With vast wilderness, rugged terrain and extreme temperatures, New York's North Country is not for the faint of heart. In Remembering New York's North Country, local columnist Dave Shampine celebrates the enduring strength, heroism and intrepidness of the souls who have called this territory home. With over thirty years of writing for the Watertown Daily Times, Shampine expertly weaves historical facts and tales of the human condition. This collection of his best columns- including the story of a Titanic survivor, a dentist who gave his life rescuing others from a fiery inferno and the mysterious case of a John Doe found hanging in a tree- is sure to rivet visitors and longtime residents alike.
A road trip becomes a dead end for a schoolteacher in this haunting cold case of murder that became a fifty-year fight for justice. In June of 1968, Irene Izak, a young French teacher from Scranton, Pennsylvania, was pulling an all-nighter on the road toward the promise of a new life in Quebec. The last time she was seen alive was at 2:09 a.m. by a toll collector at Thousand Island Bridge who claimed Irene was visibly afraid. Less than a half-hour later, Irene was found bludgeoned to death in a ravine bordering DeWolf Point State Park. There were no signs of robbery or sexual assault. For reasons unknown, Irene had been compelled to pull off the interstate and abandon her car, only to be brutally murdered. Irene’s body was discovered by State Trooper Dave Hennigan, who’d stopped her for speeding shortly before—and issued the young woman a warning. Blending novelistic suspense with true-crime reporting, author Dave Shampine investigates a crime that shook the communities of northeast Pennsylvania and New York's North Country—a vicious and confounding killing that has remained unsolved but not forgotten.
In 1862, four years after Minnesota was ratified as the thirty-second state in the Union, simmering tensions between indigenous Dakota and white settlers culminated in the violent, six-week-long U.S.-Dakota War. Hundreds of lives were lost on both sides, and the war ended with the execution of thirty-eight Dakotas on December 26, 1862, in Mankato, Minnesota--the largest mass execution in American history. The following April, after suffering a long internment at Fort Snelling, the Dakota and Winnebago peoples were forcefully removed to South Dakota, precipitating the near destruction of the area's native communities while simultaneously laying the foundation for what we know and recognize today as Minnesota. In North Country: The Making of Minnesota, Mary Lethert Wingerd unlocks the complex origins of the state--origins that have often been ignored in favor of legend and a far more benign narrative of immigration, settlement, and cultural exchange. Moving from the earliest years of contact between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the western Great Lakes region to the era of French and British influence during the fur trade and beyond, Wingerd charts how for two centuries prior to official statehood Native people and Europeans in the region maintained a hesitant, largely cobeneficial relationship. Founded on intermarriage, kinship, and trade between the two parties, this racially hybridized society was a meeting point for cultural and economic exchange until the western expansion of American capitalism and violation of treaties by the U.S. government during the 1850s wore sharply at this tremulous bond, ultimately leading to what Wingerd calls Minnesota's Civil War. A cornerstone text in the chronicle of Minnesota's history, Wingerd's narrative is augmented by more than 170 illustrations chosen and described by Kirsten Delegard in comprehensive captions that depict the fascinating, often haunting representations of the region and its inhabitants over two and a half centuries. North Country is the unflinching account of how the land the Dakota named Mini Sota Makoce became the State of Minnesota and of the people who have called it, at one time or another, home.
Hey Long Island . . . Do U Remember? began in 2008 when two lifelong friends from Oceanside, New York started a Facebook group to share pictures and history of Long Island's iconic places, themes and landmarks. Hey Long Island . . . Do U Remember? is now one of the largest New York history groups on Facebook with more than 142,000 members sharing pictures and information about Long Island's colourful past. Hey Long Island . . . Do U Remember? offers us a window into the past, showing life as it was then, and stirring in us the emotions of wonder and curiosity about those who have gone before us and the lives they lived. With more than 130 photographs, many of them seen here for the first time, Hey Long Island... Do U Remember? offers a stunning portrait of this one-of-a-kind place.
Although Northern New York did not host any Civil War battles, it did not come out unscathed in the War Between the States. Brave soldiers fought in many major clashes, such as those of Jefferson County's Thirty-fifth New York Volunteer Regiment. Civilians struggled for the cause in their own way, with many active Underground Railroad stops across the region. The war's legacy lived on decades beyond the conflict through the many members of the Grand Army of the Republic, Harriet Tubman's home in Auburn and John Brown's burial place in North Elba. Author Dave Shampine compiles his most fascinating columns from the Watertown Daily Times to chronicle the role that New York's North Country played in the Civil War.
The true story of a triple murder that shocked a New York community and drew the interest of famed criminal defense attorney F. Lee Bailey. Twenty-seven-year-old Peter Egan, his wife Barbara Ann, and Peter’s younger brother Gerald were familiar to Watertown, New York, authorities long before December 31, 1964. The police suspected the brazen trio in a long string of burglaries and petty crimes. They were also under investigation by the FBI for grand theft auto. But on that New Year's night, the Egan family’s criminal career came to a violent end. All three were found with a bullet to the head at a rest stop off Interstate 81. The gruesome killings puzzled local and state police. Was it a random murder? A confrontation gone awry? Or a premeditated act of retribution by hardened criminals who feared the Egans would turn state's witness? Then, a surprise arrest was made. But when F. Lee Bailey, lawyer for the self-confessed Boston Strangler, entered the fray, the case took an unexpected twist that shrouded the murders in mystery to this day.
Anyone who hails from New York's North Country, especially St. Lawrence and Jefferson Counties, knows that the region is full of fun, fascinating people. But who were the most famous, the most influential or the most intriguing of this motley crew? Perhaps it was President Eisenhower's secretary of state; the man who fought for his life during a dangerous balloon ride; the football coach who continually led his team to victory; or the family of seven brothers who defended the United States in World War II. You be the judge, as the Watertown Daily Times's Dave Shampine brings to life the stories of these and many other captivating, colorful characters.
“The idea is inspired and the treatment piercingly beautiful . . . Two formidable artists have shown respect for the integrity of each other’s work here and the result is magnificent.” —Independent “Bob Dylan’s back catalogue is used to glorious effect in Conor McPherson’s astonishing cross-section of hope and stoic suffering . . . It is the constant dialogue between the drama and the songs that makes this show exceptional.” —Guardian “Beguiling and soulful and quietly, exquisitely, heartbreaking. A very special piece of theatre.” —Evening Standard “A populous, otherworldly play that combines the hard grit of the Great Depression with something numinous and mysterious.” —Telegraph Duluth, Minnesota. 1934. A community living on a knife-edge. Lost and lonely people huddle together in the local guesthouse. The owner, Nick, owes more money than he can ever repay, his wife Elizabeth is losing her mind, and their daughter Marianne is carrying a child no one will account for. So when a preacher selling bibles and a boxer looking for a comeback turn up in the middle of the night, things spiral beyond the point of no return . . . In Girl from the North Country, Conor McPherson beautifully weaves the iconic songbook of Bob Dylan into a show full of hope, heartbreak and soul. It premiered at the Old Vic, London, in July 2017, in a production directed by the author. Conor McPherson is an award-winning Irish playwright. His best-known works include The Weir (Royal Court; winner of the 1999 Olivier Award for Best New Play), Dublin Carol (Atlantic Theater Company) and The Seafarer (National Theatre). Bob Dylan, born in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1941, is one of the most important songwriters of our time. Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. He released his thirty-ninth studio album, Triplicate, in April 2017, and continues to tour worldwide.
