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Explore the life and early times of Stuart, Florida through the lens of vintage images.

On the southeast coast of Florida in the 1880s, a quaint little community was nestled along the tranquil waters of the St. Lucie River in a wilderness of tropical beauty, one of the region's last frontiers. As lucrative pineapple crops and the commercial fishing industry began to flourish, trade boats brought necessary supplies, and new settlers arrived on river steamers. With land available for homesteading or for sale at $1.25 an acre, the small village soon to be known as Stuart would become a mecca for innovative, hardworking young men seeking business and financial opportunities. By the dawn of the 20th century, the railroad had been established, and the town, forged by the fortitude of early pioneers, thrived, eventually becoming a beautiful, friendly incorporated city.

Proud Marines and military aficionados know some of the tales of Parris Island military base, and now you can experience its history first-hand through this pictorial history of the infamous island.

Located near the Palmetto State's historic city of Beaufort, the United States Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina is one of the world's most famous military bases. Having trained Marine recruits since World War I, the base is the oldest major post of the Marine Corps. It is also the first base commissioned exclusively to train United States Marines, and therefore may truly be called ""The Cradle of the Corps."" Parris Island takes the reader on a visual journey through documented photographs that highlight the base's touchstones. Before the American Revolution, the island was partially owned by Col. Alexander Parris, who became the island's namesake. Plantations flourished on Parris Island until the end of the War between the States. A small detachment of Marines first arrived in the late 1800s. It was not until 1915, however, that the Marines arrived for good. Since then, the base has rapidly expanded, first during World War I and more so during World War II. Over the years, much of the physical appearance of the base has changed; yet, through this collection of photographs, former Parris Island Marines will have a chance to relive some of their memories while new recruits can watch the progression of their base unfold.

This isolated Tennessee valley has been home for generations of early settlers and Native Americans alike, today welcoming millions of tourists annually as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Though the land has existed for millenia, the village known as Cades Cove came into existence in 1821, when William "Fighting Billy" Tipton was granted 1,280 acres of fine fertile land in the first recorded legal land title to Cades Cove following the Calhoun Treaty of 1819. At its peak in 1900, the census showed that there were 125 families living in the cove and over 700 individuals. The Cades Cove people were self-sufficient and had many conveniences that others did not. Some residents made their own water system, and there were blacksmiths, coffin makers, farmers, storekeepers, postmasters, and many more occupations - there was no need to go out of their beloved cove for anything. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, with a good deal of opposition from the Cades Cove residents, the area was incorporated into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

A destination for many tourists eager for sun, sand, and a simpler way of life, and a far distant cry from the glitter and neon of more traditional, commercial oriented beaches, the Outer Banks of North Carolina is a natural wonder sheltering and buffering Eastern North Carolina from the volatile temperament of the Atlantic Ocean.

Wander through the pages of this book and meet the mermaids of Weeki Wachee in their magical underwater theater.

Mermaids are like leprechauns: it's very hard to sneak up and catch a glimpse of one. But in a hamlet on the Gulf Coast of Florida, people have been able to do just that since 1947, when Newton Perry opened a small roadside attraction with an underwater theater. For nearly 60 years, live mermaids have been the unique focal point of Weeki Wachee Springs. Mysterious and enchanting, these young performers have done everything from teaching a class to typing a letter underwater. They are carefully trained, completely enthusiastic, and delightful to see.

Whether you call it the Gateway to the Americas, the Capital of Latin America, or even the Magic City, Miami is a city that has enchanted millions for many years.

The city we know as Miami only came into existence in 1896, but evidence suggests people lived in the area for over 2000 years before Europeans ever set foot on the continent. The land was conquered by the Spanish in 1566, but Florida didn't become part of the United States until 1821. Miami holds the distinction of being the only major city founded by a woman - Julia Tuttle was a wealthy citrus grower who originally owned the land the city was built on. When a prolonged bout of cold weather known as the Great Freeze throttled crops further north, farmers arrived to the area in droves, and Tuttle convinced railroad tycoon Henry Flagler to extend his Florida East Coast Railway to the region, for which she became known as "the Mother of Miami." Miami has weathered yellow fever epidemics, the 1920s boom and bust, two World Wars, hurricanes, and numerous other economic ups and downs to become one of the world's great cities and the growth of South Florida.

The sweltering heat of the Florida sun breaks as a chill runs down your spine. A dark shadow looms from a nearby tourist trap - you didn't expect to find this kind of shade in Florida.

If only there was some sort of travel guide to steer you through the spookier locales. Well, you're in luck. Check in at The Biltmore in Coral Gables to spot the ghost of slain Fatty Walsh roaming the thirteenth floor. Sit down for a meal with the spirit of Ethel Allen at Ashley's Restaurant in Rockledge. Visit haunted graveyards, museums, parks and battlefields. Hear macabre stories of spectral pirates, gangsters, witches and madmen. From phantasmagoric packs of Madam McCoy's girls on Pensacola streets down to the ghostly clacking of Hemingway's typewriter in the Keys, Mark Muncy and Kari Schultz lead brave readers through the darkest locations in the Sunshine State.

Revealing historical tales of the Southern mystique.,

"From various necessities of the case I am sometimes the story-teller, and sometimes, in the reader's interest, have to abridge; but I add no fact and trim naught of value away. . . . In time, place, circumstance, in every essential feature, I give them as I got them--strange stories that truly happened, all partly, some wholly, in Louisiana."

Featuring seven factual accounts of life and history in the area, this compilation includes tales of French nuns, haunted houses, and even a Union woman trapped behind Civil War battle lines. Cable brings together all the unusual and unique aspects of New Orleans and the South in this literary collection.

This book reveals the battles and events that shaped the history of 'The Heart of Dixie' during the Civil War.

Alabama's role in the Civil War cannot be understated. Union raids into northern Alabama, the huge manufacturing infrastructure in central Alabama and the Battle of Mobile Bay all played significant parts. A number of important Civil War figures also called Alabama home. Major General Joseph Wheeler was one of the most remarkable Confederate cavalry commanders in the west. John ""the Gallant"" Pelham earned the nickname for his bravery during the Battle of Fredericksburg. John Semmes commanded two of the most famous commerce raiders of the war--the CSS Sumter and the CSS Alabama. Author Robert C. Jones examines the people and places in Alabama that shaped the Civil War.

At the turn of the twentieth century, railroads meant progress, growth and development.

In the 1890s Southport, North Carolina became the target destination for a major coaling terminal for ships sailing the Atlantic coast. A new terminal would require a railroad to bring in coal and other supplies. More than twenty companies were formed to pursue this idea over the years, with a few actual accomplishments, but most were purely speculative. Wearying the expectant town for more than twenty-five years, the vision for a great port was whittled down until local entrepreneurs finally built a 30-mile rail line to connect the town to Wilmington.

Local author and railroad historian Mark Koenig chronicles the short life of a short line and the long process of making it a reality.

A pivotal moment in American history, as told by our forefathers

On October 7, 1780, American Patriot and Loyalist soldiers battled each other at Kings Mountain, near the border of North and South Carolina. With over one hundred eyewitness accounts, this collection of participant statements from men of both sides includes letters and statements in their original form - the soldiers' own words - unedited and unabridged. Rife with previously unpublished details of this historic turning point in the American Revolution, described as the war's "largest all-American fight," these accounts expose the dramatic happenings of the battle, including new perspectives on the debate over Patriot Colonel William Campbell's bravery during the fight. Robert M. Dunkerley's work is an invaluable resource to historians studying the flow of combat, genealogists tracing their ancestors and anyone interested in Kings Mountain and the Southern Campaign.

Step onto the field and bear witness to baseball's outsized impact on Florida's Sunshine City.

Selected from the book by the same title, these framing-quality images evoke the multi-layered architectural history of the five-mile stretch of New Orleans that encompasses a century of architectural styles, including intricate Queen Ann houses, stately Italianate and Richardsonian mansions, and more. This is where the old and new live cheek-by-jowl, where decay is an art form, and where preservation is a way of life.

Photographer Kerri McCaffety's work has won a tremendous outpouring of praise:

"[McCaffety's] photography is flawless and captivating."
-Chere Cohen, Baton Rouge Advocate

"McCaffety captures architectural structures with an unobtrusive and engaging eye, remaining acutely perceptive to light and its consequence of shadow."
-Kyle Norris, ForeWord

"For the reader who enjoys mansions and lavishness . . . also will appeal to those interested in the historic development of New Orleans."
-Reba J. McMellon, The Mississippi Press

Key West's free-spirited ambiance and magnificent coral reefs help to create a unique and historic legacy and much more than a vacation destination.

For centuries, explorers and adventurers, immigrants and entrepreneurs, artists and wanderers have come to the island oasis known as Key West. And today, this Florida city is like no other and home to them all. Through hurricanes, fires, labor strikes, and the tourism boom, the community of Key West has sustained a unique way of life and attracted a wide variety of people to its shores, including such famous figures as writers Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, President Harry Truman, and musician Jimmy Buffett. Whether strolling through the downtown historic district, searching eclectic shops for one-of-a-kind treasures, enjoying a piece of key lime pie, or participating in the look-alike contest during Hemingway Days, Key West offers endless opportunities for pleasure. The landmarks, the people, and the continuing story of Key West are the entertaining subject of this new photographic tribute.

Author Alan Brown leads readers on a stomach-churning turn through Florida's dark side .

Florida sunshine beckons, but in can be unrelenting, too. And in the shadows, tragedy strikes. Ted Bundy leads a cast of serial killers who wrought havoc on the state. Storms spin onto its shores with landscape altering fury. Sharks lurk in the sea, and snakes and alligators lie wait in the swamps. Gangsters like Al Capone hit Miami Beach for a respite, but gangsters like Al Capone take no breaks from their trade. A woman spontaneously bursts into flames in St. Petersburg. Anthrax claims a life in Palm Beach. The Bermuda Triangle disappears vessels off the coast. Indeed, Florida knows boundless leisure, but it's just as familiar with catastrophe .

Gear up for a frightful jaunt into the darkest reaches of the ancient Appalachians.

Folk deep within Appalachian hollers lean close to share stories of the inexplicable with hushed awe. Monsters rumbling in the hills. Strange lights darting through the pitch-black night sky. Horrible occurrences, almost ineffable in their bizarre tragedy. "Tall tales," you might say. But tell that to the Flatwoods monster in Braxton County, West Virginia. Or the Goat Man of Louisville--look into his humanoid eyes and let him know you don't believe. And what of those apparitions in Mammoth Cave's Corpse Rock, or the Satan-spawn known as the Jersey Devil? How do you respond when those mysteries confront? From metaphysical energy that swirls near the Serpent Mound in Ohio to Point Pleasant's Mothman legacy, Mark Muncy and Kari Schultz explore the dark history lurking in the shadows of Appalachia..

Documented in film, crime T.V. shows and now captured in this book; read about Larry Gene Bell and his reign of terror in South Carolina.

Former South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) forensic photographer Lieutenant Rita Y. Shuler leads us through the twenty-eight days of terror and shocking events of one of the most notorious double murders and manhunts in South Carolina history. Shuler shares her own personal interactions with some of the key players in this famous manhunt and investigation. Also included are Bell's chilling calls from area phone booths to the Smith family, along with his disconcerting interviews and bizarre actions in the courtroom, which show the dark, evil and criminal mind of this horrific killer. This case has been featured on the Discovery Channel's FBI Files, episode ""Cat and Mouse,"" and in the CBS movie Nightmare in Columbia County, which can still be seen on Lifetime TV. It currently runs as the episode ""Last Will"" on Court TV's Forensic Files.

For fifty years, Blytheville was home to a fleet of one of the most versatile pieces of machinery in history. From the Cuban Missile Crisis, through the Vietnam War and Korean Conflict, to the fall of the Iron Curtain in the early nineties, B-52 Stratofortresses cruised the sky, and stayed on alert to be America's first line of defense. Now that America no longer has a need for its "Global Shield," many United States Air Force bases lay dormant and decaying, sinking into the earth from which they came.

From its early beginnings as farmland to a highly secure, fiercely patrolled Strategic Air Command base, to overgrown lawns and decrepit buildings filled with asbestos, to becoming the site of the National Cold War Center, follow along as author Gage Fears digs up history on a crucial part of Arkansas and military history to tell the story of the long abandoned Eaker Air Force Base.

Abandoned Arkansas: Eaker Air Force Base is a unique collection containing new information, interviews of veterans that served on the base, and rare photographs.

MacDill Air Force Base--through global war, regional conflicts, and counterinsurgencies--has repeatedly answered the clarion call to arms and proven itself to be an unrivaled military juggernaut within America's strategic arsenal.

MacDill Air Force Base was first recognized as a suitable location for an airfield by US Army aviators flying mock warfare maneuvers over Tampa in May 1938. Satisfying the US War Department's geographical requirements for providing air defense of America's southern Atlantic coast and supporting air operations over the Caribbean, the site was approved in July 1939 to become the location for the Army Air Force-planned Southeast Air Base. It was later renamed MacDill Field in honor of Army Air Force aviator and pioneer Col. Leslie MacDill. The base was formally dedicated on April 16, 1941, and B-17 Flying Fortress and B-26 Marauder combat crewmen began training in the business of making war. From bomber and tactical fighter wings to combatant commands and aerial refueling squadrons,

Go inside the transition from steam to diesel, the pinnacle of rail travel and the development of the South through much of the 20th century.

The Southern Railway was the pinnacle of rail service in the South for nearly 100 years. Its roots stretch back to 1827, when the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road Company was founded in Charleston to provide freight transportation and America's first regularly scheduled passenger service. Through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Great Depression, rail lines throughout the South continued to merge, connecting Washington, D.C. to Atlanta and Charleston to Memphis. The Southern Railway was born in 1893 at the height of these mergers. It came to an end in 1982, merging with Norfolk and Western Railway to become Norfolk Southern Railway. The history of the railway lives on, however, and Norfolk Southern continues to "serve the South."

In 2003, the Southern Railway Historical Association selected the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History as the repository for its extensive archives. Included in this collection are hundreds of professional quality, black-and-white photographs taken by company photographers throughout the railway's history. While a few of these images have been seen by the public, the vast majority have not.