Landmarks

Along with the Dodgers and Prospect Park, the Abraham & Straus department store was a legendary piece of Brooklyn's history and identity.

From Abraham Abraham's modest store of 1865, A&S developed into one of America's largest department stores, eventually becoming a charter member of the powerful Federated Department Stores Corporation in 1929. Known for unparalleled customer and employee loyalty, the stores rode a wave of demographic and economic changes. Today, the former Fulton Street Abraham & Straus operates as a Macy's and remains one of America's last downtown department stores. Author, historian and lecturer Michael J. Lisicky chronicles the rise and fall of Brooklyn's iconic store.

Michael J. Lisicky is the author of several bestselling books, including Hutzler's: Where Baltimore Shops.

In demand as a department store historian, he has given lectures at institutions such as the New York Public Library, the Boston Public Library, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the Milwaukee County Historical Society, the Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Jewish Museum of Maryland. His books have received critical acclaim from the Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City Paper, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Pittsburgh Post Gazette. He has been interviewed by national business periodicals including Fortune Magazine, Investor's Business Daily and Bloomberg Businessweek. His book Gimbels Has It was recommended by National Public Radio's Morning Edition program as "One of the Freshest Reads of 2011." Mr. Lisicky helps run an "Ask the Expert" column with author Jan Whitaker at www.departmentstorehistory.net and resides in Baltimore, where he is an oboist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Standing tall on the colorful clay cliffs of Martha's Vineyard, Gay Head Lighthouse has provided safe passage to seafarers since 1799. The steadfast tower marks a dangerous and heavily traveled passage between the island and mainland known as Devil's Bridge. Being the first lighthouse on the Vineyard, Gay Head Light has a rich and varied history filled with stories of inspirational lighthouse keepers, disastrous shipwrecks and even mysterious deaths. Today, Gay Head Light serves as an iconic symbol of the island's maritime history and attracts visitors from around the world. Join author William Waterway as he charts the history of the lighthouse from the original wooden tower lit with oil lamps to the rebuilt brick structure that houses the famous Fresnel lens.

Even though the West Virginia Capitol deviated from the design of legendary architect Cass Gilbert, the iconic building is still considered a masterpiece. The full story of the Capitol is filled with twists and turns, from the fortunate fire that burned its predecessor to the tug of war between Wheeling and Charleston for the designation of state capital. Revisit the to-gild-or-not-to-gild debate that raged around the construction of the Capitol's signature crown, which once was in danger of collapsing on itself or toppling in heavy winds. Join Charleston author Jim Wallace for this captivating account of West Virginia's architectural jewel.

In 1883, railroad financier Henry Villard brought Portland and the Pacific Northwest their first transcontinental railroad. Earning a reputation for boldness on Wall Street, the war correspondent turned entrepreneur set out to establish Portland as a bourgeoning metropolis. To realize his vision, he hired architects McKim, Mead & White to design a massive passenger station and a first-class hotel. Despite financial panics, lost fortunes and stalled construction, the Portland Hotel opened in 1890 and remained the social heart of the city for sixty years. While the original station was never built, Villard returned as a pivotal benefactor of Union Station, saving its iconic clock tower in the process. Author Alexander Benjamin Craghead tells the story of this Gilded Age patron and the architecture that helped shape the city's identity.

Lured by the promise of land and opportunity, miners, cowhands, laborers, settlers and fortune-seekers poured into Colorado during the mid-to-late 19th Century and into the 20th. To accommodate the population boom, industrious Coloradoans built scores of hotels some elaborate, some modest, all a touchstone to this critical era in Centennial State history. Join Alexandra Walker Clark on this tour through Colorado's historic hotels. Discover how the Oxford and Brown Palace Hotels have managed to maintain their elegance, while others such as the Timberline Hotel of Holy Cross City and the California Hotel of Independence have vanished. With timeless recipes from hotel kitchens, learn how hotels have adapted to eras like the Native American desertion and the Roaring Twenties.

Standing on the banks of the Black River, Mansfield Plantation is a living testament to antebellum rice plantations. In 1718, it started as a five-hundred-acre land grant near the upstart village of Georgetown. The main house was built around 1800, and the plantation soon grew to nearly one thousand acres. John and Sallie Middleton Parker returned the property to the Man-Taylor-Lance-Parker family, a line of ownership dating back 150 years. Ongoing preservation projects ensure that future generations can explore and appreciate one of the most well-preserved rice plantations in America. Plantation historian Christopher C. Boyle captures the spirit of Mansfield Plantation and unravels the many mysteries of its past.