There is a mystery in the village of Herkimer, and the resolution could involve clues that span the entire last century. A picture of a train being greeted by a crowd on Albany Street has the staff at the Herkimer County Historical Society inundated with possible descriptions; some more feasible than others.

It's 1901, and an 11-year-old boy, born without hands, is staring into the camera and holding a pencil in his toes. "I am learning to use the typewriter with my toes," Frank Gardello wrote. "I can play football, play on a little toy piano, and can ride a bicycle."

UNION CITY — For those who don't know, Union City has a new book.

Local historians Charles R. Mitchell and Kirk W. House will celebrate the publication of their newest book in the Postcard History Series, "Finger Lakes," from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Storylines Bookstore & Café in Watkins Glen.

On the heels of the town's 135th anniversary in 2007, Chase City native John Caknipe, Jr.'s book, Chase City has hit the bookstores.

Local author Beverly Dawson has written a second book for Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series. The book, Glenview, contains 200 vintage photographs from the 1830s through the 1960s.

WEST AKRON — Working on a book about the architecture of Akron churches opened the eyes of local author Kally Mavromatis.

After researching the history of her Berwyn Heights home, a historic Sears, Roebuck & Co. bungalow, Ann Harris Davidson found she had almost enough information to fill a whole book.

Families of policemen and policewomen -- like families of firefighters -- recognize that look you always see on the faces in photographs of cops. It's a proud look but one that is almost defiant, showing the kind of spirit and attitude that keeps one going to work every day to face the constant threat of danger.

TOM FLYNN STANDS ON EAST 36th Street near Elkader Road on a drizzly afternoon earlier this month. In his hand is a copy of his new book, Baseball in Baltimore, opened to pages 122 and 123, where on facing pages are photographs of the old Memorial Stadium, taken from the upper deck behind home plate, looking north past the diamond, the outfield, and the bleachers to the spot where he now stands.

I've spent the past week in two island idylls.

"Images of America: The Great Dayton Flood of 1913" by Trudy E. Bell (Arcadia Publishing, 127 pages, $20)- An interview with Trudy E. Bell

TOWN OF WALLKILL — Dorothy Hunt—Ingrassia remembers when houses were torn down on Route 211 so the two-lane road could be widened.

Local author Yana Ungermann-Marshall was tapped again to write "Flintridge" (Arcadia Publishing, $20).

Local author and historian Joan Wheal Blank will release her sophomore Arcadia Publishing pictorial history book, “Around Montgomery,” on Monday. Blank will hold a booksigning from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Montgomery Area Public Library, 1 S. Main St., Montgomery, and from 1 to 4 p.m. April 5 at Borders Book Store at the Lycoming Mall, Pennsdale.

While sitting in rush hour traffic along U.S. 30, it may be hard to remember that some 85 years ago -- when the road was new -- the stretch between Schererville and Dyer was state of the art.

May 29, 1906: Ballard was swallowed whole by Seattle, but refused to be digested.

HOWARD KROPLICK’s fascination for local history has led him into lots of musty library archives, looking for the Long Island that predated suburbia.

D. W. Grover’s plan was simple and potentially prosperous: He would buy land along the coast in San Luis Obispo County, then entice the railroad to build a train station on his property, spurring rapid development.

ROME — The lost village of Delta, very much like the lost city of Atlantis, currently lies beneath the water, its history eroded away by the strong tides of time.

A tourist attraction for more than 100 years, Chimney Rock Park is now North Carolina's newest state park and the subject of a new book that captures the area's past with more than 200 vintage images.

Working with the Greater Astoria Historical Society, the Roosevelt Island counterpart has produced a book (right) that details the history of the Queensboro Bridge in generously captioned photos, diagrams, and maps.

This year is the centennial anniversary of the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race, the Long Island-based contest that was wildly popular with New York area residents.

Yana Ungermann-Marshall, author and longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident, held a signing recently at Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse for her latest book, “Flintridge,” published a few weeks ago by Arcadia Publishing.

If someone baked Oro Valley a birthday cake, it would need 35 candles. In human years, that quantity signifies that a mid-life crisis may not be too far away. For an incorporated area, 34 (and one to grow on) means you’re an infant.

A new book tracing Graham County’s history from the early 1900s through World War II includes 200 vintage photographs and a historical narrative written by Pima resident Harold “Hal” Herbert.

Mary J. Centro’s "The Lost Village of Delta" will be available Monday.

For nearly five years, Mary Ellen Johnson and Annamarie Erickson combed through the archives of the Bloomingdale Public Library and Bloomingdale Historical Society, looking through 10,000 photos and more than 500 folders of historical documents.

PEABODY — With each passing day, death thins the generation of men and women who carried this country through World War II.

He has done it again! Orland author Gene H. Russell has created his fifth book on Orland history due to come out March 3.

PINELLAS COUNTY – Arcadia Publishing’s “Tampa Bay’s Beaches” by R. Wayne Ayers and Nancy Ayers will be available soon at area bookstores, independent retailers, online retailers and through Arcadia Publishing. The book is due to be released March 11.

Many unique and picturesque excursions are possible in Scott County, but none of them involve a covered bridge.

WORTHINGTON — Minnesota author Mary Firestone, who wrote “Dayton’s Department Store” as part of the Arcadia Publishing Images of America series, will be in Worthington Saturday to autograph copies of the book.

Paramus-raised historical researcher chronicles legendary New York State park in pictures with this new 128-page book.

It's Chinatown, Jake, and now you can read the whole story.

Have you ever wondered what world-renowned sculptors have a piece located in Springfield or just how many statues and busts of Abraham Lincoln there are in the city? Former Lincoln Library director Carl Volkmann and his wife Roberta have those answers and many more as the authors of a new Book Springfield’s Sculptors, Monuments, and Plaques.

Arcadia Publishing has released Forest Park Highlands, another volume in its continuing Images of America series.