New Book Releases

Pictorial history of the grand estates, lush landscapes, and lavish lifestyles of wealthy families like the Vanderbilts, Rogerses, Roosevelts, Dinsmores, and Millses, who made Hyde Park famous.

Hyde Park was established in 1821 as a simple and small town on the Hudson River. Its claim to fame, however, and what attracts people still to this day, are the grand estates, lush landscapes, and lavish lifestyles of some of those who lived there. Wealthy families like the Vanderbilts, Rogerses, Roosevelts, Dinsmores, and Millses built homes to match their place in society. Hyde Park was a perfect location because of its easy access to New York City, where culture and society could be found, while providing country living along the Hudson for the many outdoor pleasures the wealthy enjoyed. One part of this collection by former town historian Carney Rhinevault and current historian Shannon Butler shows the wealthy river families, whose houses were built by prominent architects and filled with treasures from abroad while others show the families who worked as coachmen, gardeners, and parlor maids who made the lifestyles of the rich possible.

The distinctive dome-shaped hills scattered throughout Fort Hill Cemetery were formed ten thousand years ago when receding glaciers deposited debris in piles. Centuries later, these dunes are covered with topsoil that supports the growth of trees and foliage. The result is an atmosphere reverberant with magic. This ambiance was felt by the area's many settlers, from the ancient culture of Mound Builders to the the Cayuga nation of the Iroquois Confederacy and even the descendants of the European settlers who pushed out the Cayugas and decided to use the land as a cemetery, to preserve its wild and majestic beauty. Judge Elijah Miller, William H. Seward's father-in-law, was instrumental in making that happen-and was the first person to be buried there. The influence of the site's mysticism is not limited to human perception. Tens of thousands of crows convene there from fall through spring for orientation to urban survival. It is as though Fort Hill is the Ellis Island for the corvine population. Before the crows arrive for their wintry bivouac, the monarch butterflies converge in early fall to perform their ritual aerial ballet in preparation for the migratory journey to the Yucatan.

New York State Lighthouses explores the great lighthouse heritage of New York State. Second only to Michigan in the number of lighthouses it contains, New York boasts a lighthouse legacy that stretches from the Great Lakes to the tip of Long Island. Many of these lighthouses, even some no longer in existence, were photographed for use on early postcards and are assembled for the fi rst time in the pages of this book.

For the past 162 years, historic Cypress Hills Cemetery has quietly served thousands of New Yorkers and the public at large. This place of eternal rest obtained the distinct honor of being the first rural cemetery in Greater New York to be organized under the Rural Cemetery Act of 1847. Cypress Hills provides a perfect balance of lush landscaping, funerary art and sculpture, and a final resting place for some of America's most notable figures, such as Jackie Robinson, Mae West, and Eubie Blake. Carved on countless headstones are mysterious markings and secretive symbols that the living can ponder. Cypress Hills Cemetery illustrates and demystifies the various legends of those interred in these hallowed grounds.

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.

Just off the coast of the Bronx in Long Island Sound sits Hart Island, where more than one million bodies are buried in unmarked graves.

Beginning as a Civil War prison and training site and later a psychiatric hospital, the location became the repository for New York City's unclaimed dead. The island's mass graves are a microcosm of New York history, from the 1822 burial crisis to casualties of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and victims of the AIDS epidemic. Important artists who died in poverty have been discovered, including Disney star Bobby Driscoll and playwright Leo Birinski. Author Michael T. Keene reveals the history of New York's potter's field and the stories of some of its lost souls.

To better appreciate the beginnings of the North Fork, the best place to start is in the ancient burial grounds that dot the East End. These beautiful sites tell the tale of northeastern Long Island's early history, preserved in stone. The names that appear--Booth, Conklyn, Corwin, Fanning, Hallock, Latham, Terry, Tuthill, Wickham, Youngs--read like a who's who of the North Fork.

Maple Grove Cemetery, a rural Victorian cemetery located on the backbone of Long Island," opened in 1875. Found within this tranquil sanctuary are extraordinary monuments with lush landscaping that continues to offer a serene escape from New York City. Beyond its gates are the resting places of those who left their mark on the world. Maple Grove Cemetery features the fascinating stories of such noteworthy individuals as Millie Tunnell, former 111-year-old slave; Ann Wilkins, one of the first female missionaries to Africa; John Sutphin, Queens politician and philanthropist; Samuel Loyd, America's puzzle king; Charles Manly, aviation pioneer; Alfred Grebe, radio and broadcast pioneer; Elisabeth Riis, wife of social reformer Jacob Riis; Russian pianists Josef and Rosina Lhevinne; and Blues singer Jimmy Rushing. The cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004."

South Fork Cemeteries offers a historical tour of the southern stretch of the East End, from Southampton to Montauk. This leisurely stroll reveals not only ancient burial grounds filled with beautifully engraved slate and sandstone markers but also onshore whaling, famous shipwrecks, and fascinating people. The stones introduce the forefathers and their followers who lie in quiet resting places; the author fills in the biographical detail of the common and the famous, including whalers such as Capt. Mercator Cooper, who visited Japan before Commodore Perry did; writers such as P. G. Wodehouse, who created the unforgettable Jeeves; and artists such as Jackson Pollock, whose medium was house paint.

Brooklyn, New York, is home to the Brooklyn Public Library, the fifth-largest library system in the United States, with 60 neighborhood branches serving the 2.5 million residents of the borough. The Central Library--the main hub of this far-reaching institution--has, for 75 years, occupied a prime triangle of land at Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza. Originally proposed in 1888, the unique Art Deco building with an "open book" design was not completed until 53 years later in 1941. Since then, the library has seen millions of eager readers pass through its iconic gilded doorway. While the technologies of learning have changed dramatically in the years since the Central Library opened, the mission of the institution remains the same--to ensure the preservation and transmission of society's knowledge, history, and culture, and to provide the people of Brooklyn with free and open access to information for education, recreation, and reference.