Saugerties, nestled between Esopus Creek and the Hudson River on one side and the Catskill Mountains on the other, is an old village first settled by the Dutch. Following the opening of the Erie Canal, industrialist Henry Barclay set into motion plans to use the area's waterpower to turn Saugerties into an industrial community. The village became home to the Ulster Iron Works and Barclay's paper mill, and a rich supply of some of the world's most beautiful bluestone was discovered. Sidewal...

Attracted by the fertile soil, ample forests, and abundant water, the first pioneer arrived in the Orchard Park area in 1803, making this one of the earliest settlements in western New York. Prominent among the settlers were the Quakers, who built a picturesque meetinghouse that is still in use today. Orchard Park portrays the history of the community through its citizens and their homes and businesses, many of which were at Four Corners. Plank roads and then a railroad and finally a troll...

New Britain Township, founded in 1723, was a rural farming community originally settled by Welsh Baptists and German Mennonites. This changed dramatically in 1856 when the North Pennsylvania Railroad was built. Two train stations were built in the township and were named Chalfont and New Britain. The villages next to these stations attracted numerous new residents and businesses. The local picnic grove was even converted into an amusement park, which became known as Forest Park. The villag...

What began as a humble milling town became Ellicott City, part of the Baltimore metropolitan area and an important piece of Maryland history. In 1772, the Ellicott brothers purchased land and water rights in the valley along the banks of the Patapsco River for $3 an acre. They constructed mills, started the National Road, and brought the railroad to what was then called Ellicott's Mills. The newly constructed railroad in the 1830s put Ellicott City on the map, and even today, the oldest su...

Join Ray and Diane Hadley as they retell the history of the communities that make up Jonesboro and Arkansas's Northeast Corner in vintage images. When Union soldiers returned North after the Civil War, they brought home stories of a sparsely populated area with bountiful timber and potential for homes and farms. Over the next 50 years, first by wagon train and then by railroads, settlers came to build not only homes and farms but also thriving communities in the Clay, Greene, and Craighead...

From hidden valleys in the Berkshire Hills to the North Shore, 275 documented highway and railroad covered bridges have been constructed in Massachusetts from the early 19th century onward, a figure that often comes as a surprise to those who traditionally associate these unique structures with northern New England. All but a small handful of these are long gone, lost to modern replacements, fires, wear, and the region�s notorious weather, especially the devastating storms of the late 1930...

Wilton, Temple, and Lyndeborough brings to life the rich shared history of three towns on the eastern edge of the Monadnock region. In more than two hundred photographs from the period 1860 to 1960, this book captures the proud heritage of farm and family life, glass factories, woodenware and textile mills, and the captivating scenic beauty that drew many notable artists such as Chauncey Ryder, Roy Brown, Ross Turner, and Stanley Hallett.

The fertile farmlands of the Mohawk Valley brought the first settlers to Whitestown, founded by Hugh White in 1784. Abundant water was available to service mills and to provide a means for shipping goods from the existing knitting mills, cheese factories, iron works, and lumberyards of Whitesboro, a village of Whitestown. Irish immigrants settled into Whitesboro after building the Erie Canal, while German immigrants brought their carpenter talents to build furniture, such as the famous Qui...

In its beginnings, Baltimore County was covered with dense ancient forests of deciduous trees and so little undergrowth that it was said a man could gallop horses within them. Today horses gallop over bucolic pastures of renowned Thoroughbred farms amidst quaint historic towns seen dotting the rolling landscape. Named for the Lords Baltimore, Baltimore County was originally an expansive area extending well beyond today's boundaries. Founded in 1659, the county has evolved from tobacco farm...

McDonough County Historic Sites depicts a remarkable agricultural region steeped in 19th-century tradition and community spirit. Originally set aside by Congress for veterans of the War of 1812 as part of the Illinois Military Tract, the land that is now McDonough County was settled by a diverse and ambitious population starting in the 1820s. From the trials of settlement to the coming of railroads and the establishment of small-town culture, McDonough County history reflects developments ...

This unforgettable journey through the Sauquoit Valley includes some history, some nostalgia, and some relevant facts and tales of local people and places. Situated south of Utica in central New York State, this unique rural valley is dotted with villages, beginning at the southern end with Cassville and ending with New Hartford. Of historical interest are the names of the villages: how Washington Mills came to be nicknamed "Checkerville"; how the naming of Clayville after Henry Clay resul...

Originally known as the Union District or Langdon�s Quarter, the village at the western end of Farmington was officially named Unionville by the U.S. Post Office in 1834. Settling along the banks of the Farmington River, Unionville�s early residents were an industrious group, diverting water into canals to power numerous family-run mills and factories and producing a host of manufactured goods. Although smaller than the neighboring industrial cities of New Britain and Bristol, Unionville g...