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Andrew Wyeth is renowned for his paintings of the Chadds Ford countryside, but what about the his brother, the inventor of the plastic soda bottle? Then there is Bill Haley of Booth's Corner who, along with the help of a few Delaware Valley teenagers, came up with a new sound called rock-and-roll. With a fascinating and occasionally uproarious collection of his Main Line Today magazine columns, author Mark E. Dixon explores the forgotten corners of Delaware County's history. From the Upper Darby abolitionist who conducted more than two thousand people on the Underground Railroad to the Sun Shipyard press stunt that landed heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey in hot water, these offbeat histories will delight visitors and locals alike.

Untold stories of Howard County's rich and fascinating past.

First settled in the 17th century when the area was part of Anne Arundel County, early towns formed around grist mills. Nearby quarries and mills shaped Ellicott City before the more well-known impact of the B&O Railroad in the 1830s. Cotton mills flourished, and mill towns like Savage grew. In the 20th century Savage briefly became the Christmas capital of the country. It was also a well-known sundown town. Historically Black communities dealt with battles over education as the state emerged from segregation. Development brought suburban neighborhoods and change to rural areas, and planned communities like Columbia affected Guilford and other surrounding towns. Local authors Nathan Davis and Wayne Davis explore local myths and uncover erased histories.

Discover the hidden history of the Hudson Valley's Columbia County with local author Allison Guertin Marchese.

Bordered by the Hudson River and the Berkshire Mountains, Columbia County is part of the famously picturesque Hudson Valley region, but these rolling hills hold secrets most have long forgotten. A mastodon tooth rolling down a farmer's hill in Claverack, changing the world's understanding of prehistoric times; the site of New York's last hanging at Hudson's gallows, as hundreds of ticketholders looked on; outcasts called Pondshiners who hid in the hills of Taghkanic, the only sign of their existence being the fantastic handwove baskets made from strips of hardwood. Join author Allison Guertin Marchese as she explores these little-known stories of people and places that create the history of Columbia County, New York.

The rolling fields and quiet towns of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, belie its dynamic history. From slaves who escaped to freedom through Underground Railroad stations in Shippensburg and Boiling Springs to a telephone-like invention created by Lower Allen's Daniel Drawbaugh a full decade before the patent of Alexander Graham Bell, the pages of Cumberland County's history conceal long-forgotten but true tales. There are numerous but often-overlooked contributions from county residents--from 1920 to 1923, Newville hosted the first state police academy in the nation, and during World War II, a humble bandage invented in Carlisle saved countless lives. With an engaging collection of vignettes, author Joseph David Cress explores these and other hidden tales from the history of Cumberland County.

South Jersey is perhaps best known for its beachside boardwalks, glitzy Atlantic City hotels and blueberry farms, but behind these iconic symbols are the overlooked tales that are unique to New Jersey. While much of Harriet Tubman's life is well known, her time in Cape May is usually overlooked by biographers. Few know that the classic American drive-in movie theaters were born in South Jersey. Even the famous Wildwood, with its distinctive Doo-Wop architecture, hides forgotten stories: at the height of its popularity, this shore town was hosting some of the country's first rock-and-roll acts. Often overshadowed by its more urban northern counterpart, South Jersey nonetheless has a hidden past. In this collection, author Gordon Bond uncovers the most intriguing of these tales.

Today's travelers between New York City and Albany are more familiar with the Thruway than with the old Albany Post Road. But for centuries, this was the main highway between the Big Apple and the capital, and many exciting events occurred along its path in the Lower Hudson Valley. The Dutch Philipse family of Sleepy Hollow engaged in piracy, and tales of such misdeeds from the region inspired Washington Irving to write some of his most beloved stories. Later, prisoners used the road as an escape route from the original Sing Sing prison. During Prohibition, a beer hose" ran through Yonkers, allegedly placed along the route by beer baron Dutch Schultz. With illustrations by Tatiana Rhinevault, local historian Carney Rhinevault uncovers the stories hidden behind the old mile markers of the Albany Post Road."

On an Oxford bound train in 1866 Mary Miles refused to move to the 'blacks-only' section, eighty-nine years before Rosa Parks' famous ride. Eight years later in a West Chester courtroom photographic evidence was used for the first time. Soon after that the hills of Westtown became the testing grounds for the Flexible Flyer, America's original steerable sled. These are among the extraordinary stories too often lost to Chester County's history. From the humorous tale of the goat that ate a stick of dynamite to Ann Preston, M.D., leading her female medical students through a mob of enraged men, author Mark Dixon is sure to please with this beguiling collection of vignettes.

History lies almost forgotten among the low mountains and quaint towns of Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands. Tales of Titanic survivors, brilliant inventors and forgotten heroes are all a part of the region's dim past. Since the 1790s, the highlands have been home to a booming glass industry that spun out early windows and flasks and, later, beautifully cut pieces of art. The wonder of the World's Fair of 1893 was none other than Westmoreland's H.C. Frick Coke Co.'s replica of a modern mine. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, lush fields and meadows produced the country's finest whiskey, Monongahela Rye. Author Cassandra Vivian travels off the beaten path to explore the hidden history of the Laurel Highlands.

The Garden State has made innumerable contributions to our nation's military history, on both battlefield and homefront, but many of those stories remain hidden within the larger national narrative.

Perhaps the most crucial one-day battle of the Revolution was fought in Monmouth County, and New Jersey officers engineered the conquest of California in the Mexican War. During the Civil War, a New Jersey unit was instrumental in saving Washington, D.C., from Confederate capture. In World War II, New Jersey women flocked to war production factories and served in the armed forces, and a West Orange girl helped ferry Spitfire fighters in England. War came home to the coast in 1942 with the sinking of the SS ""Resor"" by a German submarine, but the state's citizens reacted by contributing everything they could to the war effort. Uncover these and other stories from New Jersey's hidden wartime history.

Did you know that the Dust Bowl hit New Jersey? Twice? How about that a mysterious experiment in subliminal advertising was conducted at a Fort Lee, New Jersey movie theater? Or that railroad communication was advanced on a northwest New Jersey railroad line? Or that America first heard about the Russians launch of Sputnik 2 (with a dog onboard) thanks to a Ukrainian refugee in Perth Amboy, New Jersey? Or that prisons could buy a custom electric chair from a Trenton, New Jersey electrician? Or that aviation matured into an industry thanks to Newark Airport? This book is a collection of articles from www.GardenStateLegacy.com, an online quarterly magazine devoted to New Jersey history that the author began in 2008. The Garden State features to some degree even as a footnote in larger historical stories far more often than one might think. It could just be a matter of someone from the state going on to something of historic importance somewhere else; or that by dumb luck something just happened to occur within its borders. New Jersey may be a footnote in these tangential tales, but they are the kind of unexpected connections that makes exploring New Jersey's history so delightful.