Legendary Locals of Jamestown


Book Description

When Caleb Carr, one of the 101 men who purchased Conanicut and Dutch Islands in 1657, petitioned the General Assembly to incorporate Jamestown in 1678, the town had 150 inhabitants. The community thrived until the American Revolution, when the British occupation drove away many people. Nicholas Carr and John Eldred both remained, rebelling in their own ways. The town recovered slowly, and its character changed with modernized modes of transportation. Steam ferries, introduced in 1873, ushered in an era of resort hotels, affluent summer visitors, and a service economy. The West Passage bridge in 1940 brought permanent residents with off-island occupations and interests. The East Passage bridge (1969) and the replacement West Passage bridge (1992) created a suburban atmosphere enlivened by a continuing influx of summer vacationers. Most newcomers revel in the island's beauty and are intent on keeping Jamestown the peaceful haven that attracted them.




Jamestown


Book Description

A chronological history of Jamestown, Rhode Island, from its founding to present day.




Legendary Locals of the Chautauqua Lake Region, New York


Book Description

From founding families in the early 1800s to contemporary conservationists in 2011, this volume celebrates a multitude of individuals who have impacted the Chautauqua Lake region. Before the armchair traveler journeys around the lake, a sampling of historians and photographers are honored for preserving its past. Subsequent chapters showcase the lakeside communities of Mayville, Dewittville, Point Chautauqua, Maple Springs, Bemus Point, Greenhurst, Fluvanna, Jamestown, Celoron, Lakewood, Ashville, Stow, and the Chautauqua Institution. Each presents several residents who aided its growth, made significant contributions, or simply remain of interest for their uniqueness.




Love and Hate in Jamestown


Book Description

A New York Times Notable Book and aSan Jose Mercury News Top 20 Nonfiction Book of 2003In 1606, approximately 105 British colonists sailed to America, seeking gold and a trade route to the Pacific. Instead, they found disease, hunger, and hostile natives. Ill prepared for such hardship, the men responded with incompetence and infighting; only the leadership of Captain John Smith averted doom for the first permanent English settlement in the New World.The Jamestown colony is one of the great survival stories of American history, and this book brings it fully to life for the first time. Drawing on extensive original documents, David A. Price paints intimate portraits of the major figures from the formidable monarch Chief Powhatan, to the resourceful but unpopular leader John Smith, to the spirited Pocahontas, who twice saved Smith’s life. He also gives a rare balanced view of relations between the settlers and the natives and debunks popular myths about the colony. This is a superb work of history, reminding us of the horrors and heroism that marked the dawning of our nation.




Sea Venture


Book Description

Publisher description




Legendary Locals of Anderson Island


Book Description

From explorer Peter Puget to bachelor Johnson Brothers, whose farm became a regional museum, Legendary Locals of Anderson Island chronicles the emergence of a way of life that unfailingly awakens echoes of days long past. Anderson Island, the southernmost of all islands in Washington State's Puget Sound, was settled in the late 1800s by immigrants predominantly from the Scandinavian countries. They naturally brought with them and practiced their old-country ways of navigating, farming, and building. In time, due to its remoteness and relative inaccessibility, a society of self-reliant yet closely connected residents took root. The subsistence farming, logging, and fishing practiced by the early pioneers have mostly given way to cottage industries or daily commutes to the mainland. While retirement has become the majority occupation of today's islanders, a vibrant community life continues to flourish, centered around activities sponsored by the island's numerous volunteer-staffed organizations.




Here Shall I Die Ashore


Book Description

In the spring of 1621, Plymouth Colony sent STEPHEN HOPKINS to make the first visit to Wampanoag sachem Massasoit to present a red horseman’s coat as a gift and sign of friendship. For most ordinary Englishmen, venturing off into the depths of unexplored America would have been a once in a lifetime adventure: but not for Stephen. By the time he turned forty, he had already survived a hurricane, been shipwrecked in the Bermuda Triangle, been written into a Shakespearean play, witnessed the famine and abandonment of Jamestown Colony, and participated in the marriage of Pocahontas. He was once even sentenced to death! He got himself and his family onto the Pilgrims’ Mayflower, and helped found Plymouth Colony. He signed the Mayflower Compact, lodged the famous Squanto in his house, participated in the legendary Thanksgiving, and helped guide and govern the early colonists. Yet Stephen was just an ordinary man, with a wife, three sons, seven daughters, a small house, some farmland for his corn, and cows named Motley, Sympkins, Curled, and Red. These are the extraordinary adventures of an ordinary man.




The Brief and True Report of Temperance Flowerdew


Book Description

Determined to set the historical record straight, and clear her conscience, Temperance Flowerdew—the wife of Virginia’s first two governors—puts quill to paper, recounting the hardships that nearly brought the Jamestown colony to its knees, and the extraordinary sacrifice of her servant girl, Lily. When she steps aboard the Falcon in 1609, Temperance Flowerdew is not only setting sail from England to the distant shores of America, she’s embarking upon a future of opportunity. She doesn’t yet know how she will make her mark, but in this new place she can do or be whatever she wants. Willing as she is to brave this new world, Temperance is utterly ill-equipped to survive the wilderness; all she knows is how to live inside the pages of adventure and philosophy books. Loyally at her side, Lily helps Temperance weather pioneer life. A young woman running from lifelong accusations of witchcraft, Lily finds friendship with Temperance and an acceptance of her psychic gifts. Together, they forge paths within the community: Temperance attempts to advise the makeshift government, while Lily experiences the blossoming of first love. But as the harsh winter approaches, Lily intuitively senses a darkness creep over the colony and the veneer of civilized life threatens to fall away—negotiations with the Indians grow increasingly hostile and provisions become scarce. Lily struggles to keep food on the table by foraging in the woods and being resourceful. Famine could mean the end of days. It’s up to Lily to save them both, but what sacrifice will be enough to survive? A transporting and evocative story, The Brief and True Report of Temperance Flowerdew is a fiercely hopeful novel—a portrait of two intrepid women who choose to live out their dreams of a future more free than the past.




A Land As God Made It


Book Description

The definitive history of the Jamestown colony, the crucible of American history Although it was the first permanent English settlement in North America, Jamestown is too often overlooked in the writing of American history. Founded thirteen years before the Mayflower sailed, Jamestown's courageous settlers have been overshadowed ever since by the pilgrims of Plymouth. But as historian James Horn demonstrates in this vivid and meticulously researched account, Jamestown-not Plymouth-was the true crucible of American history. Jamestown introduced slavery into English-speaking North America; it became the first of England's colonies to adopt a representative government; and it was the site of the first white-Indian clashes over territorial expansion. A Land As God Made It offers the definitive account of the colony that give rise to America.




Legendary Locals of Newport


Book Description

Established by Colonials seeking religious and cultural freedom in 1639, Newport has enjoyed nearly four centuries of growth--from a thriving seaport to a summer hideaway for industrial revolution excesses, from an active Navy town to a modern world-class destination for sailing and tourism. But beyond the marbled mansions and active harbor-front wharves lie legendary locals building a city of living history, education, arts, and philanthropy. And as this "City-by-the-Sea" celebrates 375 years in 2014, residents honor the diversity of the people who keep it flourishing. Stone carvers John "Fud" Benson and son Nick utilize time-honored techniques etching gravestones and memorials by hand in the oldest trade shop in the country, while nearby, the largest high-tech megayachts in the world dock at the Dana family's Newport Shipyard. Newporter and Navy SEAL Terry Moy helped the last Apollo mission land safely back on Earth, while advocate Florence Gray helped keep affordable housing residents grounded only a few blocks from the city's upscale neighborhoods.