Summertime memories of Camp Cory are awash in warm emotion. From the Reveille bugle at first light to Taps in the evening, those days were the absolute best. Skippering a K-boat on cool Keuka Lake. Silly songs and skits performed into the night. The boundless nature of genuine friendship. It is hard to explain exactly why that time is so special, how it changes lives forever. This wonderful mystery is revealed here by official Camp Cory historian Bo Shoemaker. So gather around the campfire...

“These are remarkable and poignant stories that need to be told.” —Ken BurnsMore than six million people watch Bob Dotson’s Emmy award-winning segment, American Story, on NBC’s Today Show. For the last four decades, Dotson has traveled the country searching out inspiring individuals who quietly perform everyday miracles. In the process, he has become the treasured cartographer of America’s heart and soul.Today’s news is overwhelmingly grim; it’s al...

You want girl power? Meet Annie Oakley! Born in 1860, she became one of the best-loved and most famous women of her generation. She amazed audiences all over the world with her sharpshooting, horse-riding, action-packed performances. In an age when most women stayed home, she traveled the world and forged a new image for American women.

Ann Lewis's childhood was marked by an unusual rhythm. Each year the thawing and freezing of the Great Lakes signaled the beginning and end of the shipping season, months of waiting that were punctuated by brief trips to various ports to meet her father, the captain.With lively storytelling and vivid details, Lewis captures the unusual life of shipping families whose days and weeks revolved around the shipping industry on the Great Lakes. She paints an intriguing and affectionate p...

New Paltz was established in 1678 by a small group of Huguenot refugees and their families. These pioneers settled into the fertile Wallkill River Valley with the majestic Hudson River to the east and the Shawangunk Mountains defining the western border. These families endured what today would be insurmountable odds, yet for generations they survived and constantly improved their quality of life. The homesteads of these patentee families still stand along historic Huguenot Street and are t...

Nestled snuggly against Lakewood on the southern side of Tacoma, South Tacoma is a vibrant neighborhood comprised of old and new. What was once a prairie where elk and deer roamed was first called Excelsior, later renamed Edison, and finally became known as South Tacoma in 1895. Beginning in the mid-1800s, the area was comprised of cemeteries used to bury Tacoma�s deceased, but in 1890, Northern Pacific Railway made the monumental decision to move its railroad shops from downtown Tacoma to...

Laden with pines and interspersed with lakes and rivers, Pine City has long served as the gateway to Minnesota's Northwoods. Over the years, people have traveled through the area via the river, military road, railroads, and scenic highway. In the 1880s, as people of European decent were settling in, the crux of the community moved from Chengwatana, Ojibwe for "City of Pines," to a location west of there, nearer the rail line, called Pine City. The story begins with the fur trade and takes ...

Needles is located at the borders of California and Arizona on the west bank of the Colorado River, once serving as an important transportation hub in California. During the mid-1800s, the steamboat trade flourished here as gold, silver, goods, and passengers were transported along the Colorado River. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, now known as the Santa Fe, replaced the steamboats when tracks were laid through the area starting in 1883. The charter city was founded in 1913. America�s ...

Founded by optimistic speculators with dreams of commercial empires that never materialized, Jefferson County is located on Washington�s Olympic Peninsula. It stretches from spectacular Pacific Ocean beaches on the west and the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the north to the forested banks of the Hood Canal on the east. Created by the Oregon territorial legislature in 1852 and redefined by the Washington Territorial Legislature in 1877, it was named for Pres. Thomas Jefferson. Scenic Olympic Na...

From 1790 until today, continuity in Patrick County, Virginia, has involved a rural agricultural life based on family and religion. In the history of the county named for Patrick Henry, the population has only doubled since the Civil War, when men such as cavalryman James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart hailed from the county.

In Tavern League, photographer Carl Corey documents a unique and important segment of the Wisconsin community. Our bars are unique micro-communities, offering patrons a sense of belonging. Many of these bars are the only public gathering place in the rural communities they serve. These simple taverns offer the individual the valuable opportunity for face to face conversation and camaraderie, particularly as people become more physically isolated through the accelerated use of the ...

The first Lake Forest Day in 1908 included a hot air balloon ascension, a cutest baby contest, a mind-reading dog, and a vaudeville show. Proceeds from this event, organized by the Lake Forest Woman�s Club, funded the Contagious Hospital, which eventually merged into Lake Forest Hospital. American Legion Post 264 took over in 1921 and has maintained this extraordinary tradition ever since. This annual celebration has changed over the years to reflect local interests, national events, and e...