The Cana Island Lighthouse is one of the most picturesque of any lighthouses still operating on the Great Lakes today. The beautiful peninsula of Door County has a long and bountiful tradition of maritime history, including its many lighthouses. Cana Island has illuminated the coastline on the Lake Michigan side of Door County for over 100 years. Cana Island�s story involves bricks and mortar, engineering marvels, and, most noteworthy, people. The dedication of Cana�s keepers and their fam...

Several lighthouses have called Racine home, but none is more synonymous with the nautical heritage of the �Belle City� than Wind Point. Always a beehive of activity, the Wind Point Lighthouse is one of the larger lighthouse complexes on the Great Lakes, and a hardworking keeper, two assistants, and their families made their livelihood here. For over 125 years, the tall stately tower has faithfully stood guard, shining its bright beam out over Lake Michigan nightly. Countless mariners reli...

“Lighthouses are a reflection of the human spirit and a mirror to our past.”—from the IntroductionNo symbol is more synonymous with Wisconsin’s rich maritime traditions than the lighthouse. These historic beacons conjure myriad notions of a bygone era: romance, loneliness, and dependability; dedicated keepers manning the lights; eerie tales of haunted structures and ghosts of past keepers; mariners of yesteryear anxiously hoping to make safe haven around rocky shorelines. If these ...

During his career as an actor, William Gillette portrayed world-renowned character Sherlock Holmes in more than 1,300 performances.His career as a playwright and actor afforded him the opportunity to purchase a 184-acre estate, where he also built a twenty-four-room medieval-style castle. Overlooking the Connecticut River, Gillette's castle was complete with spy mirrors, sliding furniture, hidden rooms and a three-mile quarter-scale railroad. Since becoming a state...

**Winner of the Chicago Tribune‘s 2013 Heartland PrizeA critically acclaimed history of Chicago at mid-century, featuring many of the incredible personalities that shaped American culture**Before air travel overtook trains, nearly every coast-to-coast journey included a stop in Chicago, and this flow of people and commodities made it the crucible for American culture and innovation. In luminous prose, Chicago native Thomas Dyja re-creates the story of the city in i...

From the Straits of Mackinac to the Detroit River, Images of America: Lighthouses of Eastern Michigan reveals intriguing stories of lighthouses and the people who depended on them. Readers will enjoy discovering what happened when a large ship fell 20 feet over one of the Soo Locks and the captain commented, �Good-bye Old World,� as well as of a persistent ghost that caused havoc with the Coast Guard. Which lighthouse was a construction miracle in 1874? And whatever happened to the lost li...

Five generations of Marnie O. Mamminga’s family have been rejuvenated by times together in Wisconsin’s Northwoods. In a series of evocative remembrances accompanied by a treasure trove of vintage family photos, Mamminga takes us to Wake Robin, the cabin her grandparents built in 1929 on Big Spider Lake near Hayward, on land adjacent to Moody’s Camp. Along the way she preserves the spirit and cultural heritage of a vanishing era, conveying the heart of a place and the community that gathere...

Architecturally imposing, historically rich, and socially important, Chicago's magnificent grand hotels have fascinated generations of Chicagoans and have pleased generations of guests. The Palmer House Hilton, The Drake, and The Hilton Chicago have come to represent a collective formal living room for Chicago, where the city's most important visitors are accommodated, entertained, and made aware of the grandeur and sophistication of their host's hometown. They were built to inspire awe'an...

In this new edition of his classic book, award-winning author Jerry Apps shares a unique perspective on the great barns of rural Wisconsin. Digging deep as both an enthusiast and a farmer, Apps reaps a story of change: from the earliest pioneer structures to the low steel buildings of modern dairy farms, barns have adapted to meet the needs of each generation. They’ve housed wheat, tobacco, potatoes, and dairy cows, and they display the optimism, ingenuity, hard work, and practicality of t...

Bottoms Up showcases the architecture and history of 70 Wisconsin breweries and bars. Beginning with inns and saloons, the book explores the rise of breweries, the effects of temperance and Prohibition, and attitudes about gender, ethnicity, and morality. It traces the development of the megabreweries, dominance of the giants, and the emergence of microbreweries. Contemporary photographs of unusual and distinctive bars of all eras, historic photos, postcards, advertisements, and b...

Detroit's population grew rapidly after the beginning of the 20th century due to the growth of the automobile and other industries, and the city became a tourist and convention center. Detroit was in its heyday in the 1920s when it was the fourth-largest city in the United States. Some of Detroit's larger hotels were architectural masterpieces, nationally known, and were the center of socialactivities. Others were lesser-known second-class hotels now largely forgotten. Detroit restaurants ...

New Albany's historic homes boast unique histories and fascinating stories of those who inhabited them. Founded in 1813 below the falls of the Ohio River, the city was Indiana's most populous by the middle of the nineteenth century. Many leading citizens built grand mansions and family dwellings that beamed with prosperity and influence. The architectural legacy during these formative years continued into the early twentieth century and produced historic neighborhoods with a rich collectio...