The salty waves and sandy beaches of Cape Cod disguise its fascinating and nearly forgotten history. From Provincetown to Falmouth, the Cape's fifteen towns offer a plethora of hidden and enchanting tales. Learn why one of the most famous rescues in Coast Guard history spent nearly fifty years in the shadows without public notice. Discover which wild creature went from the nineteenth-century soup pot to enjoying conservation protection under state law. Historian Theresa Mitchell Barbo explores these mysteries and more, from the lost diary of a nineteenth-century schoolteacher to the reason...

Florida has a history as diverse as its residents. And much of that is still hidden. Since the arrival of the Spanish in 1513, the state has played host to strange stories. A heartbroken senator entered a mental institution over unrequited love for an heiress. Thousands of British pilots trained in flight schools across the state. And the true, and darker, story of Pocahontas is linked with the "first barbecue." Author and historian James C. Clark unearths a history hidden beneath swamps and sand for years.

When Mark Twain visited in 1884, he claimed to spy a little bit of hell in Pittsburgh's smoky appearance. Twain's observations are among the many riveting firsthand accounts and anecdotes to be found in the archives of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Great War hit home after the sinking of the Lusitania, which carried more than a dozen Pittsburgh residents. A few years later, cheering throngs of black and white residents lined downtown streets to welcome African American soldiers returning home from the conflict. The Ringling Brothers Circus held its last outdoor performance here in 1956 and...

Florida is one of the most visited places in the world, and one of its most visited cities is St. Petersburg. But there's a lot more to the "Sunshine City" than pristine beaches. During his travels to sunny St. Pete, James Brown discovered local jazz artist LeRoy Flemmings Jr. Doc Webb's World's Most Unusual Drug Store attracted customers and spectators from afar. Babe Ruth's longest home run ever was launched from the city. William Straub had a great vision for the area's treasured waterfront park system, and the historic Vinoy Hotel was instrumental in launching the downtown renaissance....

So many colorful stories are lost to time. The last passenger pigeon on earth, Martha, died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. The deadliest maritime disaster in American history was the explosion of the steamboat Sultana, built in the Queen City. Just outside the city, a young Annie Oakley beat her future husband in a shooting contest. The nation's first train robbery occurred in the Cincinnati area, and some clever victims hid jewelry in their hair and bodices. From the Black Brigade's role in protecting the city against Confederate siege to the original 1937 Cincinnati Bengals, author Jeff...

Long Island's history is filled with fascinating firsts, magnificent mansions and fascinating characters. From Glenn Curtiss, the first pilot to fly a plane on the island, to Earle Ovington, who carried the country's first airmail, the area has been known as the cradle of aviation. Millionaire William K. Vanderbilt's Long Island Motor Parkway, remnants of which still remain, was the nation's first highway. The desolate ruins of an exiled Albanian king's estate lie in the midst of the woods of the Muttontown Preserve. Captain William Kidd, pirate chaser turned pirate, is rumored to have buried...

A reputation as the town of shoes, booze and blues persists in St. Louis. But a fascinating history waits just beneath the surface in the heart of the city, like the labyrinth of natural limestone caves where Anheuser-Busch got its start. One of the city's Garment District shoe factories was the workplace of a young Tennessee Williams, referenced in his first Broadway play, The Glass Menagerie. Downtown's vibrant African American community was the source and subject of such folk-blues classics as "Frankie and Johnny" and "Stagger Lee," not to mention W.C. Handy's classic "St. Louis Blues."...

Fueled by ambition and pipe dreams, Fargo's earliest residents created an entire city out of the dust of a flat, desolate prairie. Roberts Street might not exist if it weren't for Matilda Roberts, a resourceful pioneer wife who encouraged her husband's cousin to set up his law firm on that important downtown thoroughfare. O.J. deLendrecie generated so much success through his retail store that he was able to buy President Theodore Roosevelt's ranch in western North Dakota. Oliver Dalrymple may have been the bonanza farm king, but the better manager was his rival, Herbert Chaffee of the Amenia...