Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers

Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers
Author: Ronald E. Ostman
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 633
Release: 2016-09-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0271084588

In Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers, Ronald E. Ostman and Harry Littell draw on the stunning documentary photography of William T. Clarke to tell the story of Pennsylvania’s lumber heyday, a time when loggers serving the needs of a rapidly growing and globalizing country forever altered the dense forests of the state’s northern tier. Discovered in a shed in upstate New York and a barn in Pennsylvania after decades of obscurity, Clarke’s photographs offer an unprecedented view of the logging, lumbering, and wood industries during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They show the great forests in the process of coming down and the trains that hauled away the felled trees and trimmed logs. And they show the workers—cruisers, jobbers, skidders, teamsters, carpenters, swampers, wood hicks, and bark peelers—their camps and workplaces, their families, their communities. The work was demanding and dangerous; the work sites and housing were unsanitary and unsavory. The changes the newly industrialized logging business wrought were immensely important to the nation’s growth at the same time that they were fantastically—and tragically—transformative of the landscape. An extraordinary look at a little-known photographer’s work and the people and industry he documented, this book reveals, in sharp detail, the history of the third phase of lumber in America.

Flatlanders and Ridgerunners

Flatlanders and Ridgerunners
Author: James York Glimm
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2014-09-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 0822971321

Excerpt from Flatlanders and Ridgerunners: Out-Riddling the Judge Back in Prohibition my uncle made moonshine. His name was Moses Kenny and his whiskey--they called it “White Mule” was the best in the county. Well, the feds got after him and finally they arrested him. Took him to a federal judge down in Philadelphia. Now, the judge liked a good time and thought he’d have a little fun with this hick from the mountains. When Uncle came into court, he said, “are you the Moses who can make the sun dark?” Moses looked at him and said slowly, “Nope, your honor. But I am the Moses who can make the moon shine.” The judge let him go.

Reclaimed Wood

Reclaimed Wood
Author: Alan Solomon
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: House & Home
ISBN: 1683356500

The first handbook on reclaimed wood, combining useful information, rich history, and home design ideas. Reclaimed wood is a gift from ancient forests and a versatile material. Our ancestors built their homes and barns, warehouses, and factories with white pine and oak from the Northeast and the Midwest, longleaf pine and cypress from the South, and Douglas fir and redwood from the Northwest. When we salvage these and other woods for new projects, we are strengthening our own roots. Reclaimed Wood: A Field Guide is the first complete visual survey of this valuable resource, with chapters on history, sources, and types of wood, reclamation, and practical information, and its use in modern architecture and design.

Rhinebeck's Historic Beekman Arms

Rhinebeck's Historic Beekman Arms
Author: Brian Plumb
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2014-07-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1625844921

Nestled in the picturesque Hudson Valley town of Rhinebeck, the Beekman Arms began humbly as a stagecoach and mail stop on the Old Albany Post Road at the end of the eighteenth century. Of more than forty stage stops that operated along that path, it is the only one still in existence. Through the tenure of many landlords and several notable renovations, it has evolved into the stately inn it is today. Proclaimed the "oldest hotel in America" since the early 1900s, it stands proudly as a symbol of the area's Dutch and English heritage and a reminder of the history that made this area famous. Join authors Matthew and Brian Plumb to explore the storied past of this historic Rhinebeck institution.

Wise Blood

Wise Blood
Author: Flannery O'Connor
Publisher: Wyatt North Publishing, LLC
Total Pages: 189
Release: 1980
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) was an American author. Wise Blood was her first novel and one of her most famous works.

Sykesville

Sykesville
Author: Bill Hall
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780738513676

A picturesque, little town located along the banks of the rolling Patapsco River, Sykesville, Maryland has had a long and distinctive history. Though not officially incorporated until 1904, Sykesville was first put on the map when, in 1831, the mighty Baltimore and Ohio Railroad sent its "Old Main Line" from the thriving metropolis of Baltimore to Point of Rocks in Frederick County, Maryland and traveled through the small town of Sykesville on its route. After that, tourism became an important industry in the town, as well-to-do Baltimoreans searched for a country refuge during the hot summer months. Sykesville, located in Carroll County and just 30 miles from Baltimore city, was the perfect spot to enjoy a relaxed and shady holiday. As Sykesville grew and changed over the years, many individuals, including Suzannah Warfield, Frank Brown, Wade Warfield, J.H. Fowble, E. Francis Baldwin, and Edwin Mellor, played important roles in the town's commercial development. But it is Sykesville's unique heritage, the great value placed on preserving that past by residents, and the resilient character of the community that has made Sykesville what it is today. Following a decline in the 1970s, the town experienced a rebirth fostered by the tenacious spirit of local officials and residents who strongly believed that the town could regain its past glory. Now, as one strolls along Sykesville's downtown streets, the past seems once again alive and the community's singular story is at the heart of it all.

Beale Street

Beale Street
Author: Dr. Beverly G. Bond
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2012-09-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1439617538

Once celebrated as the Main Street of Negro America," Beale Street has a long and vibrant history. In the early 20th century, the 15-block neighborhood supported a collection of hotels, pool halls, saloons, banks, barber shops, pharmacies, dry goods stores, theaters, gambling dens, jewelers, fraternal clubs, churches, entertainment agencies, beauty salons, pawn shops, blues halls, and juke joints. Above the street-level storefronts were offices of African American business and professional men: dentists, doctors, undertakers, photographers, teachers, realtors, and insurance brokers. By mid-century, following the social strife and urban renewal projects of the 1960s and 1970s, little remained of the original neighborhood. Those buildings spared by the bulldozers were boarded up and falling down. In the nick of time, in the 1980s, the city realized the area's potential as a tourist attraction. New bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues opened along the remaining three-block strip, providing a mecca for those seeking to recapture the magic of Beale Street."

Shale Play

Shale Play
Author: Julia Kasdorf
Publisher: Keystone Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780271080932

Explores, in poetry and photographs, the effects of the natural gas boom and fracking in the small towns, fields, and forests of Appalachian Pennsylvania.

Among the Woo People

Among the Woo People
Author: Russell Frank
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2017-10-08
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0271080434

In the mid-nineties, Russell Frank left a peaceful life in rural California to raise three kids in a town saturated with fraternities, late-night undergrad fast food haunts, and rowdy football crowds. Among the Woo People recounts his two decades living—and surviving—in State College, Pennsylvania, the often-chaotic home of Penn State University. This humorous peek at life in a college town smack-dab in the middle of rural Pennsylvania chronicles a changing community over the course of two eventful decades. A professor of journalism, former columnist for the Centre Daily Times, and contributor to StateCollege.com, Frank has a unique perspective on living in the shadow of a university—especially on the tribe of nomadic young adults known as the “Woo people,” so named for their signature mode of celebratory communication. He invites readers into the routines of his hectic household as they embrace their new home, skewers the culture of intercollegiate sports, relates the challenges and peculiarities of teaching at one of the nation’s largest universities, and, most important, teaches us to be amused at college-kid antics and to appreciate their academic and real-world accomplishments, even as we anxiously tick off the days until semester’s end. From tales of missing porch furniture and red plastic cups in the bushes to a “Nude Year’s Eve” run by an octet of forty-somethings to the sweet relief of summer, Frank’s hilarious, insightful essays are indispensable for anyone who wants to survive, appreciate, and enjoy college-town life.