Greer, an 1876 railroad town, was founded by people who moved from farms, the mountain region of the Dark Corner, and other small communities to the area around Greer's Depot with high expectations of prosperity promised by railroad commerce and, later, the cotton mills. Like a colorful quilt with its individual patches, the early population of Greer included farmers, store keepers, laborers skilled and unskilled, and their wives and families. As the town grew, investors funded three local cotton mills; mill hands and supervisors arrived to operate them. The bankers, attorneys, physicians, teachers, and ministers followed. Eager to succeed, they all labored long and hard, some heroically like Officer William Foster and volunteer fireman Carl Miller, who died in the line of duty. Greer folk reared families, provided education, and imbued their children with strong moral and religious values. Their descendents continue to populate the city today with a strong sense of community pride.

Before the Europeans came, Amerindians celebrated on Hilton Head Island with seasonal oyster feasts. Later, planters made fortunes here with Sea Island cotton. But the island came alive to the guns of the Union in 1861 and, for seven years, was host to the troops who helped former slaves even before the Emancipation Proclamation made freedom official. The forces left, and the island slept. In the pages of this book are some of the people who kept the Gullah sea island culture alive, a self-sustaining culture of mutual help and integrity, living off the sea and the land. This volume also includes some of the people who set a standard for development and made the island what it is today, unique visionaries who had a fierce devotion to preservation of the island's natural beauty, its flora, and its fauna.

Greenville has long been a city of visionaries. Richard Pearis settled on the banks of the Reedy River in Cherokee hunting land where few white men would venture. Max Heller, who escaped Nazi-occupied Austria as a teen, triggered the rebirth of downtown. They are some of Greenville's local legends who have seen possibilities, not limitations. They come from all walks of life. Textile leaders such as John T. Woodside, Thomas Parker, and John D. Hollingsworth transformed the city into the "Textile Capital of the World." When textiles began to fade, businessmen and leaders such as Charles Daniel, Tommy Wyche, Tom Barton, Virginia Uldrick, Dick Riley, Carl Sobocinski, and Xanthene Norris helped transform the city once again. Stories of people who have shaped Greenville with their vision, making it what it is today, fill these pages.

H. G. Catlett’s name is on land surveys throughout central Texas. This book, with never-before published letters and documents, tells his story—his work as a surveyor, service as a Texas Ranger, a courier for Zachary Taylor, an Army quartermaster, an expert on Indian affairs, and a proponent for a National Road (through Texas, of course.) Available at Amazon.com.

Best known as the capital of the Confederacy, Richmond's history encompasses much more than the Civil War. Visit the state capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson, and tour Shockoe Bottom, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods. Follow the route that enslaved people took from the ships to the auction block on the Richmond Slave Trail. Go back to Gilded Age Richmond at the Jefferson Hotel and learn the history of the statues that once lined the famed Monument Avenue. See lesser-known sites like the Maggie Walker Home and the Black History Museum in the historically African American Jackson Ward neighborhood. Local author Kristin Thrower Stowe guides a series of expeditions through the River City's past.

Essays by various authors detailing the richness of music that has emanated from Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee and Kentucky since the 1700's.

College student Megs Devonshire sets out to fulfill her younger brother George’s last wish by uncovering the truth behind his favorite story. What transpires is a fascinating look into the bond between siblings and the life-changing magic of stories. 1950: Margaret Devonshire (Megs) is a seventeen-year-old student of mathematics and physics at Oxford University. When her beloved eight-year-old brother asks Megs if Narnia is real, logical Megs tells him it’s just a book for children, and certainly not true. Homebound due to his illness, and remaining fixated on his favorite books, George presses her to ask the author of the recently released novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a question: “Where did Narnia come from?” Despite her fear about approaching the famous author, who is a professor at her school, Megs soon finds herself taking tea with C. S. Lewis and his own brother Warnie, begging them for answers. Rather than directly telling her where Narnia came from, Lewis encourages Megs to form her own conclusion as he shares the little-known stories from his own life that led to his inspiration. As she takes these stories home to George, the little boy travels farther in his imagination than he ever could in real life. After holding so tightly to logic and reason, her brother’s request leads Megs to absorb a more profound truth: “The way stories change us can’t be explained. It can only be felt. Like love.” From the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea A captivating, standalone historical novel combining fact and fiction An emotional journey into the books and stories that make us who we are Includes discussion questions for book clubs