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Located halfway between New York City and Albany, the Gardiner and Minnewaska region is a bucolic mountain community, rich in dairy and fruit.Located halfway between New York City and Albany, the Gardiner and Minnewaska region is a bucolic mountain community, rich in dairy and fruit.

The picturesque area also includes the Wallkill Valley lowlands, Lake Minnewaska, and the wonders of the surrounding mountains. Settled some 300 years ago by French Huguenots and Dutch immigrants, the region has supported itself with dairy and fruit farming in the valley, and with millstone cutting and berry picking in the mountains, since its inception. In stunning photographs, Gardiner and Lake Minnewaskaportrays the history of this region: the Tuthilltown gristmill, in operation for more than 200 years; the Gardiner boarding houses and Minnewaska mountain hotels; the state park that offers a vast network of hiking trails; and the rise of rock climbing and skydiving in the area.

Discover the fascinating history of the Bronx River and the ways this small waterway influenced and was affected by the people around it.

The Bronx River flows 23 miles from its source in Valhalla to its mouth, the East River in the Bronx. This waterway was used for centuries by Native American tribes for drinking, food and transportation. They called it ""Aquehung"" meaning a fast stream flowing along a high bluff. After the arrival of Europeans, though, the Bronx River suffered as industry prospered. It powered mills and, unfortunately, became a dumping ground for all kinds of waste. Its appearance and ecosystem were forever changed. However, community members are now again attempting to alter the river - only this time for the better - by helping it recover.

Featured in films and on television and used as a backdrop to countless photos, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade offers the public a view that is usually reserved for the rich at the top of a tower.

From this one-third-mile stretch, locals and tourists take in the Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and New York Harbor. But its history is less harmonious. Plans by the powerful Robert Moses to run the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway through a resistant neighborhood led to contention and an unforeseen eventual compromise. In this volume, Brooklyn Heights Press editor Henrik Krogius presents this history, along with his articles that document the fate of the Promenade over the years.

From theater to landing plce for immagrants, this is the photographic hsitory of 200 year old Castle Garden and Battery Park.

Few buildings in Manhattan have had a richer and more varied life than 200-year-old Castle Clinton, the magnificent red sandstone structure that lies in historic Battery Park. Although originally built as a fortress just before the outbreak of the War of 1812, its actual fame rests on the years when it was known worldwide as Castle Garden, a name that underlined its intimate connection with the surrounding park. Under that name, it served successively as Manhattan's preeminent public events hall and theater (1824-1855), then as America's first great landing place for millions of immigrants (1855-1890), and finally as the oldest and grandest municipal aquarium in the United States (1896-1941). Castle Garden and Battery Park invites readers to step back in time and dip into this legendary monument's dramatic story and learn how it has managed to survive into the 21st century.

With Around Oswego, readers are invited to experience satisfying glimpses of over one hundred years of history and change.

Active as a busy commercial port city in the 1880s, Oswego would redefine itself as a recreation and tourist destination by the 1980s. This evolution is witnessed through text and pictures, as factories, textile mills, lumber docks, coal trestles, and schooners were replaced with pleasure boats, marinas, hotels, restaurants, and parks. Familiar as well as rare and previously unpublished images document changes in the local landscape. Readers will meet some of Oswego's citizens, from international industrialist Thomas Kingford and Medal of Honor recipient and reformer Dr. Mary E. Walker, to soldiers and factory workers. Celebrate the opening of a turn-of-the-century playground, watch a circus parade, and enjoy a quiet picnic scene on a since-vanished shore line. Discover the outside world's interest in Oswego with photographs from United Nations Week in June 1943, and the World War II refugee center at Fort Ontario.

The residents of Harlem Valley have shaped both the history and culture of our nation with bravery and integrity.

Quakers in the Harlem Valley stood firm against slavery, and the Amenia Conference, organized by Joel Spingarn, strengthened the NAACP. The Harlem Valley served as a transportation center, linking New England to the west, and was also a major supplier of iron ore in the eighteenth century. Well known for their educational endeavors, the residents of Harlem Valley established one of the oldest libraries in the state of New York. The images in this collection were made available through the efforts of many groups in the Harlem Valley area, including the historical societies of North East, Little Nine Partners, Amenia, Dover, Dutchess County, and Pawling and Quaker Hill. Join Joyce Ghee and Joan Spence for a remarkable trip down memory lane to the wonders of the Harlem Valley. This historic collection of images will serve as a valuable tool in discovering and understanding the area's history as well as appreciating its beauty. Harlem Valley Pathways is sure to be enjoyed for generations to come.

Born from the chilly waters of Lake Ontario and the Genesee River, Rochester, New York, has been the cradle of the modern spiritualist an anti-Masonic movements and religious sects and communes.

This unusual history has given rise to strange legends and shrouded the city in mystery. Was the corner of Main and Elm Streets - McCurdy's Department Store - cursed? Who was Captain William Morgan, and why did he suddenly disappear? What stories lie behind Rochester's first murder and the execution of William Lyman's killer? What is hoodoo, and who is the Hoodoo Doctor? Native American tales, the history of the infamous Fox sisters and the secrets of the Freemasons are woven into these and other legends of Rochester

From a strategic location in the American Revolution to a resort town for New York City elite, this collection highlights the successes and daily life of Mahopac's bygone eras.

Mahopac's first known colonial settlement was founded near the large lake bearing the Algonquian name ""Macookpack"" around 1740. During the American Revolution, the area served as an important logistical center and supply depot for the American cause, despite not seeing any battles. Following the war, the hamlet developed into an early kind of farmer's market, supplying goods and produce¬--especially dairy items--region-wide. By the mid-19th century, Mahopac became a resort destination with many large hotels and boardinghouses, largely thanks to its beautiful lakes. Arrival of the railroad to Mahopac in 1872 further supported tourism in the lakeside resorts as travelers from New York City could now reach Lake Mahopac within a few hours. Drawing from the archives of the Carmel Historical Society, Putnam County Historian's Office, and the collections of the authors and others, Mahopacisn't just a history of a small town in New York State, but a history of the value that the United States is able to produce.

Long Island has one of the most vibrant and largest Jewish communities in the nation.

After World War II, hundreds of thousands of Jewish soldiers returned from war looking for a life in the suburbs and synagogues to join, but the demand exceeded the supply. In 1946, Rabbi Elias Solomon called a meeting of Conservative rabbis from Manhattan to map out a plan to build a synagogue at ever South Shore Long Island Railroad stop, from Valley Stream to Patchogue. Central Synagogue of Nassau County and Beth El in Great Neck both grew to more than 1000 families as Reform Judaism took hold, and the growth of the Chabad movement in recent decades as spurred an increase of Orthodox Judaism. Author Ira Poliakoff catalogues the history of synagogues and congregations that have shaped Long Island's past and present.