Travel

Northern Chester County follows a path of progress and preservation in an area often referred to as "the New Main Line." Starting out in the late 19th century, vintage postcards illustrate the area's transformation from pastoral countryside to a much-sought-after suburban locale. Look through a window into the past and see Simpson's General Store in Lionville, the Paoli Inn on Lancaster Avenue, and the French Creek Falls Hotel in St. Peter's Village.

An interesting history suburban Baltimore's Hampden-Woodberry community, from mill village to thriving industrial community.

The urban Baltimore neighborhood of Hampden-Woodberry began as a mill village in rural Baltimore County, where the swift-flowing waters of Jones Falls provided the power for early gristmills. As the nearby city grew into a major international port, the flour mills gave way to cloth mills that turned out cotton duck for sails. At their peak, the mills of Hampden-Woodberry turned out 80 percent of the world's cotton duck. Thousands of men, women, and children were employed in what was, in the late 19th century, the United States' largest concentration of factory labor. Fortunes were made by such men as Robert Poole and the Hooper, Carroll, and Gambrill families, who owned the mills. When it was annexed to Baltimore in 1888, Hampden-Woodberry was a thriving industrial community. The last of the mills closed in 1972, but many of these historic structures are now being reused for a variety of purposes. More importantly, Hampden-Woodberry still survives as a community with deep roots in America's industrial past.

Manayunk, the Native American word for ""place where we drink,"" was first explored by Dutch and English surveyors in the late seventeenth century.

These early explorers found the area, which expands upward from the banks of the Schuylkill River, to be quite fascinating. In later years, Manayunk's rolling hills, slanting lawns, and clusters of houses, mills, and church spires stood out and made the neighborhood a unique section of Philadelphia, reminiscent of Italy or southern France. Manayunk explores the growth of the region from a river town with a population of sixty to its rise as ""the Manchester of America,"" akin to the British town of the same name. A manufacturing mecca noted for its mills along its immigrant-dug canal, Manayunk has an indomitable spirit that helped the town triumph over floods and the Depression of 1929. A place of fascinating oddities, one of the first buildings in Manayunk was a gin mill. Manayunk looks at the building of the grand canal, which in 1825 was filled with arks and square-toed flat-bottomed boats. In the summer, the canal became a roughshod rendition of Venice, with its long boats pointed at both ends carrying grains and produce while being poled up the canal by Philadelphia gondoliers. Also illustrated is the construction of the elevated Reading Railroad line and the disarray this engineering feat brought to the town. Notable citizens, such as Capt. John Towers (""the Father of Manayunk""), members of the Levering family, Samuel Streeper Keely, Sevill Schofield, James Milligan, and William B. Nickels, are also profiled.

Shortly after settlement began along Chautauqua Lake, steamboats furnished transportation and the first hotel catered to visiting hunters and fishermen.

Families escaping the summers in the city soon followed to enjoy the cool, healthy air. Chautauqua Institution and Point Chautauqua both began as religious assembly grounds. Celoron Park, often called the ""Coney Island of the West,"" and later Midway Park provided entertainment for families and attracted thousands of visitors who traveled by trolley and steamboat in the summer. Local residents and visitors alike enjoyed the parks, picnic groves, and assorted resorts along the lake. A century later, fish are still caught, boats still ply the waters, and families continue to enjoy everything Chautauqua Lake has to offer.

Along the Perkiomen provides a glimpse of the Perkiomen region's rich an interesting history.

The Perkiomen Creek is a picturesque stream that drains a major portion of western Montgomery County. It begins just beyond the northern borders of the county and travels south. The creek empties into the Schuylkill River at the county's lower border. The old Perkiomen Railroad closely followed the same path. Along the Perkiomen showcases postcards of the Perkiomen Valley in Montgomery County as it existed during the first half of the twentieth century. Readers will visit the villages and towns along the creek and others nearby. This visual journey is intended to provide a glimpse of the Perkiomen region's rich history.

Towson and the Villages of Ruxton and Lutherville is a pictorial which documents the historical people, places, and events of these vital communities.

Before there were beltways and byways, there were fields and farms. Towson was situated on an increasingly busy route used by farmers, travelers, and merchants heading to the port of Baltimore. The community's idyllic setting began to change when, in 1854, the local populace voted Towson the new seat of Baltimore County. The neighboring communities of Ruxton and Lutherville once consisted mainly of farmland but also became popular summer retreats. Both areas have since made the shift from vacation spot to suburb, but many of the charming, historic houses found there capture the spirit of an earlier time and have been preserved for posterity. With images culled from such sources as the Baltimore County Historical Society, the Baltimore County Public Library, the archives of Towson University and Goucher College, as well as the cherished albums of local residents, this pictorial retrospective documents the people and places, events and organizations that have helped to shape these three vital communities.

Jersey City in Vintage Postcards features selected postcard images, some actual photographs, that depict Jersey City's early-twentieth-century rise.

Jersey City in Vintage Postcards features selected postcard images, some actual photographs, that depict Jersey City's early-twentieth-century rise as one of the Northeast's great urban areas. Many of the views seen here remained intact into the 1940s and 1950s. More than two hundred thirty postcards and photographs, organized geographically, also suggest an evolving Jersey City, while well researched captions describe the changing cityscape.

Beginning as a farming community, today, Brookline is Pittsburgh's second largest neighborhood, boasting character, charm, and convenience.

Brookline was settled in the mid-eighteenth century as a farming community along Pioneer Avenue, a state road from Pittsburgh to Washington. The West Liberty Development Company and the opening of the Liberty Tunnels, in 1924, helped this Pittsburgh neighborhood grow. The area became a choice locale for city workers and others to settle. It is also the home and birthplace of many notable persons, including basketball phenomenon Suzie McConnell and radio legend Craig ""Porky"" Chedwick. Today, Brookline is Pittsburgh's second largest neighborhood, boasting character, charm, and convenience.

The story of Pittsburgh's university center comes to life with over 150 years of rare photos

Oakland, located two miles east of downtown Pittsburgh, is a destination for rustic tranquility, culture, socialization, entertainment, and education. Through more than 150 years, much has changed in this neighborhood. Where children once caught crayfish, a fantastic skyscraper rose, a Greek Revival villa yielded to a hospital, a trolley barn turned into a sports arena, a fountain was created on a buried bridge, and a hillside cow pasture became a university campus. Bit by bit, this municipal showplace came into being through an attempt to improve the Smoky City by establishing a sprawling museum complex, a vast park, universities, clubhouses, auditoriums, a glamourous hotel, apartments, and a model neighborhood of houses.

Port Washington is located 17 miles east of Manhattan on Long Island's North Shore. Immigration, technology, economic changes, and geographical forces shaped Port Washington over the years.

Once known as the shellfish garden of New York City, it is known for its bounteous bays, yachting and boatbuilding, celebrity residents, and pioneering aviation activities. Its burgeoning aviation industry was led by the Guggenheims and Charles Lindbergh in the 1930s, and the literary and musical giants who lived here included John Philip Sousa, William Rose Benet, and Sinclair Lewis. During the war years in the 1940s, Grumman and the United States Navy set up crucial operations in Port Washington. An era of suburbanization and development soon followed, reflecting the prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s.

View the legacy of the long-standing African-American neighborhood that formed the close-knit community today.

Located in the far northeastern edge of the city, Deanwood is one of Washington, D.C.'s oldest, consistently African American neighborhoods. Rooted in slave-based agriculture on white-owned land, the community began its transition from rural to urban development with the 1871 arrival of a branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad along its western boundary. This period after the Civil War offered blacks the opportunity to become landowners. Since this time, many notable Washingtonians of various ethnicities have been residents and frequent visitors to the area. In the early 1920s, it was home to Suburban Gardens, the only permanent amusement park ever to be housed within the city limits. Many of Deanwood's families have lived in the community for generations, which makes it stable and close-knit.

Peekskill portrays the history of a small Dutch-style village that grew into a prosperous factory city.

Using photographs, Peekskill displays a delightful place, nestled into three surrounding hills where the Hudson River spreads into Peekskill Bay, approaching the Bear Mountain highlands. Peekskill presents the prominent people of this community, who include Joseph Binney, owner of the company that later became the maker of Crayola products; Chauncey Depew, keynote speaker at the 1886 dedication of the Statue of Liberty; and George Pataki, governor of New York State.

Jackson Township was named after the legendary ""Old Hickory,"" Pres. Andrew Jackson.

For many years, the township was largely recognized by its small villages. Each of these villages had similar features--a church, general store, tavern, mill, and iconic one-room schoolhouse--which nurtured the small community and formed the foundation of modern Jackson. Mills, small farms, and horse breeding in the 19th century transitioned to cranberry bogs and chicken farms in the first half of the 20th century. As transportation became more advanced after World War II, people began to travel outside of town for work, and the once-thriving villages of industry disappeared. Today, Jackson Township, covering 100.4 square miles, is the largest municipality in Ocean County and the third largest in the state of New Jersey.

Join author Laurence G. Claggett as he recounts the rich history of Easton, Maryland through vintage images, some never before seen.

In the early part of the 18th century, Talbot County on Maryland's Eastern Shore was restructured in size and boundary, requiring the designation of a new county seat. Groups from the Wye River to Oxford competed vigorously to have their town win the honor. But the selection committee, with manifest partiality, decided upon the geographical center of the new county: a remote field cultivated and then abandoned by its native residents. Here was born the town that would eventually be known as Easton. Telling the story of the original Talbot Court House, the market, early schools, churches, and businesses, this fascinating visual history documents an era of significant change for the town in the early 20th century. Improved roads and transportation allowed the widespread population of the county to come to town; friends and family members could meet more often, and a sense of community identity began to grow.

From images of a bustling city in the 1850s to daily life in the 1950s, this delightful visual history recalls the people, places, and events that shaped Auburn.

Around Auburnbrings to life the history of Auburn and the surrounding communities of Cayuga County over a century of change. In addition to photos of the industries that formed the heart of the community, and snapshots of a bygone era amidst the natural beauty of Owasco Lake, authors Peter Lloyd Jones and Stephanie Przybylek give us a concise and accessible history of the famous men and women of Auburn and the surrounding Cayuga County: Harriet Tubman, fearless abolitionist and leader of the Underground Railroad; Emily Howland, pioneering figure in the fight for women's suffrage; and Theodore Case, inventor of the first commercially successful method of recording sound film.

Documenting the short but remarkable history of Allegheny City.

Allegheny Town was established in 1784 by order of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania. By 1840, the tiny wilderness community had grown in size and population to be incorporated as Allegheny City. Throughout the 19th century, Allegheny City became home to immigrants from many European countries who found work in the city's expanding commercial and industrial firms, as well as prominent Americans such as Andrew Carnegie, Samuel P. Langley, Mary Cassatt, George Ferris, and Mary Roberts Rinehart.

The citizens of Allegheny City's many neighborhoods took great pride in their city's heritage, schools, parks, and congregations. On January 1, 1907, Allegheny City was the third-largest city in Pennsylvania. By the end of that year, however, the city was an autonomous municipality and no longer existed as a result of an annexation by Pittsburgh, its sister city across the river.

Gravesend: The Home of Coney Island takes readers on a fascinating journey from the town's first settlement in the 1640s by Lady Deborah Moody, an intrepid and visionary leader of religious freedom, across four centuries of progress, conflict, and change. Containing over 120 black-and-white images, this stunning illustrated history brings to life early figures and events that shaped Gravesend's past and initiated Coney Island's prominence as the world's playground. Like a visitor of yesteryear, readers will stroll along the busy boardwalk, taste the world-famous hot dogs from Nathan's Restaurant, explore the renowned dance halls, race tracks, and casinos, and thrill at the kaleidoscopic assortment of roller coasters and other breathtaking rides, such as the Parachute Jump, at the celebrated Dreamland, Luna, and Steeplechase Parks.

From pastureland to military base to a playground for the wealthy, Montauk could tell a thousand stories.

Montauk, the easternmost hamlet in the town of East Hampton, is located at the end of Long Island - 118 miles out to sea and surrounded on three sides by water. The land of Montauk and its varied history - pastureland for over 300 years; a private resort for Arthur Benson and friends; a center of coastal navigation and defense from the time of the Revolutionary War to the Cold War; exceptional modern-day fishing grounds; and a world-renowned resort that began with Carl Fisher - will be explored herein. Great measures have been taken to preserve as much of Montauk as possible, with over 70 percent of the land now designated as New York State Parks, Suffolk County preserves, and East Hampton reserved land to be enjoyed for generations to come.

The city of Bridgeton, New Jersey's largest historic district, was one of the state's leading commercial and industrial centers during the Victorian Era.

In this vibrant and exciting photographic history, local author Bill Chestnut brings to life the city's past from the advent of photography through the 1970s. Little-known historical facts about public buildings, recreational and cultural centers, schools, and churches are explored in the informative captions that accompany over 200 images in this collection. Memorable moments and events from the years gone by are illustrated in vivid detail, including the legendary Flood of 1934 that left the town without a span over the Cohansey River. Many scenes from Bridgeton's neighborhoods and neighboring communities reveal what life was like in the past of this old county town.

The city of Fulton lies twelve miles south of Lake Ontario on the Oswego River.

Early history reveals the importance of the river to the Native Americans and the European settlers. The early settlement's strategic location at the site of the waterfalls, with dangerous rapids below, contributed to the success of various industries that harnessed the waters' power. Fulton grew, flourished, and became a city having the distinct honor of being virtually unaffected by the Great Depression.

Fulton and the Oswego River contains a striking collection of hundreds of rare local photographs, together with the stories of the town, the river, and the people who have lived here. The early settlers, including blacksmith Daniel Masters and the Van Buren family come to life in these pages, as the reader imagines their early struggles. The building of the Erie and Barge Canals had a influence on the economy, as did the businesses that developed along the river: the flour mills, paper mills, and woolen mills, such as the American Woolen Mill, which made military uniforms on Oswego's banks through World War II.

This book is a wonderful journey into a rich and diverse past--a past that will prove fascinating to resident and visitor alike.

For more than 200 years Eatontown, Oceanport, and West Long Branch shared a proud history as one township, and this book covers that community's heritage from the Colonial and Victorian eras through the 1950s. It also highlights the importance of Fort Monmouth, a US Army communications research facility that has now been listed as a maritime site on the New Jersey Coast Heritage Trail. Through the pages of this book we meet presidents and magnates; read local newspapers from over a hundred years ago; learn the history of the Jersey Shore's horse-racing tradition; discover ghosts and grisly crimes; and experience war, industrial revolution, the coming of the railroad, and great disasters from our past. Above all, we meet the people who have created Eatontown over the centuries at work, at play, in church, and at school. This book is a wonderful journey into a rich and diverse past--a past that will prove fascinating to resident and visitor alike.

See how the Chincoteague and Assteague Islands came about and developed into a tourist destination today.

The thriving barrier islands of Chincoteague and Assateague entice over a million tourists to their shores every year. Adjacent to one another, these parcels of land jutting into the Atlantic have a symbiotic relationship - Chincoteague, a modern, developed community that thrives on tourism, helps attract visitors to neighboring Assateague, which in turn acts as a natural buffer against the surging tides and is home to Assateague Island National Seashore, a state park that provides protection for native flora and fauna and leisure activities for the nature lover.

Overlapping the border between Maryland and Virginia, Assateague Island remains an undisturbed natural habitat boasting extensive wetlands and wildlife. Images of the native inhabitants of this area abound - the ponies, birds, and sea life take center stage, while the sandy dunes and rolling ocean provide a beautiful backdrop. The families who made the island of Chincoteague their home, from as early as 1650, were a tough breed and, over the years, made many contributions to the improvement of their community. Schools, churches, and businesses were established, bridges were built, roads were paved, and waterways made navigable - all of this visually documented and now available in this remarkable volume.

Vintage and never before seen photographs document the histories of the New Jersey Caldwells.

Remembering the Caldwells offers a nostalgic view of three neighboring communities rich in history and character. This impressive collection of vintage photographs covers the period from the end of the 19th century to the eve of the millennium. These rare photographs, few of which have been shared with the public, are from the private collections of local families and archivists. Trace within these pages the emergence of a diversity of churches and schools, tour nationally significant historic homes, and explore the transportation system that helped shape the entire region. Remembering the Caldwells also features the Caldwells' connection with Grover Cleveland, from his parents' association with the town to his own residency in Caldwell. Join John J. Collins in this enlightening journey back in time to discover the people, places, and events that shaped the future of the Caldwells.

Visit Milford of days gone by and glimpse the early English settlers who would shape tracts of land into a promising town. See how the area once called "Saw Mill Range" evolved from primitive woodlands into the commercial center known as Milford. Distinguish all the enterprising leaders who made Milford a thriving town with their innovations like canning and fruit drying and shipbuilding. The Mispillion River, Marshall's Mill, Milford Chronicle, Calvary Church, Slaughter Beach Hotel, Cedar Neck, the Levin Crapper Mansion built in 1763, Purity Row, along with the people, businesses, and events presented in this photographic celebration showcase what makes Milford an exceptional place to live and prosper.

Launched in Wilmington in 1997, Kalmar Nyckel—The Tall Ship of Delaware—is one of the region’s great educational resources, a floating classroom and inspirational platform for a broad array of land-and sea-based programs.

An accurate replica of the original Swedish naval vessel that launched the colony of New Sweden in the Delaware Valley in 1638, today’s Kalmar Nyckel voyages over 2,000 nautical miles and reaches more than 30,000 students, passengers, and visitors a year. A photographer’s dream wherever she goes, Kalmar Nyckel embodies America’s maritime heritage and has become one of Delaware’s defining treasures.

Samuel W. Heed, Esq., is the senior historian and director of education at the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, where since 2008 he has been developing the programs, exhibits, articles, and documentaries that bring the Kalmar Nyckel story to life and give it meaning. Heed serves on a number of nonprofit boards, including the Council of American Maritime Museums. The Kalmar Nyckel Foundation archives provided the primary resources for this book.

With more than two hundred vintage images, Linwood presents the view along the road from Leedsville to Linwood. Treasured nineteenth-century homes throughout the community provide a glimpse of the early years. Featured are such personalities as sea captains Israel Adams and Peter Reed, blacksmith Harry Potter, teacher Lizzie Cavileer, and chief of police Jesse James. Also included are well-known locales, such as Stuber's and Hagerthey's corner stores, the Mill Pond, Linwood Station, Belhaven and Leedsville Schools, and historic area churches.

Nestled in the Saucon Valley, Hellertown lies just south of Bethlehem, bordered on the west by the Saucon Creek.

While the creek derives its name from the Native American word sakunk, meaning ""place where a small stream enters into a larger stream,"" the town inherited its name from Christopher Heller and his descendants who settled the area in the mid-1700s. The 1800s brought a wave of Deutsch (German) immigrants to this corner of Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) country. During the latter years of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, Hellertown resembled any small town in America. Residents participated in world wars and suffered through the Great Depression while keeping their faith in democracy. Hellertown tells the story of these residents through more than two hundred photographs that have been donated to the Hellertown Historical Society during the last century. It shows the long-gone train station, Wagner's Grist and Saw Mill, and the Thomas Iron Company. Hellertown also offers snapshots of ""Big Bertha,"" the 1920 Dewey Fire Company No. 1 in action, a Sears home, the Hellertown girls' croquet team of the early 1900s, and some of the most influential residents from the past one hundred fifty years.

The year 2002 marks the 388th birthday of the settlement of a Dutch fur-trading fort on the west bank of the Hudson River. The year also marks the 350th anniversary of the founding of Beveryck, the permanent village that became Albany. Then & Now: Albany contains corner-by-corner views from four centuries. It focuses on the history as seen through the architectural transformation of a frontier village to a modern city. It is a pictorial field guide through the city's oldest streets.

In the northwest corner of the Adirondack Park lie Cranberry Lake and the village of Wanakena.

This remote area was the last-settled part of New York State; from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, its name evoked the very essence of wilderness. Initially, sportsmen, naturalists, and artists flocked to the area. By 1900, summer tourism was booming. The logging industry followed, to harvest the virgin timber; after that, the state purchased the mostly cleared lands. Today, seventy-five percent of the lake's shoreline is state owned, and the Five Ponds Wilderness, south of Wanakena, is one of the largest and wildest areas in the Adirondacks.