The History Press

When romance was met with murder… Arthur Jordan and Elvira Corder were young and unafraid, but their love was doomed. He was black, she was white, and this was Virginia in 1880. When Elvira became pregnant, the couple fled Fauquier County to live in Maryland. But her father found them and recruited neighbors to help kidnap them. Four nights later, a mob dragged Arthur from the county jail in Warrenton and lynched him. Elvira, taken to a hotel in Williamsport, Maryland, was never heard from again. Stories of lynching are all too common in the postbellum South, but this one tells a unique tale of a couple who were willing to sacrifice everything to be together—and did./Author Jim Hall tells a classic tale of forbidden love, one of hope crushed by hate.

The Old Pueblo's history is full of colorful characters and fascinating folktales!.

Tucson was originally settled in 1775, and the Gadsden Purchase brought the tiny settlement on the Santa Cruz River into the United States in 1854. In the decades leading up to Arizona's statehood in 1912, the territory's largest city was rife with excitement. A seven-headed, four-hundred-foot-long sea serpent prophesied to the townsfolk. Lady bicyclists caused an uproar with their "divided skirts.'? The new railroad brought three presidents to town. From the city's brief time in the Confederacy to its crusades against drinking and gambling, from bullfighting rings to sanitariums, author Dave Devine relates stories of the little-known, sometimes lighthearted and often unusual events and personalities of Tucson.

Ghost stories and urban legends lurk throughout Genesee and Lapeer counties.

A Clio man's spirit is thought to still reside in the junkyard office where he was murdered. For almost two centuries, the Flushing area has been fascinated by tales of the wealthy Brent family whose land is connected to numerous tales of murder, mystery, and ghosts. In Lapeer County, the Bruce Mansion's unnerving façade hints at the specters inside, and the land and buildings once belonging to the Lapeer State Home are plagued by haunting cries and ghostly activity.

Join Haunted Flint authors Roxanne Rhoads and Joe Schipani as they take you on a tour of Genesee and Lapeer counties' most haunted locations.

Chrissie Hynde, Devo..Rubber City Rebels...The Rubber City's rebel musical roots

Music made in Akron symbolized an attitude more so than a singular sound. Crafted by kids hell-bent on not following their parents into the rubber plants, the music was an intentional antithesis of Top 40 radio. Call it punk or call it new wave, but in a short few years, major labels signed Chrissie Hynde, Devo, the Waitresses, Tin Huey, the Bizarros, the Rubber City Rebels and Rachel Sweet. They had their own bars, the Crypt and the Bank. They had their own label, Clone Records. They even had their own recording space, Bushflow Studios. London's Stiff Records released an Akron compilation album, and suddenly there were "Akron Nights" in London clubs and CBGB was waiving covers for people with Akron IDs. Author Calvin Rydbom of the "Akron Sound" Museum remembers that short time when the Rubber City was the place.

A History Lover's Guide to Milwaukee offers something for visitors and lifelong residents alike.

Often described as a "big small town,'? Milwaukee's quirky character stems from its many neighborhoods--each with its own stories to tell. Early territorial disputes, for example, led to the horribly (or humorously) misaligned streets of downtown. The city's signature rectangular pizza was born in the Third Ward. In Kilbourntown, Teddy Roosevelt was saved from an assassin's bullet by the smallest of items. Not far from that spot, eight baseball team owners formed the American League of Professional Baseball Clubs. And no matter the neighborhood, a fantastic glass of suds is never far away in this renowned beer city.

Leading readers on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood tour, author and Milwaukee native Jim Nelsen pinpoints the fascinating historic locations of the Cream City.

The beloved places and landmarks of Toledo's past still tint Ohio's memories, as well as those of its residents.

Catch the action of a Toledo Mud Hens game at bygoballpark Swayne Field. Watch the glittering marquees light up the downtown skyline with names such as Count Basie and Elvis Presley to B.B. King and KISS. Recall the birth of the Jeep, as well as the dozens of unique and prominent shoppes available to the residents of Toledo and tourists alike. Author David Yonke jogs fond memories of good times past in this nostalgic stroll through Toledo's heritage.

Join William Gilmore Simms in this unparalleled look at the life of Francis Marion aka "The Swamp Fox'?.

South Carolina's ""Swamp Fox,"" Francis Marion, is one of the most celebrated figures of the American Revolution. Marion's cunning exploits in the Southern theater of the Revolution earned him national renown and a place in history as an American hero and master of modern guerilla warfare. Although dozens of works have been written about Marion's life over the years, this biography -- written by William Gilmore Simms, South Carolina's greatest author -- remains the best. First published in 1844, The Life of Francis Marion was Simms's most commercially successful work of nonfiction. It offers a treatment of Marion's life that is unparalleled in its scope and accuracy, all in Simms's inimitable style.

Pull on the uncanny threads from the legendary tapestry of New Mexico's Native American heritage.

Ancient Indian history and present Native American cultures are woven together in the Land of Enchantment. The threads of these tales stretch back to Mimbres burial grounds and prehistoric trade routes. Stories and traditions tie the land to its people, in spite of the cycles of slaughter and theft that have threatened to pluck them apart. Descend into the kivas of Chaco Canyon or seek out the high mountains where the clouds mark the stones. From legends of the Salt Woman to the legacy of the Ghost Dance, Ray John de Aragon examines the mysteries of the mesas.

Supernatural Lore of Ohio offers a blood-curdling exploration of the witches, werewolves, wraiths and other dastardly beings of the Buckeye State.

A rich vein of bizarre and uncanny tales snakes through Ohio’s cornfields and cityscapes. In the earliest days of statehood, dark reports spoke of witches causing feathers to form a deadly ring in one’s bed, magically strangling its sleeping victims. For years, the ghost of Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train rolled through Urbana, a small town in the center of the state, and caused clocks and watches to stop in its wake. A vampiric entity was said to haunt a strange cabin in the Black Swamp, and a werewolf reportedly roamed a Defiance train yard. Join Cincinnati historian Steven J. Rolfes on a tour of Ohio’s strangest supernatural lore, from wailing banshees to the devil himself.

Intentionally built on the fall line where the Piedmont uplands meet the Tidewater region, Richmond has always been a city defined by the land.

From the time settlers built a city on rugged terrain overlooking the James River, the people have changed the land and been changed by it. Few know this better than T. Tyler Potterfield, a planner with the City of Richmond Department of Community Development. Whether considering the many roles of the ""romantic, wild and beautiful"" James River through the centuries, describing the rationale for the location of the Virginia State Capitol on Shockoe Hill or relating the struggle to reclaim green space as industrialization and urban growth threatened to remove nature from the city, Potterfield weaves a tale as ordered as the gridded streets of Richmond and just as rich in history.

In the 1620s the land that would one day become the Massachusetts North Shore was a harsh frontier. Native Americans, fishermen, and religious exiles struggled to survive while speculators strived to profit off the vast resources of this New World.

Out of the disease, greed, and chaos of the era would emerge one of the most unique cities in the world. Learn how a working-class salter named Roger Conant became the first governor of Massachusetts and why Miles Standish tried to end this new colony of fishermen with brute force. Meet the woman who led the Massachusett people through their most trying times but whose name was ultimately lost to recorded history.

Join local author Benjamin Shallop as he reveals how a place known as Naumkeag became Salem, the City of Peace.

Indiana's landscape is dotted with urban and rural cemeteries teeming with restless spirits. These are the stories of the Hoosiers who refuse to rest in peace.

Crown Hill Cemetery is the final resting place of many notable Indiana residents, as well as one rather infamous soul, but it may also serve as a playground for the spectral children of Community Hill. Tales of mournful spirits can be found at Stepp Cemetery and Highland Lawn, while other areas such as Forest Hill and the cemeteries of LaPorte have far darker stories to tell. Join tour guide and paranormal investigator Ashley Hood on a journey through Indiana's ghostly burial grounds--from the Hoosier National Forest to the banks of Lake Michigan.

Prepare yourself to journey through the local tales of fright throughout Rhode Island.

Rhode Island's ghostly heritage is as deep and profound as the history of the state itself. From the ghastly moaning bones of Mount Tom to the stately haunt of Judge Potter in a local library, Rhode Island's apparitions have been causing fear for centuries. Follow M.E. Reilly-McGreen as she reveals the ghoulish stories of the state's most haunted places. The author delves deep to unearth tales of fright little known to most as well as those that have helped define the state's supernatural history. From ghosts to monsters, this book is your guide to all things spooky in Rhode Island. So prepare to journey through the Rhode Island you didn't know existed, or does it?

Historic photographs document the history of one of Vermont's finest spots, Lake Bomoseen.

Lake Bomoseen- the largest lake entirely within Vermont's borders- once attracted thousands of visitors each year. Its resorts and restaurants welcomed travelers of all stripes, from Walt Disney and Harpo Marx to humble groups of workers and families. Crowds flocked to beaches and picnic areas during the daytime, and headliners like Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong kept the Casino at the lake buzzing late into the night. Donald H. Thompson describes these and other glamorous moments in Lake Bomoseen's past and explains how the area has evolved since the last hotels and dance halls closed their doors. Carefully researched and accompanied by dozens of rare images, this is the definitive history of one of Vermont's finest spots.