The seaside resort of Cape May was named for Dutchman Cornelis Mey, who sailed past this part of southeastern New Jersey in 1616. Originally known as Cape Island, the area was settled by a handful of English-speaking farmers and whalers in the 1690s. By 1776, it was advertised as a popular, healthy place for bathing in the ocean. The first boardinghouses were erected in the early 1800s, and by 1850, the town boasted nearly two dozen. Vacationers came from Philadelphia, Baltimore, and even ...

Commissioned on April 1, 1943, Naval Air Station Wildwood trained thousands of U.S. Navy airmen during World War II. Located in southern New Jersey on a peninsula bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay, the air station was perfectly sited to provide them with the over-water practice they needed for fighting the Japanese fleet in the western Pacific theater. Some of the war's most lethal bombers-Helldivers and TBM-3E Avengers among them-were flown by members of naval fighter, dive-...

**In a riveting, groundbreaking narrative, Russell Shorto tells the story of New Netherland, the Dutch colony which pre-dated the Pilgrims and established ideals of tolerance and individual rights that shaped American history.UPDATED EDITION WITH A NEW PREFACE AND POSTSCRIPT"Astonishing . . . A book that will permanently alter the way we regard our collective past." --The New York Times**When the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the tru...

A passionate and dramatic account of a year in the life of a city, when baseball and crime reigned supreme, and when several remarkable figures emerged to steer New York clear of one of its most harrowing periods.By early 1977, the metropolis was in the grip of hysteria caused by a murderer dubbed "Son of Sam." And on a sweltering night in July, a citywide power outage touched off an orgy of looting and arson that led to the largest mass arrest in New York's history...

This guidebook to the Big Apple goes beyond the traditional tour, offering visitors a fascinating exploration of the city's rich history.New York is a city of superlatives. It has the largest population, greatest wealth, broadest diversity, and most elegant museums in the nation. With that comes an amazing history that you can experience firsthand with this unique guide.George Washington took his first oath of office on the steps of Federal Hall. Visitors c...

In the late 1980s, a handful of artists priced out of Manhattan and desperately needing affordable studio space discovered 111 1st Street, a former P. Lorillard Tobacco Company warehouse. Over the next two decades, an eclectic collection of painters, sculptors, musicians, photographers, filmmakers, and writers dreamt and toiled within the building’s labyrinthine halls. The local arts scene flourished, igniting hope that Jersey City would emerge as the next grassroots center of the art worl...

An extensive number of trolley car lines linked the city of Philadelphia to the rich farmland and picturesque towns of southeastern Pennsylvania. These trolley lines traversed miles of narrow streets lined with row houses whose residents were proud working-class Americans. These historic photographs trace the trolley cars� routes, including Route 23, the region�s longest urban trolley route, from the expanses of Northwest Philadelphia�s Chestnut Hill through the crowded commercial Center C...

Frank Hague served as the mayor of Jersey City for much of the early twentieth century. While some believed him a thief, others viewed him as a modern-day Robin Hood. He could put food on your table or triple your taxes, give you a job or end your career. It was with this same ease and power that he could make you a federal judge, a congressman or even a United States senator. He has been remembered including through a character on the popular TV drama "Boardwalk Empire" as one of the most...

Battles, shipwrecks and abundant adventures await in this volume of maritime tales by local author Susan Gately. Easternmost of the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario is bordered by both New York and Ontario. Upon its pristine surface, countless vessels have sailed, but its bottom depths are littered with the skeletons of shipwrecks, including HMS Ontario, caught and destroyed in one of the sudden storms that often turn this sea-like lake deadly. Daring mariners, male and female, have seen their sh...

The Kinzua Dam has cast a long shadow on Seneca life since World War II. The project, formally dedicated in 1966, broke the Treaty of Canandaigua of 1794, flooded approximately 10,000 acres of Seneca lands in New York and Pennsylvania, and forced the relocation of hundreds of tribal members. Hauptman offers both a policy study, detailing how and why Washington, Harrisburg, and Albany came up with the idea to build the dam, and a community study of the Seneca Nation in the postwar era. Alth...

A storyteller examines Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and the lore that inspired it, as well as other local legends of the Hudson Valley.The story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman is one of America's best-known fables, but what other stories does the Hudson Valley hold? Imps cause mischief on the Hudson River, a white lady haunts Raven Rock, Major Andre's ghost seeks redemption and real headless Hessians search for their severed skulls. These myst...

New York City’s elite women who turned a feminist cause into a fashionable revolutionIn the early twentieth century over two hundred of New York's most glamorous socialites joined the suffrage movement. Their names—Astor, Belmont, Rockefeller, Tiffany, Vanderbilt, Whitney and the like—carried enormous public value. These women were the media darlings of their day because of the extravagance of their costume balls and the opulence of the French couture clothes, and ...