New Book Releases

The stories of the Revolutionary soldiers of Bergen County as told by Revolutionary War expert Tood W. Braisted.

Bergen County saw much of the American Revolution from its own doorstep. Close to British-occupied New York City, this corner of New Jersey was divided by the Revolution. Some people were staunch Loyalists or Patriots, in disagreement with their families and neighbors. Others wavered or remained neutral, while others changed their minds as was expedient. In the end, the years of hostilities led to massive damage and upheaval within the community as men either left home or stayed nearby to fight for or against secession from Great Britain.

Because of their unique location directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan, Hoboken and Jersey City have long been centers of transportation activity, but they excelled with railroads.

When the railway industry was booming in the early twentieth century, four major passenger terminals dotted the left bank of the Hudson: the Jersey Central, the Pennsylvania, the Erie, and the Lackawanna. Thousands of people streamed through these terminals every day to the ferries that took them across the river to New York City. With over two hundred historical photographs, Railroads of Hoboken and Jersey Cityexplores the cultural and commercial effects of railway travel in two important New Jersey cities, and follows the history of these railroads between the mid-1800s and the 1970s, as well as exploring how the once vibrant waterfronts of Hoboken and Jersey City went through tremendous decline and how, over time, the waterfront has been restored and redeveloped. New residential and commercial buildings have sprouted along the old Pennsylvania and Erie properties, the Lackawanna Terminal has been restored, and the Central Railroad Terminal is now part of Liberty State Park, one of New Jersey's most popular tourist destinations.

No trip to the Jersey Shore would be complete without indulging in the cuisine that helps make it famous.

These foods we enjoy today are part of a long tradition beginning in the Victorian era, when big oceanfront hotels served elaborate meals. Diverse dishes and restaurants emerged during prohibition and the Great Depression, when fast food appeared and iconic boardwalk treats developed. Predating the farm to table movement, fancy and fast eateries have been supplied by local fishermen and farmers for decades. So whether you indulge in a tomato pie, pork roll or salt water taffy, take a mouthwatering historical tour and discover timeless treats from Sandy Hook to Cape May.

An engaging pictorial history of Red Bank, a New Jersey shore town whose beginnings are sure to fascinate any reader.

Residents of Red Bank, one of New Jersey's best known shore towns, greeted the publication of a photographic history if their town with tremendous enthusiasm in 1995. For the first time, significant people and events in the town's past were celebrated in a vivid record available to all. The author of that volume, Randall Gabrielan, has produced an all-new second book on the town that incorporates many important images reluctantly edited from the first work and others newly uncovered. In his second Red Bank volume in as many years, Mr. Gabrielan seeks to deepen the view presented in the earlier work and expand the scope of his study. This volume also includes a separate chapter on the West Side, presents a closer look at the influence of the railroad, and extends an examination of Broad Street's changing face.

Few would imagine that the land currently occupied by the Nature Conservancy's Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, or "the Meadows," was once the picturesque Jersey Shore town of South Cape May.

By the early twentieth century, a striking hotel and homes designed by renowned Victorian-era architects dotted the landscape. Residents and visitors alike spotted rumrunners racing across the beachfront during Prohibition and endured World War II with German submarines lurking just offshore. But by 1954, barely a trace of the town remained except for about twenty of the original houses, which were moved a mile away. Join one of the town's last residents, Joseph Burcher, as he chronicles life in South Cape May before the angry Atlantic swallowed this serene town.

Tova Navarra's new visual history of Howell and Farmingdale presents a wealth of vintage images and carefully researched information on the area's past.

The book's focus on the social and cultural aspects of Howell's history is particularly appropriate, given the remarkable ethnic diversity of the region. Howell is a vibrant and unique New Jersey community whose character and heritage are lovingly conveyed by this resident author. At once rural and suburban, contemplative and yet very active, Howell is today an intriguing mixture of old and new. Age-old churches and Buddhist temples stand near a dualized highway and large department stores, and an experimental theater company flourishes in the midst of horse, chicken, and sheep farms. The development of Howell's numerous cultural, social, commercial, and religious institutions is documented here in an interesting and informative manner.

Settled in 1665 as one of the Two Towns of the Navesink, the township of Shrewsbury played an important role in the development of Monmouth County.

One of the most historically areas in the New Jersey region, the original vast expanse of Shrewsbury Township has since evolved into a charming 2. 3 square-mile residential borough. In this vivid photographic history, author Randall Gabrielan has brought together over 200 vintage images that convey the special character of Shrewsbury through the years. Many of the organizations, people, and buildings that fostered the evolution of this community are represented here, and informative, well-researched captions document their individual historical contributions.

Images of America: Point Pleasant Volume II is an educational and entertaining volume that will delight residents, visitors, and lovers of history everywhere.

In Point Pleasant Volume II, historian Jerry Woolley continues the detailed look at Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Beach, and Bay Head that he began in his wildly successful Volume I.

While still maintaining a historical perspective, Woolley has also included more recent photographs to give us a more contemporary view of the area. Bounded by the Manasquan River on the north, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and Barnegat Bay and Beaver Dam Creek to the south, Point Pleasant's uniquely aquatic environment has long been one of the area's major attractions.

Drawn extensively from Jerry Woolley's archive of over a thousand historic photographs of the Point Pleasant area, many images in Volume II have never before been published. These pictures, together with the accompanying text, provide the reader with a fascinating and insightful look into the past that will appeal to both the lifelong resident and the first-time visitor. Woolley provides the reader with an intriguing look at the many waterfront faces of Point Pleasant.

A fascinating documentation of Fair Lawn and its complex and interesting history, featuring vintage and rare images.

Although its land had been settled by Dutch, English, and French homesteaders as early as the seventeenth century, the borough of Fair Lawn was not established until 1924. It had been part of Saddle River Township and, before that, of New Barbadoes. As late as 1876, it was an agricultural community, home to several vegetable and fruit farms and dairies. The need to house workers in the mills of nearby Paterson led to the rapid suburban development of the town. Noted for its residents' civic volunteerism and for its history, Fair Lawn is home to eight sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places-sites such as the Cadmus House and the Dutch House-all of which are included in Fair Lawn. This book contains images of the nationally famous Radburn planned community and the construction of Memorial Park and Pool, completed entirely by volunteer efforts, beautifully combining the borough's agrarian past with the community spirit of the twentieth century. This richly detailed book is a testament to the devotion of Fair Lawn's residents to their hometown.

Monroe Township and Jamesburg includes photographs, store receipts, old postcards, and images of early potato sacks-all of which illustrate the early development in the hamlets. Forsgate Farms, Bernarr McFadden's Physical Culture City, the Camden & Amboy Railroad, and Manalapan Lake, known today as Thompson Park Lake, are rediscovered. This book shows in detail what Jamesburg looked like at about the time it officially separated from Monroe Township, and it highlights the forgotten hamlets of Applegarth, Half Acre, Prospect Plains, Union Valley, Pleasant Grove, Pleasant Hill, Rhode Hall, Outcalt, and Texas.

Montclair, New Jersey, like most American towns, has grown dramatically over the course of the last one hundred years.

Much of the early 1900s landscape has been disguised, and the town has come to reflect the popular styles and fashions of changing eras. Streets have been paved, the facades of commercial buildings have been updated, and homes have been altered to reflect contemporary tastes and accommodate modern conveniences. This volume of approximately two hundred postcards from the author's collection, most never before published in book form, captures Montclair as it was in the early twentieth century. The reader will see familiar landmarks such as the Montclair Art Museum, the Marlboro Inn, and the Bellevue Theater as they originally appeared, and discover the vanished predecessors of the Japanese-style mansion on Upper Mountain Avenue and the Rockcliffe Apartments off Crestmont Road.

The Morris Canal was not the longest canal in the world, but it did have one superlative to its credit—it climbed higher than any other canal ever built.

In its time, it was world famous, visited by tourists and technical people from as far away as Europe and Asia.For nearly 100 years, it crossed the hills of northern New Jersey, accomplishing that feat with 23 lift locks and 23 inclined planes.From Lake Hopatcong, the canal ran westward through the Musconetcong valley to Phillipsburg, on the Delaware River, and eastward through the valleys of the Rockaway and Passaic Rivers to tidewater at Newark and Jersey City—a little over 100 miles horizontally and a total rise and fall of nearly 1,700 feet vertically.The Morris Canal, once an important soldier in the American Industrial Revolution, has been gone for most of the 20th century, but its memory lives on in the many photographs, postcards, and other memorabilia that its unique presence inspired.

In 1865, industrialist/inventor Hezekiah Bradley Smith purchased Shreveville, later renamed Smithville, an abandoned textile mill and town located along the Rancocas Creek in Burlington County, for $20,000.

He moved many workers from his Lowell, Massachusetts, plant to the new location, rebuilt the factory, and prepared it for the manufacture of his patented iron woodworking machinery. Smith began to improve the aging housing in the surrounding village. He opened a school and, later, constructed a new school building. Smith erected a boardinghouse for factory workers that contained shops and a concert hall. Through farming on land adjacent to his mansion, he made fresh produce and milk available to his workers. Smith's company also expanded into new industries by working with outside inventors, like George Washington Pressey, who needed a manufacturer for his American Star Bicycle. Later, Arthur Hotchkiss contacted the company to build the world's first bicycle railroad to transport workers from Mount Holly to the Smithville factory. This book captures life in the village and factory, memorializing the intertwining lives of the Smithville workers and H.B. Smith through photographs.

Egg Harbor City celebrates the historic beginnings of this city through rare and vintage photographs.

Egg Harbor City was founded as a refuge from the sweeping nativism of the Know-Nothings, a group that tried to limit immigration and naturalization into the United States. Egg Harbor City was a place where German Americans could maintain the traditions, language, and lifestyle of their fatherland. The city was designed in rectangular blocks with lots for building, gardening, or farming. Parks were built and a harbor was planned on the north side of the city with rail lines connecting it to the Camden and Atlantic Railroad. Following the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Egg Harbor City's wines earned the community great respect, and it became known as the ""Wine City,"" drawing hundreds of visitors to its many wineries. Egg Harbor City celebrates the early years of the place once known as the most German city in the United States of America.