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New York is a city of superlatives. It has the largest population, greatest wealth, broadest diversity and most elegant museums in the nation. With that comes an amazing history.

This tour of the Big Apple goes beyond the traditional guidebook to offer visitors and residents alike a chance to walk back in time along the streets of Manhattan. George Washington took his first oath of office on the steps of Federal Hall. Visitors can still dine at the famed Fraunces Tavern and worship at historic St. Paul's Chapel. From the Brooklyn Bridge to stunning skyscrapers, the city celebrates its own history and that of the nation. Join author Alison Fortier as she traces the history and heritage of America's largest metropolis.

Author John Howard-Fusco traces the roots of Cape May's delectable dishes and recipes from long ago to the modern day.

Cape May is America's first seaside resort, and with that comes a mouthwatering food history. The New York Times even proclaimed the city ""Restaurant Capital of New Jersey."" The first settlers, the Kechemeche of the Lenape tribe, feasted on the fish and wild game in the area. The whaling industry briefly brought attention to the island, but Ellis Hughes's 1801 advertisement offering seashore entertainment with ""fish, oysters, crabs, and good liquors"" gave birth to a beachside haven. From the mint juleps to the Sunny Hall Café and the Chalfonte, culinary creativity thrives on the shore. Modern chefs like Lucas Manteca at the Red Store and Brooke Dodds's Empanada Mamas help keep the unique flair alive.

Few places are as obsessed with the paranormal as New Jersey, and the area once known as West Jersey is a hotbed of supernatural activity. The ghost of a young boy in Mannington appears to welcome guests and partygoers to a historic bed-and-breakfast. The tortured soul of a weathered sea pirate remains in Greenwich, still imprisoned after three hundred years. Malevolent spirits haunt the abandoned Salem County Insane Asylum, menacing those who dared venture to the solitary confinement rooms in the basement. Paranormal investigator and researcher Kelly Lin Gallagher-Roncace shares frightening New Jersey folklore that makes for great fireside storytelling.

New York's Long Island is long on history from land to sea! Ralph Brady covers well known and unknown sites, events, homes, places and people.

Everyone lucky enough to live on Long Island already knows that it's like nowhere else in the world. From lighthouses and a one-hundred-year-old carousel to World War II camps and missile sites, Long Island native Ralph Brady reveals the secrets to what makes this little-big island so special with a tour of some of Nassau and Suffolk's most historic locations. Walt Whitman, William Vanderbilt, Theodore Roosevelt and many others occupied remarkable homes around the island. Charles Lindbergh made his historic flight to France from what is now a shopping mall. For many years, a Long Island factory gave the world the game of Scrabble. Even the waters teem with history, with the modern submarine making its start off the coast. Come explore these and other settings from Long Island's past.

Author David M. Griffin uncovers the lost history and harrowing stories of Long Island's British forts.

When the Revolutionary War broke out and New York City had fallen in 1776, the forces of the king of Great Britain developed a network of forts along the length of Long Island to defend the New York area and create a front to Patriot forces across the Sound in Connecticut. Fort Franklin on Lloyd's Neck became a refugee camp for Loyalists and saw frequent rebel attacks. In Huntington, a sacred burial ground was desecrated, and Fort Golgotha was erected in its place, using tombstones as baking hearths. In Setauket along the northern shore, the Presbyterian church was commandeered and made the central fortified structure of the town.

The history of the Garden State is filled with well-known events and forgotten happenings. German Americans opened the nation's first kindergarten in Hoboken on February 11, 1861. Prohibition brought more than two hundred bootleggers together in Sea Bright on August 15, 1924, to discuss a fixed price on their product. As America fought World War I and desperately needed ammunition, the T.A. Gillespie Shell plant exploded in Sayreville on October 4, 1918, killing at least one hundred people. From military feats and shady politics to the extraordinary episodes in the lives of everyday people, explore an entire year of events from New Jersey's history. Local historians Joseph Bilby, James Madden and Harry Ziegler chronicle the state's most intriguing and monumental moments--one for each date on the calendar.

Experiencing triumph and defeat during some of the most complex times in American history, the Ford family of Morris County, New Jersey, left an indelible mark on their community. Though there were few opportunities available at the time, the Fords rose to prominence in colonial America through their devotion to principle and a commitment to family. In the nineteenth century, the Fords adapted to the shifting economic and cultural landscape with grace and ingenuity. The stately home of the family, which was once George Washington's headquarters, has now become a monument to the remarkable times in which they lived. Their story is not just of one family or one place. Their story, in miniature, reflects the larger story of Morris County, New Jersey, and America.