How could a perfectly sound U.S. military fighter plane simply vanish from formation on a training flight? Why did the crew of a speeding train choose death over salvation? What really happened one foggy night in 1929 when the Coast Guard fired on a rumrunner in Narragansett Bay? Do guardian angels really exist? Can an airplane be jinxed? In his latest book, Jim Ignasher chronicles twenty-three long-forgotten tales of disaster in the Ocean State. His research includes declassified governme...

The legend of John Noforce- whose puzzling death may have been the result of a Native American Romeo and Juliet saga- 1676's bloody Nipsachuck massacre and the scandalous downfall of the poor farm and asylum are a few of the tales that linger among historic Smithfield's fields and forests. Once home to 'Apple King' Thomas K. Winsor and Arthur C. Gould, frustrated inventor of Rhode Island's first and only aircraft rest stop, this storied town has known both triumph and tragedy. Local author...

The men in Charles Kenney's family have been drawn to firefighting since his grandfather Charles "Pops" Kenney joined the Boston Fire Department in 1932. In his working class, Irish-Catholic neighborhood, there were other jobs that offered a decent wage, but none had the sense of belonging that comes with being a fireman, or the purity of purpose that comes with saving lives. Pops was on the scene of the notorious Cocoanut Grove fire in 1942; the author's father, "Sonny" served with distin...

In 1877, the U.S. Navy purchased the fast steam yacht Stiletto from the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol, Rhode Island, for "automobile" torpedo experiments in Narragansett Bay. The submarine service was in its infancy, and interest in the self-propelled torpedo as an undersea weapon flourished. Herreshoff's fast, steam-powered boats were the first of the delivery platforms accepted by the U.S. Navy Department for experiments at the Newport Naval Torpedo Station and service duri...

With a Foreword by Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the bestseller In the Heart of the SeaIf you need an appendectomy, he can do it with a stone scalpel he carved himself. If you have a condition nobody can diagnose -- "creeping eruption" perhaps -- he can identify what it is, and treat it. A baby with toe-tourniquet syndrome, a human leg that's washed ashore, a horse with Lyme disease, a narcoleptic falling face-first in the street, a hermi...

Hartford, Connecticut, was settled as an agrarian society with fertile fields and abundant crops at the confluence of the Connecticut and Little (later Park) Rivers by Reverend Thomas Hooker and his Puritan congregation. Navigation on the rivers quickly established the city as a center for commerce. Author Daniel Sterner delves into the history of Hartford with tours from Bushnell Park to Asylum Hill and through Frog Hollow. Discover the many people, places and events that have shaped the ...

Located at the head of the Thames River, Norwich is known as "the Rose of New England." This small city boasts a complex history, from its role as an important Colonial seaport to its development into a thriving manufacturing city. The nearly two hundred images in Norwich bring this history to life, from the industry and innovation represented by the Ponemah Mill, to the grandeur of the Wauregan Hotel, to the devastation of the flood of 1886. The city's many sides can be seen in these page...

Lowell was founded by the 'Merrimac Manufacturing Company' in 1822, and named after Francis C. Lowell. The village grew very rapidly from the first. In 1820 it was incorporated as a town and ten years later was chartered as a city. This book tells the story of this very important textile center from the beginning until the 1870s.

The Kennebec and Sheepscot Rivers of Maine, natural boundaries for the Wiscasset region, provided the water highways for early explorers, traders, and missionaries. For over 360 years, the area has been home to shipbuilders, fishermen, farmers, and tradesmen. This marvelous photographic chronicle traces not only the rich historical traditions of the area, but also the shared sense of life's unbroken continuity present in the towns of the Wiscasset region: Alna, Dresden, Westport Island, Wi...

The skilled craftsmen of New York founded The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen in 1785, and the organization's history is aligned with the city's physical and cultural development. In 1820, The Society founded its library. It began a lecture series in 1837 and opened the Mechanics Institute in 1858 to provide free education in the trades. Prominent New York members included Andrew Carnegie, Peter Cooper, Abram S. Hewitt and Duncan Phyfe. The Society's educational programs continu...

The evolution of New England's famous culinary classic: chowder, in all its mouthwatering varieties—from the authors of Massachusetts Cranberry Culture.New England's culinary history is marked by a varying array of chowders. Early forms were thick and layered, but the adaptability of this beloved recipe has allowed for a multitude of tasty preparations to emerge. Thick or thin, brimming with fish or clams or corn, chowder springs up throughout the region i...

John Koren gives insights into the story of Boston as a municipality since its inception in 1822 until the year 1922, with its changing forms of government and its multitudinous activities for the betterment of conditions of living. The frame work of the book is mostly limited to tracing the development and undertakings of the City of Boston for a century, under successive city administrations.