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.




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.




Legendary Locals of Elizabeth City


Book Description

Elizabeth City is rich in legend and lore. The pirate Blackbeard was a frequent visitor to the area, selling his ill-gotten goods to a willing populace. The Wright brothers made Elizabeth City the first leg of their trips to Kitty Hawk, and they bought materials to build their flying machine from Kramer Brothers, a local lumberyard. Champion nine-ball player Luther Wimpy Lassiter was born and died here. Young Beautiful Nell Cropsey was murdered in 1901; her death is the towns most enduring mystery. Newspaperman W.O. Saunders, editor of the Independent, was known nationally after he walked down New Yorks Fifth Avenue in pajamas to protest uncomfortable work attire. Young Tamsen Donner, a member of the ill-fated Donner Party, was a teacher here in the 1830s. Fred Fearings Rose Buddies welcomed boaters to Elizabeth City with homegrown roses and wine and cheese parties. He has entertained Walter Cronkite and Willard Scott, among other luminaries. These are just a few of the stories, mysteries, and legends of Elizabeth Citys past and present.




Sea Venture


Book Description

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Money and Empire


Book Description

Charles Kindleberger ranks as one of the twentieth century's best known and most influential international economists. This book traces the evolution of his thinking in the context of a 'key-currency' approach to the rise of the dollar system, here revealed as the indispensable framework for global economic development since World War II. Unlike most of his colleagues, Kindleberger was deeply interested in history, and his economics brimmed with real people and institutional details. His research at the New York Fed and BIS during the Great Depression, his wartime intelligence work, and his role in administering the Marshall Plan gave him deep insight into how the international financial system really operated. A biography of both the dollar and a man, this book is also the story of the development of ideas about how money works. It throws revealing light on the underlying economic forces and political obstacles shaping our globalized world.




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.




Legendary Locals of McLean


Book Description

McLean, Virginia, a whistle stop along the Great Falls & Old Dominion Railroad, came about in 1910. It was named after John R. McLean, publisher of the Washington Post newspaper and an owner of the railroad. This was a farming community that never incorporated. A few of the families instrumental in the formation of the village that followed were Mackall, Laughlin, Storm, Carper, and Smoot. Because of its proximity to the nation's capital, McLean attracted people from all walks of life. But it was the arrival of the Kennedy families in the late 1950s that put McLean on the map. The thread that holds the community together is spirited volunteerism. This volume contains images of a few of the personalities who give McLean a sense of place. The majority of the photographs have been donated by individuals to ensure that history does not lose these significant personalities, past or present, who left an imprint on their community.




Legendary Locals of Coppell


Book Description

Coppell has produced a wealth of personalities that could have leapt from the pages of a novel. The town's early days brought John and Sarah Stringfellow, who helped found the town's oldest church, and Josiah and John Record, a father-and-son duo who were victims of lynching. The coming of the Cottonbelt Railroad created the mystery of town namesake George Coppell. The town was home to farmers like domino-loving Buren Ledbetter and sharecropper W.A. Ottinger. It had its own "Floyd the Barber" (Floyd Harwell), as well as Jo Jackson, the librarian known to most as the "Bird Lady of Coppell." The town has produced a wealth of heroes like Carroll Kirkland, who was killed in World War II, and Jacob Schick, a decorated veteran of the Iraq War. It is also a town that has turned tragedy into triumph through stories like Todd and Tara Storch, who transformed the pain of their daughter Taylor's death into the life-giving charity Taylor's Gift. Together their stories tell the story of Coppell, a place that at its heart will always be a small town.