Annapolis�a hidden jewel of a community�is tucked into the timber-filled ridges above the jagged northern Sonoma coastline. Undeterred by the steep, mountainous terrain and rugged living, early settlers were first lured to the area by the timber. They quickly discovered Annapolis had perfect weather for apple farming. At the beginning of the 20th century, almost every farm had apples, and apple dryers dotted the hills. The wild Gualala River, known for Coho salmon and steelhead trout, is 3...

Clay for the Potter tells the remarkable story of Sarah Mitchell Gettys. From her childhood years on the windswept Colorado plains, a time of struggling farmers and one-room schoolhouses, through her travels around the world as a young woman and educator, all the way to her later years as an entrepreneur and business owner, Sarah's is a uniquely American story that perfectly reflects the changing landscape of our nation."Life is like building a house. Each...

June 28, 1924, dawned hot and sunny, with fluffy white clouds hovering over a blue and inviting Lake Erie. For two Ohio communities, Lorain and Sandusky, the day ended in unimaginable disaster. In the late afternoon, the blue sky turned dark, and the wispy white puffs morphed into a mass of black thunderclouds as a monster formed on the lake. An F4 tornado, unexpected and not understood, was born from a thunderstorm on the now turbulent waters of Lake Erie. It charged ashore, smashing into...

The name Ozark comes from the French Aux Arcs. The town of Ozark may have gotten its name because it is at the bend of the creek. Today the term Ozark refers to the large upland region that covers parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Ozark, Missouri is nestled in the hills of this region and serves as the county seat of Christian County. This book looks at Ozark's 150 year history, using vintage photographs from the Pegram Collection to capture the spirit of the town and surr...

One of the last residents of the Smoky Mountain town frozen in time tells of life in a community that few have seen. The remote Smoky Mountain community of Cades Cove still lives in the memory of J.C. McCaulley, one of the few remaining former residents, who offers an exclusive glimpse into a childhood in the Cove. His stories, compiled by his wife Margaret, are a testament to a way of life long abandoned - a life before automobiles, television and perhaps too much exposure to the outside ...

The dramatic story of a devastating natural disaster in nineteenth-century Kentucky.On March 27, 1890, a devastating storm moved over the Ohio River Valley, spawning dozens of deadly tornados. The most powerful of these twisters touched down in Louisville, carving a path of unprecedented destruction from Main Street to the end of town.In the aftermath, nearly eight hundred buildings in the city were destroyed, and over one hundred people perished. In all, t...

Milford, Delaware, is a unique town in the heart of southern Delaware with one foot in Kent County and the other in Sussex County. Location is a major thread of success for Milford-it is within 100 miles of Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Baltimore and only a short 25-minute drive to the Delaware beaches. Greater Milford offers a rare blend of relaxed rural life and progressive, modern convenience. The historic district, riverfront greenway, and civic-minded residents lend a charm to M...

I wrote the book to tell of my experiences as I grew up liviing on a farm in north-central Kansas. I wanted my grand children to know some of the things that I had endured and events that had an impact later in life. It is not possible to sit down and tell them stories as in years past, so a book may suffice.

Gold Hill is a product of the frontier days, when bold men sought golden riches despite ongoing hardships. The 1860 discovery of the famous Gold Hill Pocket, overlooking the present townsite, brought about its name with a gold rush that continued for decades and spilled into the nearby creeks and valleys, including mines with names like the Millionaire, Lucky Bart, and Roaring Gimlet. In 1884, the railroad bypassed neighboring settlements, which made Gold Hill a center depot and created gh...

Portland is located in �the big bend� of the Connecticut River near the center of the state, where natural resources provided a prosperous livelihood for generations of residents. First settled as part of Middletown, the area was incorporated as Portland in 1841. The town is known for its brownstone quarries, the Gildersleeve shipyard, and shade-grown tobacco. Meshomasic, the first state forest in New England, is located here. In Portland, historic photographs drawn from the archives of th...

Esau Decker walked to southeastern Franklin County from the Shenandoah Valley in 1805. Marking his Ohio property with a walking stick, Decker returned with his Virginia family the following year to discover that the willow cane had taken root and was growing. It is from this same fertile soil that farms, businesses and social groups grew to create the village of Groveport and the thriving farming community with which it is forever intertwined, Madison Township.Groveport and Madison Townshi...

One-hundred-fifty miles west of Dallas, on a gently rolling prairie that was once the predatory domain of the Plains Indians, lies Shackelford County. Anglo-American settlers began arriving in the 1850s to raise livestock and cultivate crops near the Clear Fork of the Brazos River. To protect the settlers from the Indians, the US Army established Fort Griffin in 1867. In true Wild West fashion, the raucous town of Fort Griffin sprang up nearby to service the soldiers, cattle drovers, and b...