1623: Pilgrims, Pipe Dreams, Politics & the Founding of New Hampshire
Shrouded in myth, mystery, and misinformation, the true story of New Hampshire's founding family has never been fully told–until now. Why do we know so little about David and Amias Thompson of Plymouth, England? And why is what we think we know so often wrong? Barely three years after the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts, a wholly different plan for America was in play. Popular journalist J. Dennis Robinson exhumes the facts and connects the dots to reveal a forgotten journey that will challenge your perception of how New England was born.
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Point of Graves: A New England History Mystery
Museum caretaker Levi Woodbury’s solitary lifestyle is shattered when reporter Claire Caswell enlists her ex-lover to unravel a mysterious death in a historic New England seaport. Could the dead man and his missing “manifesto” connect to growing fears that an ancient cemetery lies beneath the site of the city’s next high-rise parking garage? Set in historic Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
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New Castle: New Hampshire’s Smallest, Oldest, & Only Island Town
NEW CASTLE is a tiny island town, just one square mile, with a far-reaching history. Once the provincial heart of New Hampshire, its forts stood sentinel over the Piscataqua River for three centuries. Part sleepy scenic village, part trendy tourist resort, it is best known for a famous peace treaty, a rock-throwing devil, and the first shots of the American Revolution, when Paul Revere sparked the gunpower raid at Fort William and Mary.
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Strawbery Banke: A Seaport Museum 400 Years in the Making
Strawbery Banke Museum is a rich core sample of an ever-changing America. The ten-acre museum campus, New Hampshire's earliest neighborhood, began as a British plantation on a tidal inlet. Abandoned by its founders in 1635, the settlement "accidentally" named Strawberry Bank survived to become New Hampshire's only seaport.
A century later the bustling Portsmouth waterfront was home to royal governors, tall ships, skilled artisans, and wealthy merchants. When the maritime economy crashed and the city burned in the nineteenth century, the "Puddle Dock" neighborhood drew waves of immigrant families to its ancient low-rent buildings.
Then in the twentieth century, fearful of urban "blight," a federal redevelopment project went off here like a neutron bomb. The population and the junkyards disappeared, but a grassroots preservation movement saved many historic buildings from the bulldozers of progress.
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Wentworth By The Sea: The Life and Times of a Grand Hotel
When the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel opened in 1874, it joined dozens of other resorts dotting the northern New England landscape. Today, it remains among the few grand hotels in this region. Over the decades, the hotel has undergone early success, bankruptcy, and resurgence under the guidance of a Gilded Age tycoon In 1905, it was the focus of an international peace conference. Then, after decades as a prominent family resort and convention center, it languished for 20 years, only to rise again as a beloved upscale hotel and spa. Author J. Dennis Robinson tells tales of the Wentworth’s owners, its loyal employees, and the quests who make it memorable.
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Lucy’s Voice: New England History Mystery #2
SHE WAS HAPPILY ENGAGED TO THE MOST HANDSOME MAN IN THE NATION. THEN HE KILLED THE PRESIDENT.
An ornate Spanish dresser reignites a Civil War-era mystery. What did Lucy Hale know when her fiancé, John Wilkes Booth, shot Abraham Lincoln? The privileged daughter of a New Hampshire senator, Lucy was never questioned. Museum caretaker Levi Woodbury and reporter Claire Caswell are drawn into the search for a lost journal that may rewrite history.
Lord Baltimore: Founder of Maryland
At a time when religious differences caused tension and violence, Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, protected the religious freedom of people in Maryland, the faraway colony he established and governed, but never visited. Robinson offers a rare, concise, and highly readable biography for young readers in the Compass Point Signature Series.
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Jesse James: Legendary Rebel And Outlaw
From his beginnings as a guerrilla fighter for the Confederates during the Civil War, Jesse James turned to robbery, becoming one of the most infamous bank and train robbers in the history of the United States. With his band of outlaws, James led dozens of robberies and killed many people in Missouri and other states. Though legends have painted a sympathetic portrait of James as an American "Robin Hood," in reality, he was a dangerous criminal who used violence to achieve his ends.
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Music Hall: How a City Built a Theater and a Theater Shaped a City
This fully researched, color illustrated history traces the cultural development of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from the arrival of its first settlers. The Music Hall was built in 1878 and expanded by “ale tycoon” Frank Jones in 1901. Within these brick walls generations have watched America evolve from minstrel shows to musicals and Hollywood blockbusters, from animal acts to symphony orchestras, and from vaudeville to TEDx talks. Shuttered and decaying during World War II, New Hampshire’s vintage venue went on the auction block in 1945. It served as a movie house for the next four decades. Saved from demolition by a grassroots team of volunteers in the 1980s and gradually restored to its Victorian splendor, it has been pivotal in revitalizing the city’s downtown. Signature programs like the “Telluride by the Sea Film Festival” and “Writers on a New England Stage” put this historic theater on the national map. A must-read for anyone who cherishes the performing arts.
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Mystery on the Isles of Shoals: Closing the Case on the Smuttynose Ax Murders of 1873
The cold-blooded ax murder of two innocent Norwegian women at their island home off the coast of New Hampshire has gripped the region since 1873, beguiling tourists, inspiring artists, and fueling conspiracy theorists.
The killer, a handsome Prussian fisherman down on his luck, was quickly captured, convicted in a widely publicized trial, and hanged in an unforgettable gallows spectacle. But he never confessed and, while in prison, gained a circle of admirers whose blind faith in his innocence still casts a shadow of doubt. A fictionalized bestselling novel and a Hollywood film have further clouded the truth. Available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and Audiblecom formats
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Striking Back: The Fight to End Child Labor Exploitation (Taking a Stand)
In 1790, the first water-powered mill in America was run by children, some as young as 7 years old. They were paid pennies for a workday that might last more than 10 hours. As America grew, the children's plight grew worse. Exhausted by six-day work weeks and harsh conditions, millions of young workers had no time to play or go outdoors. They had no childhood. In time, children and adults fought back, and the children went on strike to protest harsh conditions. Finally, during the last years of the Great Depression, the government took action, passing the Fair Labor Act.
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Bunker Hill Time Machine and Portsmouth Time Machine: A Graphic History of the Bunker Hill Monument and the Graphic History of Portsmouty, NH
Two richly illustrated books in one volume. On a school field trip to the Boston Freedom Trail, Seth and Ella are catapulted into the past by a cell phone glitch. From 5,000 BCE to the present day, they explore the site of the famous Battle of Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Deeply researched and beautifully illustrated, Bunker Hill Time Machine tracks the on-and-off construction of the 221-foot obelisk made of Quincy granite. PLUS Portsmouth Time Machine follows Ella and Seth through the history of the Granite State's only seaport, from an Indigenous village to the 400th anniversary of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Readers are introduced to key moments in the city's maritime, military, political, and cultural evolution with special pages devoted to black, literary, and women's history. Each includes a map and bonus features with the amazing art of Robert Squier.
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