Milford, Massachusetts, incorporated in 1780, rests on the cusp of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor. Granite and manufacturing jobs drew immigrants to this small town during the Industrial Revolution to form a richly textured community. In this collection of the best of his columns, local historian Paul E. Curran chronicles the lives and achievements of many who left indelible imprints on Milford. Some contributed distinctive architecture, such as the stately Town Hall and the only Irish round tower in the country. Others offered gifts for the mind--major contributions to the national library system and the original version of the children's classic The Little Engine that Could. There were extraordinary athletes, intrepid travelers and those who marked the social conscience through personal sacrifice. Milford Chronicles celebrates the spirit of all who contributed to the community's rich and enduring history.

This fascinating selection of photographs traces some of the many ways in which Milford Haven has changed and developed over the last century.

Eliciting comparisons to "The Glass Castle" and the works of Elena Ferrante, "Glad Farm" is a stunning new memoir that readers can't put down. Raised in a primitive one-room farmhouse with no indoor plumbing, the fourth of five children, Catherine Marenghi begins her life in poverty and isolation, but is propelled forward by the love and support of her family. A decade after leaving home at the age of seventeen, she is a successful journalist with the means to buy her family their first decent house. But the past will not be put to rest so easily. Catherine unravels a web of long-buried family secrets, and a terrible betrayal that robbed her family of the home that was rightfully theirs. And she finally learns the story her parents never shared: the gladiolus farm that was once their dream. At once lyrical and raw, unflinching in its detail, "Glad Farm" is an iconic American story of renewal and reinvention, and the mythic power of a house to define our destiny.

As early as 1681, large numbers of German immigrants came to Pennsylvania. These deeply religious and thrifty Pennsylvania Dutch established Shimerville, Old Zionsville, Dillinger Station, Powder Valley, Vera Cruz, Sigmund, and Zionsville Station in the territory called Upper Milford, the first township organized in present-day Lehigh County. The villages flourished with the opening of the first public road in the county that passed through Upper Milford on the way to Philadelphia. Notable landmarks in the community serve as a reminder of the area's rich history. A statue of Lenape chief Lapowinsa watches over Jasper Park in Vera Cruz, the location of one of the most significant archeological sites in eastern Pennsylvania. The Zionsville area features several picturesque old churches. Powder Valley has the preserved site of the Stahl Brother's Pottery, and the countryside is still dotted with many bank barns and stately homes of early German farm families

New Milford is located in western Connecticut, in the lower portion of Litchfield County. The original inhabitants of the area were the Potatuck who, along with other tribes, retreated as settlement of the region began--the first in the county being in Woodbury in 1672. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the land that later became New Milford was purchased from the Indians, and the first settler, John Noble, arrived from Massachusetts and built a home here in 1707. As the centuries progressed, so did the town. New Milford became a business center with many mills, shops, taverns, and other services. In stunning images and clear narrative, New Milford traces the history not only of the town itself but also of many of the families whose names are an integral part of the community, among them the Bostwicks, the Heacocks, and the Kings. The book follows the development of the town--its industry, such as New Milford Pottery, its educational facilities, such as Canterbury School, and its familiar places, such as the Wayside Inn.