 18th century have served to protect and safeguard the area's mariners and major industries. Fishing, shipbuilding, and granite quarrying businesses all flourished under their watchful eyes. They provided artists with spectacular subject matter and attracted tourists from around the world to visit them. This book highlights the heroism and dedication of the lighthouse keepers and lifesaving surfmen who served. Cape Ann is famous for being the home of America's oldest seaport in Gloucester and America's most painted building, Motif No. 1, in Rockport.

Dutch Island and Fort Greble, a fascinating visual journey through the past, will delight and educate both the avid historian and the casual observer.

Dutch Island is an 81-acre island situated at the southern end of the West Passage to Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. It served an important role in our country's military history, from its acquisition by the United States Army in 1864 until its closing by the military in 1947.

This volume is the first pictorial history illustrating the military development and facilities of Fort Greble on Dutch Island, spanning the period from the Civil War to World War II. Readers will step back in time and wander through the early earthworks and different incarnations of Fort Greble, stroll along the pristine parade ground before it was covered in briar and bramble, gaze upon the huge coastal artillery guns pointing toward the sea, and watch uniformed soldiers performing their duties on this fortified island.

Author Walter K. Schroder, author of Defenses of Narragansett Bay, has compiled an amazing collection of photographs, many from the official federal archives, that detail and examine a memorable chapter in our country's military past.

Author James Claflin combines an extensively researched text with this exquisite collection of many previously unpublished images to tell the story of a state dependent upon its coastal commerce.

Lighthouses and Life Saving along the Massachusetts Coast is a unique tribute to the men and women who protected mariners from shipping disasters. With a variety of vintage images from private as well as museum collections,this rare glimpse into the lives of the dedicated workers who protected thousands of vessels plying the dangerous waters of Massachusetts Bay and Nantucket Sound is a visual journey to an earlier era in our nation's history. From Cape Ann to New Bedford, residents of Massachusetts have relied heavily on the sea for employment, trade, and nourishment. The task of lighting and protecting the coasts was taken on by the U. S. Lighthouse Establishment and the U. S. Life-Saving Service. Within these pages, see the Cape Ann lighthouse keeper proudly posed in his uniform, the Cape Cod life savers launching their surf-boat through the breakers toward the shipwreck, and the Boston Bay lighthouse keeper's family returning by skiff from their brief excursion to town.

The history of the adoption of the torpedo as a recognized implement of warfare is not unlike that of gunpowder or of exploding shells. Each in its turn was met by the cry, "Inhuman, barbarous, unchivalrous."

During the American Civil War, the Confederate Navy employed submerged mines, called torpedoes, and explosive charges mounted on a long pole referred to as the "spar torpedo" which was bumped into the hull of an enemy vessel exploding on contact. These weapons enjoyed great success during the conflict.

In July 1869, the Secretary of the Navy announced the establishment of the Naval Torpedo Station on Goat Island in the harbor of Newport, Rhode Island, for development of a more sophisticated and deadlier self-propelled torpedo. From its founding until the end of the Second World War, the Naval Torpedo Station has been the Navy's principal center for the design of torpedoes.

Newport continues as the home of the U.S. Navy's most important laboratory for research and development of modern weapons' systems.

A beautiful vacation destination today, the Berkshires has been the chosen enclave for many influential and artistic notables since the 18th century.

Those hustling to find lodging in the Berkshires today may not know they are repeating a two-hundred fifty- year-old ritual. In the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, the Berkshires played host to some of the most fascinating characters in American literature, politics, business, and the arts. They came with the warm breezes and left when they felt the first cold snap in the autumnal air. The Berkshires: Coach Inns to Cottages is a photographic record of Berkshire dwelling places from the rough simplicity of stagecoach inns to the glittering luxury of Gilded Age cottages. Come inside the Berkshire coach inns where ""one might be subjected to disagreeable exposures,"" as Timothy Dwight noted in 1823. Come inside the Berkshire cottages where the rich and powerful were entertained according to the precepts of fashionable society. Use this volume as a guide to the many structures that have been preserved.

Although humble in their function, these carefully crafted barns have shaped the landscape of Maine for centuries.

Built long before the days of plastic and plywood, the barns have survived for generations, each with a story to tell. In Bridgton, one barn offered comfort to a 16 year-old boy when his father was injured; another New Gloucester barn was so important to one family that its likeness was engraved on their headstones. Some owners said they would rather see their homes burn than their barns, and others have dedicated their lives and countless funds to restoring and preserving these buildings. From modest English to grand Victorian, Don Perkins examines the structures, origins, and evolution of Maine's barns, demonstrating the vital and precious role they play in people's lives.

The United States Naval Air Station at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, originally built as a Neutrality Patrol seaplane base, became a unique and fundamental asset to our nation's armed forces.

In World War II, more than half of all U-boats sunk by U. S. aviation were destroyed by Quonset-trained shore and carrier-based squadrons. In the years following World War II, Quonset Point Naval Air Station remained a premier industrial naval air station, sending squadrons or overhauling equipment for use in the Korean, Vietnam, and Cold War conflicts. For 34 years and through four wars, the Quonset Point Naval Air Station stood proud and tall on behalf of the U. S. military. This second volume of Quonset Point images uncovers nearly 200 more scenes of the installation's achievements and activities during the entire period of its service.