All Titles

Visit the hamlet of Old Forge and the Fulton Chain of Lakes in this visual history of dwelling, camps, and resorts that made it a popular destination.

Old Forge is nestled at the foot of the Middle Branch of the Moose River, more commonly known as the Fulton Chain of Lakes. Year-round accommodations at the Forge House in 1871 and dependable rail service in 1892 led to permanent settlement of the hamlet. Within a decade, Old Forge emerged as the residential and commercial hub of the Central Adirondacks and a popular destination and gathering place for guides, sportsmen, and wilderness tourists. For the sightseer who strolls around Old Forge today or enjoys a cruise up the eight lakes in the Fulton Chain, the landscape is dotted with scores of century-old dwellings, Victorian cottages, rustic camps, and even a few grand old hotels.

Take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry and explore the rich history behind New York's maritime attraction.

Considered the ""Best Ride in New York City,"" the Staten Island Ferry has been immortalized over the years in art, literature, film, and music. In the 19th century, cross-bay ferry riders complained of dangerous and unreliable private service. On October 25, 1905, the newly incorporated City of New York assumed ownership of the service, and the Borough class--the Brooklyn, Bronx, Richmond, Queens, and Manhattan ferryboats--was introduced. These were the largest ferries on the East Coast and made the crossing in 22.5 minutes. Today, the ferry is recognized as a New York icon and a symbol of the borough. A favorite destination for tourists, the Staten Island Ferry carries 22 million passengers annually. On a typical day, 109 trips move about 70,000 people across the harbor, making the Staten Island Ferry one of the most reliable forms of mass transit in the city.

With detailed description and some two hundred stunning images-many published here for the first time-Eleanor Roosevelt's Valkill depicts the events and times of the first lady at Valkill, the place where she felt most at home. In addition, the book traces the development of the site and reveals the depression-era business that was located there, a furniture factory and metal forge known as Valkill Industries.

This fascinating local history tells the story of this landmark and the creators of the renowned mountaintop haven, beautiful Mohonk in the Shawagunk Mountains, home to the Mohonk Preserve and Mountain House.

Mohonk is a name of Native American origin first given to a lake high in the Shawangunk Mountains of Ulster County. Mohonk Lake was sculpted eons ago by the crushing weight of advancing glaciers. Nature's handiwork resulted in a crystal blue lake rimmed by stately hemlock trees and sheer conglomerate cliffs. Mohonk Mountain House was established at the lake in 1869 by Quaker twins Albert and Alfred Smiley. They and younger half-brother, Daniel Smiley, created a mountaintop haven for their guests-a 251-room hotel set on acres of woodlands and gardens. Today Daniel Smiley's descendants welcome visitors to the last of the grand Victorian hotels in the Shawangunk and Catskill Mountain region. The Mohonk Preserve was carved from lands of the Mountain House beginning in 1963 and bears witness to the vision of the Smiley family. Its mission is to protect over 6,400 acres of semi-wilderness through its education, research, and land stewardship programs. Today, it is the largest nature preserve supported by members and visitors in New York State.

Around Lima explores the fascinating evolution of Lima and the diverse adjoining towns that were inexorably connected. It illuminates the elegant streets of Lima, the rich heritage of nearby Bloomfield, the covered bridge and stone mills of Honeoye Falls, and the grandeur of the resort days of Avon Springs, which rivaled Saratoga Springs. Appearing within these pages are glimpses of Susan B. Anthony and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as well as accounts of the Underground Railroad and a winter morning's journey to see Abraham Lincoln.

In 1870, the communities of Astoria, Dutch Kills, Hunters Point, Ravenswood, and others, merged to form a new municipality: Long Island City.

The once independent city continued to exist as an incorporated city until 1898, when all of Queens was annexed to New York City. The factories that supported Long Island City throughout most of the 20th century have been all but abandoned, but since the beginning of the 21st century, large-scale gentrification projects have been undertaken, such as Hunter's Point South. As high-rises replace single-family homes, Long Island City would be unrecognizable to people of the early villages and hamlets that created it. The Greater Astoria Historical Society and photographer Gary Vollo explore the unique places that have shaped Long Island City's development.

Explore the rich history of Clinton County where strong family traditions, religious celebrations, and social justice movements like the Underground Railroad have greatly enhanced the community.

First permanently settled after Samuel de Champlain's voyages through the region and officially chartered in 1788, Clinton County offers a host of agricultural and industrial pursuits. With a rich military history, the county was pivotal in the American Revolution as the birthplace of the U.S. Navy. Clinton County is home to the city of Plattsburgh, the towns of Altona, Au Sable, Beekmantown, Black Brook, Champlain, Chazy, Clinton, Dannemora, Ellenburg, Mooers, Peru, Plattsburgh, Saranac, and Schuyler Falls, and the villages of Champlain, Dannemora, Keeseville, and Rouses Point.

Inwood, the northernmost neighborhood of Manhattan, has a rich yet little-known history.

For centuries, the region remained practically unchanged - a quaint, country village known to early Dutch settlers as Tubby Hook. The subway's arrival in the early 1900s transformed the area, once scorned as "ten miles from a beefsteak," from farm to city virtually overnight. The same construction boom sparked an age of neighborhood self-discovery, when vestiges of the past - in the form of mastodon bones, arrowheads, colonial pottery, Revolutionary War cannonballs, and forgotten cemeteries - emerged from the earth. Waves of German, Irish, and Dominican immigrants subsequently produced a vibrant urban oasis with a big-city/small-town feel. Inwood has also been home to wealthy country estates, pre-integration sports arenas, and a lively waterfront culture. Famous residents have included NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Basketball Diaries author Jim Carroll, and Hamilton creator/star Lin-Manuel Miranda.

This volume about Fresh Meadows, Queens captures the optimism of the postwar era by illustrating how middle-class families thrived in an environment that combined the best aspects of urban and suburban living.

Located in northeast Queens, Fresh Meadows grew up around a housing development of the same name, built for World War II veterans. The site plan for the development not only provided an array of green open space, but it also enabled residents to enjoy a variety of services within walking distance. The development became the centerpiece of a brand-new neighborhood, which had been the site of a country club and farmland. In 1949, renowned urban and architecture critic Lewis Mumford hailed the Fresh Meadows housing development as ""perhaps the most positive and exhilarating example of large-scale community planning in this country.""

Discover how eight families created Clinton and the Town of Kirkland in New York to become the thriving community it is today.

Nestled among central New York's rolling green hills, the Village of Clinton and Town of Kirkland attracted the attention of early Revolutionary War soldiers, who ventured into heavily forested lands with rich soil and many creeks and rivers. A group of eight families, led by Capt. Moses Foote, settled in Clinton in 1787. The economy of the area, which included Clinton, Clark Mills, Kirkland (Manchester), Franklin Springs, and Chuckery, was vibrant with agriculture, iron mining, world-class mineral waters, a textile industry, and numerous educational institutions, which drew many residents and further expanded the communities. The community's early interest in and recognition of scholarly pursuits and its 62 schools earned it the name ""Schooltown."" Today, it is known for its village green and historic sites. Clinton and the Town of Kirkland showcases the rich heritage and town pride that continues to make these communities an attractive and desirable place to live.

Around Hornell tells the tale of western New York's ""Maple City"" and its neighbors, the rural towns of Canisteo, Dansville, Fremont, Hartsville, Hornellsville, and Howard.

The region is set in the dramatic countryside between the Finger Lakes and the Appalachian Mountains, home to the deep gorges of Stony Brook State Park. Great arks floated down the Canisteo River to markets in Baltimore, and for more than a century, Hornell roared with round-the-clock work in the Erie Railroad shops. Hornell is a musical city of community bands, high-school operettas, and barbershop quartets, and its famous residents include radio star and pioneer pilot Blanche Scott, aspiring major leaguer Don Zimmer, and New York's longest-serving mayor, Shawn Hogan, who has graciously provided the introduction to Around Hornell.

On March 25, 1911, flames rapidly consumed everything within the Triangle Waist Company factory, killing 146 workers. Until September 11, 2001, the Triangle fire was the deadliest workplace disaster in New York City history.

The victims, mostly young Jewish and Italian immigrant women, died needlessly due to unsafe working conditions, such as locked or blocked doors, narrow stairways, faulty fire escapes, and a lack of sprinklers. Mass grief and outrage spread from New York's Lower East Side across the country. Garment union membership swelled, and New York politics shifted dramatically toward reform, paving the way for the New Deal and, ultimately, the workplace standards expected today. Through historic images, The New York City Triangle Factory Fire honors the victims' sacrifice and serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for the dignity of all working people.

Settled in the 1600s, Brooklyn Heights is one of New York's most historic neighborhoods.

Its strategic location overlooking the harbor proved instrumental during the Revolutionary War's Battle of Brooklyn. In the 1830s, steam ferries transformed it into America's first suburb, where abolitionism flourished and one of the largest Civil War Sanitary Fairs was held. Throughout the nineteenth century, wealthy philanthropists and entrepreneurs built high-styled Gothic Revival and Italianate homes and founded many landmark Brooklyn institutions. Though the neighborhood declined with the new century, it became a target of Robert Moses's urban renewal projects in the 1930s. Its designation as the city's first historic district saved Brooklyn Heights, and it has since blossomed into one of the city's most desirable neighborhoods.

From images of a bustling city in the 1850s to daily life in the 1950s, this delightful visual history recalls the people, places, and events that shaped Auburn.

Around Auburnbrings to life the history of Auburn and the surrounding communities of Cayuga County over a century of change. In addition to photos of the industries that formed the heart of the community, and snapshots of a bygone era amidst the natural beauty of Owasco Lake, authors Peter Lloyd Jones and Stephanie Przybylek give us a concise and accessible history of the famous men and women of Auburn and the surrounding Cayuga County: Harriet Tubman, fearless abolitionist and leader of the Underground Railroad; Emily Howland, pioneering figure in the fight for women's suffrage; and Theodore Case, inventor of the first commercially successful method of recording sound film.

Freedomland opened on June 19, 1960, in the Baychester section of the Bronx, New York. Historically themed attractions and costumed cast members were located throughout the seven sections.

Designed by Marco Engineering of Los Angeles for International Recreation Corporation, it was the third and largest innovative theme park built across America to mimic Disneyland. Constructed in the shape of the United States and presenting 200 years of American history, Freedomland was intended to be both exciting and educational. In addition, Freedomland offered national and local stars, big bands, and daily entertainment events. Professional character actors also worked throughout the park. Through photographs, Freedomland: 1960-1964 takes a tour of all seven sections of Freedomland and more. Although it was open for just five seasons, the park's guests and cast members were fortunate to have their very own "Disneyland of the East."

For 141 years, Hudson River State Hospital was home to tens of thousands of individuals suffering from mental illness.

Famous architects Frederick Clark Withers and Calvert Vaux drafted the main building in 1869. The facility grew from a 208-acre parcel in 1871 with seven patients to 752 acres with five dozen separate buildings containing nearly 6,000 patients in 1954. The main building was constructed on a Kirkbride plan, a treating philosophy centered around an ornate building of equal proportions staffed by employees who integrated dignity and compassion into health care. Famous architects Frederick Clark Withers and Calvert Vaux drafted the main building in 1869. The landscape was penned by Frederick Law Olmsted, perhaps best known for the design of New York City's Central Park.

Following World War II, Puerto Ricans moved to New York in record numbers and joined a community of compatriots who had emigrated decades before or were born in diaspora.

In a series of vivid images, Pioneros II: Puerto Ricans in New York City 1948-1998brings to these immigrants' stories and struggles, culture and values, entrepreneurship, and civic, political, and educational gains. The Puerto Rican community's long history and achievements not only influenced American culture, but opened pathways for the New York's other Latino immigrant communities that would soon join them.

La primera gran oleada migratoria aérea del siglo XX a Nueva York fue la de cientos de miles de puertorriqueños que llegaron después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Éstos se unían a una nutrida comunidad de compatriotas que habían emigrado a principios del siglo pasado y a los nacidos en la diáspora. Pioneros II recrea visualmente sus historias y luchas durante estos años de crecimiento; su trabajo, cultura y valores; esfuerzos empresariales y organizativos; la valía de su ciudadanía, y los reclamos por sus derechos civiles, educativos y políticos. Con sus muchos años de historia y sus logros, la comunidad puertorriqueña allana el camino para las comunidades latinas recién llegadas.

Unbeknownst to most of the city's inhabitants, a rural community of garbage workers once existed on a now-vanished island in New York City.

Barren Island was a swampy speck in Jamaica Bay where a motley group of new immigrants and African Americans quietly processed mountains of garbage and dead animals starting in the 1850s. They turned the waste into useful industrial products until their eviction by Robert Moses in 1936, all in the name of progress. Barren Islanders built businesses, fought fires, demanded a public school and worshipped at churches as they created a quintessentially American community from scratch. Author Miriam Sicherman tells the story of a Brooklyn neighborhood lost in the annals of New York City history.

In the 19th century, Moriah and Port Henry, New York, profited from the richest iron mines in the country.

First used to make cannonballs for the American revolutionaries, Moriah's iron contributed to the Union's ships, guns, and even the ironclad USS Monitor in the Civil War. In the years that followed, the founders of Witherbee, Sherman & Company built grand houses, churches, schools, and gardens, making these small industry towns very attractive to those ready for a better quality of life. While the industrial age extremes of wealth led to some of the most distinctive architecture and hamlets in upstate New York, the lives of the miners who worked for them were far more challenging and their work more dangerous. From the stories of immigrant miners to the silent-film industry in Port Henry, this book documents the last 150 years of culture and recreation on Lake Champlain and in the Adirondacks.