A new book by Charles R. Mitchell and Kirk W. House gives a historic tour of the Watkins Glen area. "Around Watkins Glen," like the authors' other books, is published by Arcadia Publishing.

Ted Key has found only two pictures of Jonesboro’s Centennial Celebration. They’re small rectangular sepia-colored photos showing the edge of a parade. There was probably bunting and banners proclaiming Jonesboro’s 100th anniversary, public speeches, picnics and a brass band. There were probably people taking pictures from every corner of the city, but Key has only seen these two.

In her new book, author and historian Caryl J. Bugge uses 197 postcards to chronicle the history of Thief River Falls and Pennington County. The book's five chapters tell many stories, including farming and railroading life in northwestern Minnesota, as well as identifying churches, schools, hospitals, banks and people from Thief River Falls, St. Hilaire, Goodridge, Hazel and Mavie.

Des Moines native Ron Playle, 69, has served in the Army as a guided missile electronic technician, worked for the postal service and owned his own self-help book publishing business. (He's the author of "Anyone Can Win Sweepstakes" and "How You Can Trace your Family Roots.")

Historical Jonesboro/Clayton County Inc. has announced that the organization has signed with Arcadia Publishing Co. to produce a book, "Historic Jonesboro." The book will be part of the "Images of America" series.

From the late 1800s to the mid 1930s, electrically powered trolley lines dominated public transportation in most American municipalities, and Queens, Brooklyn, Nassau and Suffolk Counties were no exception. Now Arcadia Publishing, a leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States has added Lost Trolleys of Queens and Long Island by Stephen L. Meyers to its list of profusely illustrated books on local Queens history to explain the importance of trolley transportation to Queens and Long Island and supply some of the reasons for its demise and almost complete eradication from the local landscape.

A photo is worth a thousand words. That is the message that Walter Sava and Joseph Rodriguez are trying to convey as they prepare to release their book, “Images of America: Latinos in Milwaukee.”

Milpitas' bayfront neighbor, Alviso, will be gaining attention and recognition with the newly released book, "Images of America: Alviso, San Jose," co-authored by locals Robert Burrill and Lynn Rogers. Burrill is best known for directing the 1976 cult film "The Milpitas Monster," but is also a noted photographer and history buff.

Kenneth Holtzclaw got interested in writing while drafting technical journals at UC Riverside in the 1960s. His interest in history goes back a lot further.

”Perhaps no other railroad in the United States packed so much variety into 570 miles of track as did the Northwestern Pacific Railroad.” This quote from the foreword in the newly published pictorial history book, “Northwestern Pacific Railroad,” pretty much says it all.

Officer Matthew J. Lyons spent more than a year putting together the "Oceanside Police Department" (www.arcadiapublishing.com, $19.99) book, but his only presence is his name in small print under the 1954 group shot of the city's law-enforcement agency.

The Del Mar Racetrack, celebrating its 70th anniversary, began as a way to finance the 22nd Agricultural District Association's San Diego County Fair, which dates to 1880

Local authors will be showcased this Sunday at the Chattanooga Barnes & Noble and they proudly represent the diversity of thought and history of this area. From 1-3 p.m. Dean Arnold, Sonya Haskins, Cathy Holton, Paula Egner and David Jenkins will be on hand to autograph their recent offerings. All the books can be purchased at Barnes & Noble.

Calling all owners of fire-breathing hot rods, pumped-up muscle machines, clapped-out Deuce Coupes and kandy-colored roadsters: Drivers taking in the Woodward Dream Cruise next month will be encouraged to continue south -- into Detroit -- as city boosters try for the first time to get a significant piece of the action.

Camano Island librarian Karen Prasse and the Stanwood Area Historical Society have co-authored a book on Camano Island history. The 128-page paperback text includes more than 200 historical photos.

When Nicholas Perry was in the eighth grade, he discovered there weren't any books published about Mountain View's history. So he decided to create his own Web site about it, at www.guidemv.com.

If Hollywood finds it has a hit movie on its hands, you can bet a sequel will follow. The Ipswich Historical Society is following this tried-and-true formula with its newest fund-raising venture: a second edition of an Arcadia Publishing pictorial history book.

With one of the landmarks of Shag closing its doors at the end of this beach season, ’Fessa John Hook’s book “Shagging in the Carolinas” offers a timely history of the dance, the music, the culture.

Two South Bay authors will be signing books about San Jose's Alviso district, a contradictory neighborhood that sits just north of Highway 237, which holds the beauty of the bay, a community of mostly farmworker families, and traces of being a prosperous, 19th century port town.

When last we saw young Wade Bagley, he had shinnied halfway up a 14th Street lamppost while his mother, Beth, walked nearby with visitors leaving the opening reception of her husband's art exhibition.

The Livermore Heritage Guild is continuing to offer people both a look at local history and at history in general through the eyes of Livermore residents.

As solidly as the famous press their prints onto a walk of fame, 1991 Radio/TV alumna Joan Minton Christopher has left the mark of her own hand on history. But instead of casting herself in cement, she put her hand to writing about cement.

Former Van Wert resident Cheryl Bauer and current resident Ken Cripe have assembled an array of Van Wert County postcards into a book which was recently published by Arcadia Publishing.

Just down the beach from Point Defiance lies a storied Tacoma neighborhood called Salmon Beach. Once a series of turn-of-the-20th-century fishing and camping shacks, then a haven for moonshiners, fishermen and, later, hippies, Salmon Beach today has evolved into a tony place. Its housing prices now rival other parts of Tacoma’s pricey North End.

n a classic What Were They Thinking moment, the Army Corps of Engineers once tried to blast the majestic Morro Rock to smithereens. Fortunately, the Rock is, well ... rock solid. So the corps didn't come close to obliterating the 576-foot Morro Bay landmark. But if you look closely, you can see the scars where sizable chunks of the Rock were blown away.

Marianne Wolf insists on one thing, she's just a small town girl. Now an author, Wolf's decision to write about Joliet was one she believes was meant to be.

It's a dance still popular after more than 60 years.

It's a dance still popular after more than 60 years. The "Shag" is South Carolina's state dance.

Christmas came early for me this year when I received the gift of a new book, "Images of America: Holiday World." Written by the Indiana theme park's matriarch, Pat Koch, along with Jane Ammeson, the book is a series of annotated pictures depicting Holiday World through the years.

When Arcadia Publishing needed someone to detail Glacier National Park for its Images of America series, author Bill Yenne was a natural choice. Arcadia, the largest publisher of regional history topics in North America, connects with knowledgeable writers to focus on a town or region and then markets its books directly to that community. With offices scattered across the country, the company now has a library of more than 3,000 titles on the history of events that shaped a specific area.

"San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf" is all about the rich history of San Francisco's top tourist destination.

The images are riveting. One scene is of a huge, flowery float moving through downtown Van Wert in the 1939 Peony Festival Parade.

Once a sleepy hamlet, the New Almaden area is gaining national recognition as a rural community steeped in history, detailed in the newly released book, “Images of America: New Almaden.”

"Babcock's Grove lay on an ancient buffalo trail that led westward from the Des Plaines River to present-day Maywood to a shallow bend on the East Branch of the DuPage River, where 500 Potawatomi still remained in a riverbank village." So writes Russ Ward in his new book, "Glen Ellyn," as he introduces the landscape of the 1830s, when Ralph and Morgan Babcock arrived in the area, where they set aside some land for their New York neighbor, Deacon Winslow Churchill.

Readers can see south Snohomish County grow up in a new book that tells the area's story in pictures that date back to the 1800s. Highway 99 in Lynnwood is lined with tall evergreens. There are no buildings. One car is on the road. Working south from Everett and north from Seattle, road-building crews met in 1927 near where 164th Street SW is located now. Roadhouses and dance halls were expected to be built along the new route. The Snohomish County sheriff at the time, however, warned that the south end of the county would not be allowed to turn into a "honky-tonk." The photo of Highway 99 shortly after its completion is one of many long-ago scenes in a recently published Lynnwood history book, "Images of America: Alderwood Manor."

THE PAST IN PICTURES: There are cities with a past and there are cities with a history. The tales of two cities, Carson and Signal Hill, are the latest told in the handsome, largely enjoyable and picture-heavy Images of America series put out by Arcadia Publishing, and side-by-side they show that some towns have a more interesting heritage than others.

Whenever Alessandro Baccari Jr. reminisces about his days of being a little boy playing along the docks of Fisherman's Wharf in the 1930s, he always pictures the Italian fishermen as apostles.

As a local historian and author, Bill Thomas often goes in search of Northern Kentucky history. But he may have found his most treasured story in his backyard. In May, Thomas purchased the former Fort Thomas home of Harlan Hubbard, the artist and writer often described as the Henry David Thoreau of Kentucky. Along with the house came what art lovers and historians often dream about: samples of the artist's original work. In the basement of the 83-year-old home, attached to the glass panes of a door, were four paintings. They were secured to the glass by a previous owner, Thomas said. Thomas, who writes a monthly series on local history in two Fort Thomas community magazines, knew what he had.

In the ’50s and ’60s, black and middle-class white teenagers formed a friendship based on Shag dancing. In a new book, Shagging in the Carolinas, ‘Fessa John Hook writes about this unlikely collaboration between the two social classes, as well as the historic and romantic essence of Shag dancing in North and South Carolina.

When I first skimmed through this 128-page collection of photographs, I immediately thought it would be light of interest, light on history, light of substance and value. Then my eye caught on a sharp photo of an old woman wearing a peasant scarf, her taller daughter in soft focus a few steps away, wearing a stylish dress and hat. I read the caption on this stunning picture. Interesting.