The Rappahannock Historical Society has sponsored the publication of a new book entitled "Rappahannock County - Images of America." It is co-authored by historian and biographer Kathryn Lynch and the Historical Society's executive director, Judy Tole. In honor of its publication, the Society has scheduled a book signing for Sunday afternoon, March 11, from 1 to 5 p.m. at its offices and museum located at 328 Gay Street in Little Washington.

It is either novelist William Faulkner or former Winchester Mayor Stewart Bell Jr. – or maybe both – who said, “Big thins happen in small places.”

Firefighters with horse-drawn engines raced to put out a fire at the Associates Hall Building on the corner of Worthen and Merrimack Streets in Lowell. Red-hot embers and debris rained from the sky on that day in April 1924, and at some point, the brick-and-mortar building collapsed, crushing a ladder truck and killing one firefighter.

A COUPLE OF WEEKENDS AGO, my wife and I were enjoying a long weekend up the coast in Bodega Bay. Naturally, it rained the entire weekend.

What do Frederick Douglass, Mary McLeod Bethune and Langston Hughes have in common? Yes, all three were leaders in the fight for freedom and equality for black Americans. Each also called Washington home.

NORTH ADAMS —Long before e-mail became a popular form of communication, even before the telephone connected people across the country, the penny postcard was one of the cheapest and easiest ways to get a quick thought to faraway friends and relatives.

VALDOSTA — Dr. Joseph A. Tomberlin has combined a lifetime of South Georgia living with a career in history to create a gorgeous book with “Images of America: Lowndes County.”

Long before e-mail became a popular form of communication, even before the telephone connected people across the country, the penny postcard was the cheapest and easiest ways to get a quick thought to faraway friends to relatives.

For long-time residents of the Running Springs area, Stan Bellamy’s new book Running Springs—part of the Images of America series—offers a nostalgic look at the development of the eastern mountain communities. For newcomers, this book provides a valuable history lesson.

Mike Smith owns the Sandia Mountains. Well, not quite, but he often feels that way. Smith, the author of "Towns of the Sandia Mountains"— a historical book filled with facts, photos and trivia about the area— said the year or so he spent writing his book and getting to know the area often makes the Sandias seem like something he owns.

One of Botetourt's native daughters has put together a new book about the county. Botetourt County by Debra Alderson McClane is part of the Images of America series issued by Arcadia Publishing. The 128-page book became available at local retail outlets on February 12.

The authors of “Around New Market” live on opposite sides of Massanutten Mountain, but they are united in their love of the town.

Beaumont, a pictorial history, is a visual and educational journey that extols its Wild West past and imparts many of the unknown details that made the San Gorgonio Pass town the city it is today.

HARRISONBURG — At the center of New Market in the mid-19th century, a group of men posed for a photo. Some of them stood. But most of the men sat on a pile of small logs at Abraham Neff’s mercantile store near the town’s center. The men from the 1850s are gone. But they have gained new fame of sorts on the cover of a book featuring the photographic history of New Market.

Fifty years ago, every man in Jonesboro was required to grow a beard. When then-Gov. Herman Talmadge came into town with smooth cheeks, a bunch of hairy-faced Jonesboro residents took him, at gun point, to the train depot, quickly tried him in an open air court and threw him in a make-shift jail.

CANYON LAKE - In the seventh decade of her life, Elinor Martin has gone from amateur historian to published writer. A lifelong resident of Menifee Valley and Canyon Lake, Martin is the author of a recently published pictorial history of the private, gated community.

The latest in postcard-related books this year includes Utica, N.Y., froom Arcadia Publishing and Pittsburgh, PA., from Schiffer Publishing.

Aside from the exploits of the successful LSU and Southern programs, younger generations might not think Baton Rouge has much of a baseball history. But in Baseball in Baton Rouge, Michael and Janice Bielawa bring to life the city’s interesting past with the American pastime.

Canyon Lake resident and local pioneer Elinor Martin has given the community a treasure trove of photographs and information about this area that is sure to delight newcomers and old-timers alike in a new book released this month called “Images of America: Canyon Lake.”

Some fathers and sons work together on Soapbox Derby cars. Michael "Mike" Dahlman, 48, and his son, Michael, Jr., 17, have researched, assembled and written the first history of Daniel Island, the community they moved to only 2 ½ years ago.

The trouble with trying to tell the history of a small town is it’s hard to separate tall tales from true ones. Take Paradise--was it named after the old Pair-O-Dice saloon, or an apocryphal quote from a Ridge pioneer resting in the shade of a ponderosa pine? (“Boys, this has got to be paradise.”) Butte County historian Robert Colby sorts out this legend and others in his second Images of America paperback.

The Museum Center at 5ive Points Gift Shop has just received the new book "Images of Bradley County" published by Arcadia Publishing. Bob George and Mitchell Kinder, co-authors of "Images of Bradley County," will be at the Museum Center at 5ive Points for a book signing on Saturday, February 24 from 10 a.m. through 12 noon.

A fairy tale castle off Cornwall-on-Hudson, rising from a rocky islet. The scene still slows cars, gets people staring out of Metro-North commuter train windows and has become an official Hudson River "scenic ruin." To many travelers, it's just Bannerman's (imitation Scottish-Moorish-Belgian-whatever) Island castle, if they know that at all.

A 1939 image of beauty queens of the old Cheese Festival, which promoted the local dairy industry.

Michael Hauser didn't grow up in Detroit, but he understands the appeal of its downtown movie palaces. As a kid in the 1950s, Hauser used to take the bus to downtown Grand Rapids to see first-run movies with his parents.

On the afternoon of Jan. 6, 1888, 11 Tulane University baseball players boarded a train for -- this is hard to imagine -- a six-hour ride to Baton Rouge to play Louisiana State University.

The second 50 years of Eastern Kentucky University’s 100-year history is covered in the new photo book, “Eastern Kentucky University: 1957-2006,” by Jackie Couture, Debbie Whalen and Chuck Hill, colleagues in EKU Archives.

Now that the hard work is done, the fun can begin for Franklin Park's newest authors. After a year of research, Village President Dan Pritchett and his daughter, Amanda Schmitt, have put together a 128-page book on the history of the village, complete with photos.

Arcadia Publishing has done it again with Daniel Island, a photographic history penned by father and son team Michael K. Dahlman and Michael K. Dahlman, Jr., both residents of the titular location near Charleston.

Dan Guillory answered the telephone and was asked: "Are you interested in doing a book on Macon County?" Guillory had produced two books about Decatur for Arcadia Publishing: "Images of America: Decatur" and "Wartime Decatur, 1832-1945."

Among the artifacts often unearthed during major street reconstruction projects in Toledo are the old rails of trolley tracks that once laced the city. Images of Rail: Toledo Trolleys takes its readers back to the days when those tracks were a vital and vibrant transportation asset to the city, to days when downtown was the place where virtually everyone worked and shopped and the streetcars were the fastest way to get there.

You’ve seen the Arcadia Publishing books in your local bookstore. They are the photo-filled paperbacks that celebrate the uplifting local histories of Detroit, its suburbs, and assorted ethnic groups, generally taking a warts-free approach that plays up the bucolic and nostalgic side of yesteryear.

Boynton beach• Janet DeVries' collection of 230 postcards, compiled in a book titled Around Boynton Beach, is a nostalgic glimpse into this 86-year-old city's past and how it blossomed from a small town of dirt roads to a surfer's magnet in the 1960s.

On February 12th, 2007, “Bradley County,” a part of the Images of America series, will be available for purchase. Written by Robert L. George and Mitchell T. Kinder, the book is $19.99 and will be available at area bookstores, independent retailers, on-line bookstores, or through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com or (888)313-2665.

The bubbly waters at the hot springs in Byron that have attracted Native Americans, Spanish explorers, celebrities, and entrepreneurs with dreams of grandeur are attracting attention again, thanks to a local author drawn to the storied slice of far East Contra Costa County.

The Doheny Campus of Mount St. Mary's College embraces not only a rich heritage but also a remarkable legacy of an early historic era in Los Angeles. In Don Sloper's "photo album" history, the reader gleans a view of what was the enclave of the wealthy and powerful in the early 1900s. Chester Place --- the oldest gated community in the city --- was once home to the "movers and shakers of politics, industry and entertainment." The present college campus was also the home of the oil-industry pioneer, Edward Doheny.

Six Flags Over Georgia is one of the latest books in Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series. Six Flags Over Georgia was written by Tim Hollis who first visited the Atlanta theme park during its opening season. Hollis delves deep into thepersonal collections of longtime park employees, as well as his own archives, to document the park as his fellow baby boomers so fondly recall it.

BCCA member Scott Mertie began collecting cans as a youth in Ohio. After moving to Nashville in 1992, he became intrigued by items from the Gerst Brewing Company. The publication of Nashville Brewing is a major milestone in his dedication to the brewing history of that Tennessee town.

Pembroke is located in rural South Georgia between Savannah and Statesboro (Bryan County). In 1889, this small town was flourishing with pride and growth. Mr. M.E Carter, its first resident and mayor, worked for the railroad and lived in a boxcar. To depict this rich history and to celebrate its centennial in 2004, the Pembroke Committee worked tirelessly to capture the memories of the town.

Photographs selected from the Atlanta History Center's Kenan Research Center trace changes in Atlanta women's clothing, education, roles in the workplace, civil rights, social activities and political involvement from the mid-19th century through the early 1970s.

Arcadia Publishing has issued a plethora of books relating to local heritages. Wander on Arcadia's web site and you are greeted with a map. Click on any area and the web site brings up the Arcadia offerings related to that particular area. Some series deal with the local sports legends. Some deal with the historical or geological features of the local area.