This fascinating new history of the Catskills of New York showcases more than two hundred of the best, most evocative vintage postcards available. From the 1890s through the 1920s, the postcard was an extraordinarily popular means of communication. Many of the postcards produced during this "golden age," and even some from later years, can today be considered works of art. Postcard photographers traveled the length and breadth of the nation snapping photographs of busy street scenes, docum...

The Landis family of Landis Valley was ordinary and extraordinary at the same time. Its members were typical Pennsylvania Germans of their era, focused on farming and family, yet they also traveled, edited magazines, and became the founders of the Landis Valley Museum. The Landis family settled in Lancaster County in the 18th century, where Henry Harrison Landis and his wife, Emma Caroline Landis, raised their children, Henry Kinzer, George Diller, and Nettie Mae, in a cross-cultural envir...

A photographic history of one of America's oldest and best-loved companies, and a study in how to "do the common thing uncommonly well."In 1869, the American diet was a dreary affair. Kitchen staples included bread, potatoes, other root vegetables, and meat. Tomatoes—at the time called "love apples"—were an exotic fruit. Then, twenty-five-year-old Henry J. Heinz helped to change all of that.Heinz established his company based on a single premise: quality. He ...

Since its opening in 1965, the Watergate complex has been one of Washington's chicest addresses, a home to power brokers from both political parties and the epicenter of a scandal that brought down a president. In The Watergate, writer and political consultant Joseph Rodota paints a vivid portrait of this landmark and the movers and shakers who have lived there.Watergate residents—an intriguing casts of politicians, journalists, socialites and spies—have been at the center of Ameri...

Seaside Heights tells the history of a timeless seashore resort community located on a barrier island nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and Barnegat Bay. The 224-acre town was settled by residents of Philadelphia and Camden, who purchased white-sand lots to escape city life for the brisk ocean breezes and tranquility that Seaside Heights offered prior to World War II. Seaside Heights uses the scenes captured in vintage postcards, some of them very rare, as a study of the changes that have...

The Perkiomen Creek is a picturesque stream that drains a major portion of western Montgomery County. It begins just beyond the northern borders of the county and travels south. The creek empties into the Schuylkill River at the county's lower border. The old Perkiomen Railroad closely followed the same path. Along the Perkiomen showcases postcards of the Perkiomen Valley in Montgomery County as it existed during the first half of the twentieth century. Readers will visit the villages and ...

The Pennsylvania Railroad was incorporated in 1846 and immediately began the task of finding an all-rail route to connect Philadelphia with Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvania Railroad surveyed possible routes and arrived on a valley floor at the base of the Allegheny Mountains in 1849 that was primarily occupied by the David Robeson farm. As people arrived for employment opportunities, the railroad company purchased the Robeson farm, laid out the plan of a town, and named it Altoona. Shops were ...

The Allegheny River of western Pennsylvania and New York rises in Potter County, Pennsylvania, and flows 320 miles to its confluence with the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh. The Allegheny's southern watershed district begins in East Brady, Pennsylvania, and ends in Pittsburgh, and it includes the historic Redbank Creek, Mahoning Creek, Crooked Creek, and Kiskiminetas River valleys. Along the Allegheny River: The Southern Watershed features over 200 vintage postcards of the landscapes, peo...

West Chester has grown from the sleepy village originally known as Turk's Head in the 1700s to a bustling community hosting West Chester University, a thriving educational institution. The selection of West Chester as the seat of Chester County's government in 1785 led citizens to march on the town 'armed with a field-piece, a barrel of whiskey, and other warlike munitions.' Architect Thomas U. Walter, who designed the U.S. Capitol, was responsible for several classic town buildings.

Westwood has been 'the hub of the Pascack Valley' since the mid-1700s, when the region's first grain mill drew people from neighboring settlements. The town is known for the early establishment of a fire department, post office, and schools and for having the first bank, library, and hospital. Westwood has always attracted visitors to its businesses, places of worship, and social events. For a period of time, the quiet streams, ponds, and natural settings made it a country getaway destinat...

For nearly four centuries, St. Mary's County has been called "the land of pleasant living." The county's fertile fields and pristine waters invite visitors and natives alike to revel, relax, and renew. As the "Mother County" of Maryland, St. Mary's has a rich written history dating from 1634, when George and Leonard Calvert established the first American settlement founded on the principle of religious tolerance. After surviving British raids during the War of 1812 and divided loyalties in...

Wilkes-Barre, located along the Susquehanna River in the Wyoming Valley, is the county seat of Luzerne County. The city was founded in 1769 by John Durkee and was named for John Wilkes and Isaac Barr', both members of the British Parliament and supporters of the Colonists' fight for liberty. The city was incorporated as a borough in 1806 and as a city in 1871. Wilkes-Barre has undergone many changes in its long history, evolving from a farming community into the industrial city it is now. ...