For many travelers on their way to or from Long Beach Island, Manahawkin may only be the Parkway exit and main highway to the beach. But this rapidly growing community by the bay has a rich past that is intimately tied with the Island and the maritime and coastal traditions of the South Jersey shore. This new hardcover pictorial history explores a shore town whose roots go back in time to before the Revolutionary War. The stories are based in southern Ocean County, but they range to high points of Shore history from the 1600s to the present.With stories of people, families and landmarks, Stafford Chronicles vividly recalls different ways of life in a town that has seen many changes. We hear accounts handed down of sea serpents and ancient whalers. Others tell of the feel of salt spray that braced men working in the now-defunct pound fishing industry on their way through the breakers over on the beach. Or how women made their mark in the local workplace, such as at New Jersey Bell in the 1940s. A resident recalls his youth, playing sandlot baseball with Doc Cramer before Doc's pro days. Another tells of fishing from the window, growing up in a house situated on the old plank causeway bridge. And we learn that some of the east coast's first surfboards were shaped in Manahawkin backyards.Readers will discover local landmarks -- some long gone, others in a new incarnation; they will learn why there is an Old Stone Store and a Manahawkin Lake; they will relive the days of the Tuckerton and Long Beach Railroad; they will visit with world-renowned decoy carver Hurley Conklin; they will discover who Doc Hilliard and Doc Lane were; they will hear living history told by those who livedit. Other chapters have written accounts from older times, such as excerpts from Nathaniel Bishop's Four Months in a Sneakbox, detailing his trip down the Mississippi.Stafford Chronicles is a remarkable collection of essays, reminiscences, memories and photographs. Reading it is like sitting on the porch, talking with your neighbors.

A prolific writer, famous pacifist, respected teacher, and literary mentor to many, William Stafford is one of the great American poets of the 20th century. His first major collection--Traveling through the Dark--won the National Book Award. William Stafford published more than sixty-five volumes of poetry and prose and was Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress--a position now know as the Poet Laureate. Before William Stafford's death in 1993, he gave his son Kim the greatest gift and challenge: to be his literary executor. In Early Morning, Kim creates an intimate portrait of a father and son who shared many passions: archery, photography, carpentry, and finally, writing itself. But Kim also confronts the great paradox at the center of William Stafford's life. The public man, the poet who was always communicating with warmth and feeling--even with strangers--was capable of profound, and often painful silence within the family. By piecing together a collage of his personal and family memories, and sifting through thousands of pages, of his father's daily writing and poems, Kim illuminates a fascinating and richly lived life.

From its earliest beginnings through to the last days of the Second World War, Staffordshire’s county town has seen more than its fair share of gore. Its history is filled with blood, disease, pestilence, poison, dismemberment, decapitation, suicides and hauntings. Featuring life – and death – at Stafford Gaol, the sanguineous siege of the castle and many other tragic true tales from history, you’ll never see it in the same way again!

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

The Inns and Alehouses of Stafford: Through the North Gate is the second of two books by Stafford author John Connor. This second volume looks at the drinking establishments outside the ancient town’s fortified walls, covering the whole of the north and south ends of the town, reaching the villages of Milford, Brocton, Bradley and Haughton. This presents a definitive review of the history of a wider area of Stafford’s beer establishments, listing owners and the history behind the areas pub names and signs. The book is a mine of information that will appeal to local pub buffs and historians alike, and is an essential accompaniment to the first book, Through the South Gate. The entry for the inns and alehouses within the book include a photo of each building, a description of the changes that have taken place to the pub over the years and the names they have been known by. A comprehensive list of licensees of each establishment is also included. This shows who the licensees were, where they came from and where they went to. A short narrative about every inn sign completes each entry. Pubs have always been the hub of the community and in The Inns and alehouses of Stafford: Through the North Gate, readers can learn more about the hostelries that have given separate suburb and village communities over 300 years of drinking pleasure!