Many have heard the legend of the Jersey Devil of the Pine Barrens, but what about his relative in Somerset County? The Great Swamp Devil was captured by an American Patriot, terrorized a Victorian family and was rediscovered by Depression-era adventurers. Clearly, Somerset County has a rich oral tradition filled with a folklore all its own. An encounter with the Dead River Witch of Liberty Corner is linked with the unsolved disappearance of a nine-year-old girl. Alleged Revolutionary War spy John Honeyman never stopped telling tall tales about himself, even after his death. The Pluckemin orbs--more than six thousand years old--frightened Native Americans, intrigued artists and still defy explanation. Discover these and other legends from Somerset County, New Jersey.
Many have heard the legend of the Jersey Devil of the Pine Barrens, but what about his relative in Somerset County? The Great Swamp Devil was captured by an American Patriot, terrorized a Victorian family and was rediscovered by Depression-era adventurers. Clearly, Somerset County has a rich oral tradition filled with a folklore all its own. An encounter with the Dead River Witch of Liberty Corner is linked with the unsolved disappearance of a nine-year-old girl. Alleged Revolutionary War spy John Honeyman never stopped telling tall tales about himself, even after his death. The Pluckemin orbs--more than six thousand years old--frightened Native Americans, intrigued artists and still defy explanation. Discover these and other legends from Somerset County, New Jersey.
Between the Watchung Mountains to the north and the Sourland Mountains to the west lies the fertile valley of the Raritan River. Stout Dutch, Huguenot, German, Scottish, and English settlers began to cultivate family farms here as early as the 1680s. For almost a hundred years, the tramp of soldiers' feet and sounds of cannons had been unknown, but that was about to change. With its location astride two major routes between New York and Philadelphia, it is little wonder that Somerset County became the "Crossroads of the Revolution." A friendly populace and the protection of the mountains made this a safe haven for General Washington's army. His soldiers camped for three winters, including the harshest winter of the Revolution, in Somerset and in the adjacent areas of central New Jersey. Washington spent more time here than any other place during the War for Independence. It was in this historically significant county that the first military academy in the nation was built, the 13-star flag was first flown over American troops after its adoption by Congress, and the "Regulations for the Infantry of the United States" was written by General von Steuben.
"It is offered not as a textbook nor as a scientific discussion, but merely as reading entertainment founded on the life history, social struggle, and customs of a little-known people."—From the Preface C. A. Weslager's Delaware's Forgotten Folk chronicles the history of the Nanticoke Indians and the Cheswold Moors, from John Smith's first encounter with the Nanticokes along the Kuskakarawaok River in 1608, to the struggles faced by these uniquely multiracial communities amid the racial and social tensions of mid-twentieth-century America. It explores the legend surrounding the origin of the two distinct but intricately intertwined groups, focusing on how their uncommon racial heritage—white, black, and Native American—shaped their identity within society and how their traditional culture retained its significance into their present. Weslager's demonstrated command of available information and his familiarity with the people themselves bespeak his deep respect for the Moor and Nanticoke communities. What began as a curious inquiry into the overlooked peoples of the Delaware River Valley developed into an attentive and thoughtful study of a distinct group of people struggling to remain a cultural community in the face of modern opposition. Originally published in 1943, Delaware's Forgotten Folk endures as one of the fundamental volumes on understanding the life and history of the Nanticoke and Moor peoples.
"Ocean of Sound" begins in 1889 at the Paris Exposition when Debussy first heard Javanese music performed. A culture absorbed in perfume, light and ambient sound developed in response to the intangibility of 20th century communications. David Toop traces the evolution of this culture, through Erik Satie to the Velvet Undergound; Miles Davis to Jimi Hendrix. David Toop, who lives in London, is a writer, musician and recording artist. His other books are "Rap Attack 3 "and "Exotica,"
"I too am not a bit tamed—I too am untranslatable / I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world."—Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself," Leaves of Grass The American Yawp is a free, online, collaboratively built American history textbook. Over 300 historians joined together to create the book they wanted for their own students—an accessible, synthetic narrative that reflects the best of recent historical scholarship and provides a jumping-off point for discussions in the U.S. history classroom and beyond. Long before Whitman and long after, Americans have sung something collectively amid the deafening roar of their many individual voices. The Yawp highlights the dynamism and conflict inherent in the history of the United States, while also looking for the common threads that help us make sense of the past. Without losing sight of politics and power, The American Yawp incorporates transnational perspectives, integrates diverse voices, recovers narratives of resistance, and explores the complex process of cultural creation. It looks for America in crowded slave cabins, bustling markets, congested tenements, and marbled halls. It navigates between maternity wards, prisons, streets, bars, and boardrooms. The fully peer-reviewed edition of The American Yawp will be available in two print volumes designed for the U.S. history survey. Volume I begins with the indigenous people who called the Americas home before chronicling the collision of Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans.The American Yawp traces the development of colonial society in the context of the larger Atlantic World and investigates the origins and ruptures of slavery, the American Revolution, and the new nation's development and rebirth through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Rather than asserting a fixed narrative of American progress, The American Yawp gives students a starting point for asking their own questions about how the past informs the problems and opportunities that we confront today.
