The History Press

The revolutionary Battle of Monmouth signaled the end of major combat in the North. Centuries later, reminders of the conflict remain. The Covenhoven House, the Village Inn, Marlpit Hall, the Craig House and the homes of Thomas Seabrook and the murdered Joseph Murray stand open to the public today. Visitors can also behold safehouses for the wounded—such as Old Tennent Church, St. Peter’s and Old First Church—and tread along the same ground as George Washington, General Sir Henry Clinton, Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette. Devoting attention to these sites and to the Battle Monument in Freehold, the Revolution’s most prominent and enduring symbol, historian Randall Gabrielan leads a tour through Monmouth County’s revolutionary heritage.

Lake Champlain is one of America’s most historic waterways, but much of its history has remained hidden. With the arrival of Europeans, the lake became a vital route between the English in New England and the French in Quebec.

Its isolated beauty contrasted sharply with the bloody military campaigns that unfolded there. While enormous forts were erected, colonial villages blossomed, and 18th century naturalist Peter Kalm spread the word of its bucolic charm. William Miller attracted large audiences as he preached that the world would end in the 1840s. Valcour Island developed its own commune, and when Prohibition took effect, the towns near the Canadian border became a hotbed of bootlegging.

From presidential visits to shipwrecks, local authors Jason Barney and Christine Eldred chronicle some of the lake’s lesser-known contributions to American history.  

“Europe stretches to the Alleghenies, America lies beyond.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“They are my people and this is my town and it does my heart good just to be here.” - Art Rooney Sr. 

Pittsburgh contains multitudes. The city bestows a character of contradiction, love of place and strength of community on anyone lucky to be born and raised there. A town whose rivers were once lined with belching steel mills but also hosted the world’s first major modern art exhibition is not easily defined. From the decline of the steel industry and the exodus of a vast diaspora of Pittsburghers to its reinvention as a trendy mid-sized metropolis, the ethos of the Steel City remains ever-changing. Across thirteen interconnected essays, author Ed Simon examines the city’s identity in all of its minutia—U.S. Steel and the U.S. Steelworkers; dive bars and churches; the black and gold and the Black and white; hills, bridges and inclines; and geography as destiny.

Author John Howard-Fusco traces the roots of Cape May's delectable dishes and recipes from long ago to the modern day.

Cape May is America's first seaside resort, and with that comes a mouthwatering food history. The New York Times even proclaimed the city Restaurant Capital of New Jersey. The first settlers, the Kechemeche of the Lenape tribe, feasted on the fish and wild game in the area. The whaling industry briefly brought attention to the island, but Ellis Hughes's 1801 advertisement offering seashore entertainment with fish, oysters, crabs, and good liquors gave birth to a beachside haven. From the mint juleps to the Sunny Hall Café and the Chalfonte, culinary creativity thrives on the shore. Modern chefs like Lucas Manteca at the Red Store and Brooke Dodds's Empanada Mamas help keep the unique flair alive.

Author David M. Griffin uncovers the lost history and harrowing stories of Long Island's British forts.

When the Revolutionary War broke out and New York City had fallen in 1776, the forces of the king of Great Britain developed a network of forts along the length of Long Island to defend the New York area and create a front to Patriot forces across the Sound in Connecticut. Fort Franklin on Lloyd's Neck became a refugee camp for Loyalists and saw frequent rebel attacks. In Huntington, a sacred burial ground was desecrated, and Fort Golgotha was erected in its place, using tombstones as baking hearths. In Setauket along the northern shore, the Presbyterian church was commandeered and made the central fortified structure of the town.

New York is a city of superlatives. It has the largest population, greatest wealth, broadest diversity and most elegant museums in the nation. With that comes an amazing history.

This tour of the Big Apple goes beyond the traditional guidebook to offer visitors and residents alike a chance to walk back in time along the streets of Manhattan. George Washington took his first oath of office on the steps of Federal Hall. Visitors can still dine at the famed Fraunces Tavern and worship at historic St. Paul's Chapel. From the Brooklyn Bridge to stunning skyscrapers, the city celebrates its own history and that of the nation. Join author Alison Fortier as she traces the history and heritage of America's largest metropolis.

Take the ferry to this New York City borough and discover its colorful secrets, in a quirky history packed with facts and photos.

Staten Island has a rich and fascinating cultural legacy that few people outside New York City's greenest borough know about. Chewing gum was invented on the island with the help of Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna. Country music legend Roy Clark got his start as a virtuoso guitar player on the Staten Island Ferry. Anna Leonowens, who worked with the king's children in the Court of Siam and was the basis for The King and I, came back to Staten Island to write about her experiences and run a school for children.

Join native Staten Islanders Theresa Anarumo and Maureen Seaberg as they document the hidden history of the borough with these stories, and many more

Bucks County was an original county in William Penn’s newly formed Pennsylvania province and has carried the weight of history ever since. Join author Jennifer Rogers as she recounts the lesser-known history of Bucks County.

Industrial power in the region expanded in the late 1700s as Irish laborers sacrificed life and limb to construct a section of the Pennsylvania Canal and the Durham Furnace. In 1921, a gruesome train wreck claimed the lives of twenty-seven people, forever leaving its tragic mark on the busy rail lines emerging from Philadelphia. Raised a Quaker in Doylestown, James A. Michener went from local English teacher to Pulitzer Prize–winning author, leaving his philanthropic mark at the art museum named for him.

Pittsburgh is synonymous with winning. From the Penguins and Steelers to the Pirates and Panthers, the Steel City knows championships.

There must be something special in the water to make Pittsburgh so particularly gifted with its sports teams. The most famous teams in the city’s history would most likely be the 1970s Steelers, known as the Steel Curtain for obvious reasons, and the Penguins who raised the Stanley Cup five times. Names such as Lemieux, Crosby, Roethlisberger, Bradshaw, Clemente and Stargell are legends of American sport and members of Pittsburgh's most cherished franchises, but for every sports legend and multi-million dollar franchise, there are a dozen more talented players and long-past teams that have been forgotten to history; the Negro League's Crawford and Homestead Grays are too often overlooked in the city's sports history but were as talented as any team that has played there. Author Dave Finoli ranks the fifty greatest teams that won trophies, brought glory and lifted the hearts of Pittsburgh’s devoted sports fans.

New York's Finger Lakes region is filled with compelling characters, tragic disasters and fascinating mysteries.

Famed daredevil Sam Patch, known as the Yankee Leaper, thrilled audiences at Niagara Falls but took his last jump into the Genesee River with his pet black bear, plummeting to his death. The first ever Memorial Day was celebrated in Waterloo in 1866 and inspired a nation to adopt the holiday. Seneca Lake claims its fair share of ships, including the Onondaga, which was blown up with dynamite as part of a spectacle to commemorate the sinking of the USS Maine. Author Patti Unvericht reveals the forgotten history of the Finger Lakes region.

Explore the lesser-known stories that make up New Jersey's compelling hidden history.

Explore the lesser-known stories that make up New Jersey's compelling hidden history. Uncover the meaning of Jersey Blues, celebrate some of the state's bravest Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers and investigate Jersey City's most infamous ghost. From the inferno that engulfed Asbury Park, to the benevolent side of Frank Hague, to the equestrienne who plunged forty feet into a pool of water on horseback in Atlantic City, rediscover these and many other events from New Jersey's storied past.

Hudson Valley is steeped in mysteries, from Celtic chambers resting in the deep woods of Putnam to Millbrook's abandoned Bennett College.

The beautiful, tree-spotted landscape of the Hudson Valley hides the strange and sometimes frightening stories of the region. In the Highlands, Iroquois chief Daniel Nimham gave his life for the cause of American independence. The great passenger steamship Swallow sank near the shores of Athens. And there is even one strange night in the Catskills where a legendary playwright miraculously survived a midnight plunge off the suspended Schoharie Bridge. Author Allison Guertin Marchese reveals a treasure-trove of curious tales recounting the most uncommon history of bad guys, bold girls, creepy colleges, missing mastodons and more in this wondrous region of New York.

New York's Long Island is long on history from land to sea! Ralph Brady covers well known and unknown sites, events, homes, places and people.

Everyone lucky enough to live on Long Island already knows that it's like nowhere else in the world. From lighthouses and a one-hundred-year-old carousel to World War II camps and missile sites, Long Island native Ralph Brady reveals the secrets to what makes this little-big island so special with a tour of some of Nassau and Suffolk's most historic locations. Walt Whitman, William Vanderbilt, Theodore Roosevelt and many others occupied remarkable homes around the island. Charles Lindbergh made his historic flight to France from what is now a shopping mall. For many years, a Long Island factory gave the world the game of Scrabble. Even the waters teem with history, with the modern submarine making its start off the coast. Come explore these and other settings from Long Island's past.

Historian Thomas Keels tells many ribald stories in his book, Wicked Philadelphia: Sin in the City of Brotherly Love, including various methods of body snatching and murder. --Marty Moss-Coane, WHYY-FM

Prim and proper Philadelphia has been rocked by the clash between excessive vice and social virtue since its citizens burned the city's biggest brothel in 1800. With tales of grave robbers in South Philadelphia and harlots in Franklin Square, Wicked Philadelphia reveals the shocking underbelly of the City of Brotherly Love. In one notorious scam, a washerwoman masqueraded as the fictional Spanish countess Anita de Bettencourt for two decades, bilking millions from victims and even fooling the government of Spain. From the 1843 media frenzy that ensued after an aristocrat abducted a young girl to a churchyard transformed into a brothel (complete with a carousel), local author Thomas H. Keels unearths Philadelphia's most scintillating scandals and corrupt characters in this rollicking history.

Discover the hidden history of the Hudson Valley's Columbia County with local author Allison Guertin Marchese.

Bordered by the Hudson River and the Berkshire Mountains, Columbia County is part of the famously picturesque Hudson Valley region, but these rolling hills hold secrets most have long forgotten. A mastodon tooth rolling down a farmer's hill in Claverack, changing the world's understanding of prehistoric times; the site of New York's last hanging at Hudson's gallows, as hundreds of ticketholders looked on; outcasts called Pondshiners who hid in the hills of Taghkanic, the only sign of their existence being the fantastic handwove baskets made from strips of hardwood. Join author Allison Guertin Marchese as she explores these little-known stories of people and places that create the history of Columbia County, New York.

Uncover Ulster County's hidden history of unsavory characters and stories of its wicked past.

Situated in the scenic Hudson Valley, Ulster County is a lovely location to make a home and raise a family, but it wasn't always so pleasant. Unsavory characters and immoral events have sullied its name. In the 1870s, the Shawangunk Mountains inspired fear rather than awe, as groups like the Lyman Freer and Shawangunk gangs robbed and terrorized locals, descending from the protection of the wooded peaks. Kingston was torched, arson blazed in Kerhonkson and even the Mohonk Mountain House was threatened by flames. In 1909, the Ashokan Slasher's bloody crimes and sensational trial captured headlines across the country. Discover these and other salacious stories buried in Ulster County's history.

Discover Long Island's pivotal role in the Underground Railroad and the stories of the brave men and women whose legacy lives on today.

From the arrival of the Quakers in the seventeenth century to the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, Long Island played an important role in the Underground Railroad's work to guide slaves to freedom. In Old Westbury, the Post family established a major stop on the freedom trail with the help of an escaped Virginia slave. In Jericho, families helped escaping slaves to freedom from the present-day Maine Maid Inn. Elias Hicks helped free 191 slaves himself and worked to create Underground Railroad safe houses in many northeastern cities. Some former slaves even established permanent communities across the island. Visit the safe houses--many of which are still standing today--and explore the journey of runaway slaves on Long Island.

Visit the alleys of Philadelphia's Kensington and Fishtown neighborhoods for stories from the Speakeasy War and more.

The docks and alleys of Philadelphia's riverward neighborhoods teem with forgotten stories and strange histories. In the overlooked corners of Kensington and Fishtown are the launching of the Industrial Revolution, the bizarre double suicide of the Rusk twins and the violent Cramp Shipyard strike. With a collection of his "The Rest Is History" columns from the Fishtown Star, local historian Kenneth Milano chronicles little-known tales from the Speakeasy War of 1890 to stories of seldom-recognized hometown hero Eddie Stanky, who went on to play for the 1951 New York Giants. Join Milano as he journeys into the secret history of two of the city's oldest neighborhoods.

Read the remarkable story of one of the most unique and picturesque places in the Adirondacks, written by Sagamore's director, Beverly Bridger.

Great Camp Sagamore was built by renowned American architect William West Durant and bought by Alfred Vanderbilt in 1901 to be his family's Adirondack retreat. Vanderbilt and his wife, Margaret, welcomed family and friends, who enjoyed its sprawling grounds and elegant yet rustic buildings for decades. After Margaret's death, the camp changed hands and began to decline until it was rescued by preservationists, finally became a National Historic Landmark in 2000 after attentive restoration efforts. Today, visitors to the camp participate in maintaining its grandeur, learning about and preserving the past.