Images of America

Mount Vernon Revisited commemorates pivotal milestones of the past 150 years while offering indicators of the city's potential and identity.

An important gateway suburban community, Mount Vernon was formed around the construction of two commuter rail lines to and from New York City. In the first quarter of the 20th century, its contiguous borders with Greater New York, rapid population growth, automobiles, petroleum, and industrial development set the stage for the encroachment of urban realities on the upwardly mobile founders' hopes for a sustained and prosperous suburban lifestyle. Through images that illustrate the power of 20th-century transportation technologies, new energy sources, and dynamic demographic forces on this ""City of Happy Homes,""

Broome County: 1850-1940 is the story of people of diverse heritage who have made this area their home. From the earliest days, inventors, entrepreneurs, artists, and a strong workforce have found Broome County to be a fertile terrain for achievement. Traditions have not been squandered on conformity but rather have been cherished and shared. Some well-known landmarks appear in this book; however, the majority of the images are previously unpublished. Included are rare interior views of early-twentieth-century factories and scenes of people at home and on the move-all silent witnesses to the "good old days." Accompanying the photographs are historical narrations abstracted from verbal accounts, letters, diaries, and newspapers-memories and legends rich with reality.

Peekskill portrays the history of a small Dutch-style village that grew into a prosperous factory city.

Using photographs, Peekskill displays a delightful place, nestled into three surrounding hills where the Hudson River spreads into Peekskill Bay, approaching the Bear Mountain highlands. Peekskill presents the prominent people of this community, who include Joseph Binney, owner of the company that later became the maker of Crayola products; Chauncey Depew, keynote speaker at the 1886 dedication of the Statue of Liberty; and George Pataki, governor of New York State.

From a small rural retreat to a center of industry and finally into protected wildlands, this is the story of the Adirondacks' Cranberry Lake.

Initially, the remote Cranberry Lake region attracted hunters and fishermen such as Reuben Wood, world-champion fly caster, as well as artists like Frederic Remington, writer Irving Bacheller, and Arts and Crafts movement philosopher Elbert Hubbard. Between 1886 and 1896, when railroads began to approach the lake, both industry and tourism flourished. Extractive industries like mining and lumbering coexisted with a lively trade catering to leisure travelers and recreationists, though the same industries depleted much of the lake's resources. Several generations later, the natural beauty and wilderness characteristic of the Cranberry Lake region has been restored, and outdoor recreation is still an enticing draw to the area, though the stumps of old trees still litter the land like pockmarks of history, never to fully heal.

Their history is richly illustrated and narrated in Hadley and Lake Luzerne. Inside are rare photographs of loggers on drives down the river, famous visitors at the Wayside Inn, early horse racing, and a big boulder that became part of a building known as the Beehive.

Get acquainted with Manhattanville's richly diverse history and lore from events to landmarks and residents.

During the 1800s, Manhattanville flourished as the West Side counterpart to its parent village of Harlem. The wide valley around present-day Broadway and 125th Street formed a unique gateway to the Hudson River between Morningside Heights and Washington Heights. Although rural, Manhattanville was the convergence of river, railroad, and stage lines, representing one of 19th-century New York City's most significant residential, manufacturing and transportation hubs. However, this once-prominent upper Manhattan suburb eventually succumbed to the advent of mass transit and to the absorption of its distinctive features by the city in chase.

From Henry Hudson's exploration of the area's waterfront in 1609 to Gen. George Washington's conversion of its terrain into a battlefield in 1776, momentous events marked Manhattanville's crossroads long before the village streets were laid out in 1806. Readers discover later landmarks, including New York's first Episcopal church to abolish pew rentals, where patriots, Tories and African American abolitionists convened-today, Harlem's oldest continuing congregation on the same site. The book also introduces notable Manhattanville residents, such as founders Jacob and Hannah Lawrence Schieffelin, clothier Daniel Devlin, and New York City Mayor Daniel F. Tiemann.

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.""

See how Conensus Lake has grown to become a Finger Lakes tourist hotspot.

Conesus Lake is the westernmost of the 11 Finger Lakes. Often referred to as one of the ""Little Fingers,"" it is located about 25 miles south of Rochester, New York. In 1924, the City of Rochester announced plans to use Conesus Lake to supplement the water supply for its residents. A year later, cottagers around the lake successfully banded together to protect Conesus's sparkling waters and preserve the area as a summer resort.

Over time, the lake area has grown, and restaurants, taverns, campgrounds, and amusement parks have sprung up from the demand of the lake's many visitors. Today, four towns--Geneseo, Groveland, Conesus, and Livonia--border the approximate 18 miles of shoreline.

East Fishkill offers a fascinating glimpse of life in the town while it was still rural.

In Revolutionary days, East Fishkill was on the route of an important highway from Boston to the Hudson River, traveled by Gen. George Washington, Gen. John Burgoyne, and John Jay. The town separated from Fishkill in 1849 and received its own charter. East Fishkill remained a mainly agricultural community until 1960, when IBM opened a chip-manufacturing plant in town. Then it changed dramatically: the farmland disappeared under housing and commercial development.

Champion, Great Bend, and Deferiet were all founded in the 1800s.

Farming has always been the lifeblood of Champion; Noadiah Hubbard--original settler, land agent, merchant, and builder--did much to encourage its settlement and growth. Great Bend's location on the Black River drew various mills looking to utilize inexpensive waterpower. Such corporations included the Sherman Paper Company and the Great Bend Paper Company, which was incorporated in September 1868 to manufacture straw wrapping papers and strawboard. F.W. Woolworth, of five-and-dime fame, endowed a church here in honor of his parents on September 15, 1915. Deferiet was originally founded by French émigré Jenika de Ferriet. It became a mill town in 1899 when the land was acquired by the St. Regis Paper Company, which employed immigrants of Italian and Polish extraction. As the mills gradually left the Northeast, these communities reverted to their farming roots, in many cases attracting families for settlement and retirement.

Residents of Beacon, New York, are justifiably proud of a community that is rich in history and promise.

In this exquisite collection of images, local historians Robert J. Murphy and Denise Doring VanBuren uncover the fascinating past of Beacon and the people who have called it home. The community's earliest permanent European settler was Madam Catheryna Rombout Brett, whose c. 1709 home is preserved within the city as the the oldest building in Dutchess County. Within the vicinity of the Madam Brett Homestead, two distinct villages grew: Matteawan, a manufacturing community at the foot of the mountain, and Fishkill Landing, a Hudson River port. Both villages prospered and eventually merged in 1913. Through the decades, the community was hailed as a model of a successful manufacturing center and became the location for several significant Hudson River estates. It played host to one of the longestrunning ferries in American history and introduced one of the first electric streetcar systems in the Hudson River Valley. Perhaps its most well-known feature was the Mount Beacon Incline Railway, a feat of engineering documented as the world's steepest incline railroad.

This striking collection of images, dating from 1853, describes the community's part in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and its very personal experience with the Spanish-American War.

Amagansett is an intimate history of a coastal village whose Dutch and English settlers arrived in 1860 to farm, fish, and participate in ye whale designe, and which is now a colorful part of the Hamptons resort area. The storied fishing and whaling industry, as well as life-saving crew and the families that awaited them are also featured. Along with economic and military history, civil life is represented in such scene as historic homes, and local citizens welcoming summer visitors.

Visit the private world beyond the gates of this North Shore Long Island hamlet and view over 200 photographs from its history as a playground for the cultured denziens of the past.

Locust Valley, a hamlet on the North Shore of Long Island with Quaker roots, grew from an agrarian settlement into a tight-knit community in the exclusive Gold Coast enclave. With its natural beauty, great estates, and elite clubs, Locust Valley and the surrounding villages of Lattingtown, Matinecock, and Mill Neck became a playground of the famous and cultured. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were frequent visitors, and notable residents included H.P. Davison, Frank Nelson Doubleday, and internationally renowned artists Ray Johnson and Elizabeth Shoumatoff. In Locust Valley, 200 carefully selected photographs reveal a proud community steeped in traditional values and the private world behind the gates that have made the area legendary.

Oyster Bay details the rich history of this diverse community.

Settled by the Dutch and English in the mid-17th century, the small hamlet of Oyster Bay has a rich history and retains much of its charm and character. Theodore Roosevelt purchased land at Oyster Bay in 1880 on which he built his home, Sagamore Hill. Oyster Bay became the focus of national attention from 1902 through 1908, when Roosevelt brought the executive branch of the government to Oyster Bay each summer. Many other wealthy New York City families built summer homes at Oyster Bay in the late 19th century, forming the nucleus of what became the gold coast setting for F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Louis Comfort Tiffany built his 110-room mansion at Oyster Bay, and ""Typhoid Mary"" Mallon was identified while working as a cook in the hamlet.

Discover Cortlandt, NY and the its growth in agriculture, industry, and diversity showcased through images throughout the centuries.

The town of Cortlandt has several unique enclaves that retain historic traditions and represent both diverse cultures as well as people. It is comprised of two incorporated villages, Croton-on-Hudson and Buchanan, and several hamlets, including Montrose, Crugers, and Verplanck, and is bounded on the west by the Hudson River, ""the American Rhine."" It has been home to several famous Americans, from composer Aaron Copland to Assistant Secretary of State Frederick Seward. In the early 19th century, industrialization and the expansion of the railroad brought the town new prosperity. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the area became predominantly rural and agricultural, with seasonal bungalow colonies and riverfront communities serving wealthy New York residents.