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Lake Ilmen, 1942: The Wehrmacht Front to the Red Army
by Óscar González Pablo SagarraThis WWII combat history sheds light on the Battle for Staraya Russa, in which German soldiers and Spanish volunteers bitterly fought the Red Army. In January 1942, in the Staraya Russa sector south of Lake Ilmen, the 16th German Army clashed with Vasili Morozov's 11th Soviet Army for possession of the region. Fighting alongside the Germans were the Spanish volunteers of the Blue Division. Though the fighting lasted for nearly a month, the battle for Staraya Russa is all but forgotten in studies of the Second World War&’s Eastern Front. In Lake Ilmen, 1942, the authors present a strategic framework of the battle from both the German and Russian perspectives. They also recount the hard fighting and extreme weather endured by both sides, bringing the human aspect of the conflict to life through a survey of individual volunteers who fought in it.
Lake Jocassee (Images of America)
by Debbie FletcherThe creation of Lake Jocassee by Duke Power Company's massive Keowee-Toxaway Project in the late 1960s and early 1970s flooded a quaint mountain valley whose earliest recorded history was in 1539, when Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto led an expedition through the present-day Jocassee Gorges. In 1971, hundreds watched the slow retreat of the Whitewater, Thompson, Horsepasture, Toxaway, and Keowee Rivers as they formed one large lake, smothering homes, lands, and farms in the process. Years of monitoring the water flow through the valley proved initial estimates correct, and Lake Jocassee became the deepwater source it was intended to be, providing an adequate supply of water to generate electricity. Today, a new generation enjoys many recreational activities on what is known as the "Jewel in South Carolina's Crown," a pristine lake surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains in Oconee and Pickens Counties.
Lake Junaluska
by William E. KingReligion spread swiftly across our new nation with the help of camp meetings where families, taking a break from farm labor, gathered for inspiration and socializing. The late-19th-century religious experience expanded the concept by adding educational and recreational opportunities. Permanent campgrounds appeared, the most renowned being Chautauqua in New York. In 1913, Southern Methodists created their own institution with the first conference at Lake Junaluska in western North Carolina. Capitalizing on the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains, Lake Junaluska Assembly, a conference center of the United Methodist Church, became an attraction for inspiration, instruction, relaxation, and recreation. Renowned preachers such as Billy Graham and speakers like Eleanor Roosevelt have filled its iconic round auditorium. Approximately 200,000 annual visitors join a residential community to make Lake Junaluska a destination in its own right amid the attractions of nearby Asheville, Waynesville, Blue Ridge Parkway, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Lake Lure
by Jim ProctorLake Lure, North Carolina, is known as the "Gem of the Carolinas." Twenty-five years after Dr. Lucius Morse and his brothers Hiram and Asahil purchased Chimney Rock in 1902, their dream of creating Lake Lure and the town of Lake Lure was realized. Lake Lure is surrounded by majestic mountain cliffs and fed by the idyllic Rocky Broad River. A popular tourist destination, Lake Lure hosted famous figures through the years, including Franklin D. Roosevelt and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Also significant in film history, it provided the backdrop for Dirty Dancing and Last of the Mohicans. Lake Lure showcases the rich community, tourism, and recreational history of this mountain community.
Lake Mary
by John HopeFrom the start, Lake Mary was quiet and friendly, with a quality of life that attracted people of various backgrounds and origins wanting a break from hectic city life. The founding families described their initial experience as "heaven," with men on horseback clomping over dirt roads, dogs running free, ospreys perched in silence, and the echoes of children playing nearby. Underneath the cool shade of Florida oaks and swaying palmettos, women rocked and knitted while men gathered on benches and told valiant stories of catching fish. Since its inception, the Lake Mary City Commission has embraced the so-called "total quality of life," providing homes and work opportunities in close proximity to reduce daily commutes and solidify the sense of community. This led the way to Money magazine naming Lake Mary in 1997 the fourth best place to live and work in the United States.
Lake Mead
by Erin Elizabeth EichenbergThe drastic contrast between its desert landscape and the deep, blue waters of Lake Mead makes it difficult to envision the park's creation as merely incidental. After the completion of the Hoover Dam, the waters of the Colorado River began to flood the river valley and form one of the largest man-made lakes in the United States. The Bureau of Reclamation soon realized the vast recreational opportunities that Lake Mead would provide. Through a memorandum of agreement, the National Park Service was tasked with managing the first national recreation area, formerly known as the Boulder Dam National Recreation Area.
Lake Michigan Triangle, The: Mysterious Disappearances and Haunting Tales (American Legends)
by Gayle SoucekWhat disturbing secrets surround the cold, deep waters of Lake Michigan?Sudden violent storms and rocky shoals have claimed the lives of countless mortals foolish enough to brave the treacherous surf of Lake Michigan. But is there another, unnatural force at work? A force that spirited away a ship's captain from a locked cabin without a trace? A force that caused a perfectly airworthy jet to fly into the waves, taking all its passengers to a watery death? Perhaps these tragedies are linked to numerous UFO sightings over the lake. Or perhaps a clue might be found in the prehistoric Stonehenge-like structures discovered deep beneath the crystalline blue surface. Historian and storyteller Gayle Soucek will explore the mysteries behind the area known as the Lake Michigan Triangle.
Lake Michigan's Aircraft Carriers (Images of America)
by Paul M. SomersLake Michigan's Aircraft Carriers is the story of the USS Wolverine and the USS Sable, two Great Lakes excursion ships converted for use as aircraft carrier training during World War II. Through the duration of the war, the United States Navy qualified 17,800 pilots for aircraft carrier operation. Training the pilots on either the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean would have exposed the training ships to the danger of submarine attack, while requiring the escort of fighting ships that were needed elsewhere. It would also have involved arming and armoring the ships used for training. Commander R.F. Whitehead came up with an idea that solved all of these problems. He suggested doing the training on the protected waters of the Great Lakes.The USS Wolverine and the USS Sable were chosen and thus became the only fresh water, paddle-wheeled, coal-fired aircraft carriers in the history of the world. Author Paul M. Somers shares his collection of vintage photos and a lifetime of research to detail the history of these two great vessels-from their life as cruise ships to their contributions to the war effort and then to their eventual scrapping.
Lake Minnetonka
by Excelsior-Lake Minnetonka Historical Society Westonka Historical Society Wayzata Historical SocietyKnown to native peoples for centuries as a sacred place and hunting ground, the ninth largest of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes remained unchanged until its shores were opened to settlement in 1851. The following year, New York promoter George Bertram wrote, "For healthfulness of climate, fertility of soil, beauty of scenery and nearness to markets [it] cannot be surpassed by any other locality in the country, being within twelve or fifteen miles of two of the most important towns in the territory . . . navigable for steam and other boats over forty-one miles, its waters clear as crystal and abounding with fish." Settlers began to flock to Lake Minnetonka's 120 miles of shoreline, clearing the "Big Woods" and building new lives in the wilderness. Soon, the lake became a tourist destination; thousands traveled across the country to stay in its lavish hotels, ride in massive steamboats, and enjoy the lake's beauty.
Lake Nipigon: Where the Great Lakes Begin
by Nancy Scott2017 Gertrude H. Dyke Award — Nominated The history of Lake Nipigon, where the Great Lakes begin. The name Nipigon is evocative of storied brook trout, cold clear waters, elusive woodland caribou, sweeping vistas, and spectacular scenery. Situated in the heart of Northwestern Ontario, almost every map of North America shows Lake Nipigon as a significant geographic feature, yet few people know its story. As the primary watershed that flows into Lake Superior, Nipigon is the headwaters of the Great Lakes. This, the first inclusive historical account of Lake Nipigon, provides a fascinating overview of its extensive natural history, including information on species at risk, and interprets the story of human incursion into the area, from its aboriginal prehistory to the colourful fur trade, the harvesting of resources, the coming of the railway, recreational fishing, eventual settlement, and the communities that remain today.
Lake Oswego
by Laura O. FosterFifteen thousand years ago, the Missoula floods roared out of the Columbia River Gorge and sculpted a lakebed out of an old river channel. In 1847, Albert Durham built a home and mill at the lake's outlet, calling the area Oswego. In the 1860s, iron ore mined from the surrounding hills gave rise to the hope that Oswego would become the "Pittsburgh of the West." Two decades after its hillsides had been logged and the iron industry failed, the city reinvented itself as an elegant streetcar suburb of Portland, a place where people could live where they played. Oswego Lake's shores were soon lined with picturesque homes, and pleasure boats and water-skiers roamed its waters. Arcadia's Images of America: Lake Oswego chronicles the town's bucolic beginnings, industrial heyday, and successful repurposing from a community based on resource extraction to one of Oregon's most beautiful towns, renamed Lake Oswego after a 1960 merger with nearby Lake Grove.
Lake Placid Figure Skating: A History (Sports)
by Christie SausaFigure skating has always had an important home in Lake Placid. Early on, the Sno Birds popularized this summer retreat, and Melville and Godfrey Dewey won the campaign for the 1932 Winter Olympics. The Skating Club of Lake Placid was formed, and after 1932, famous skaters trained here with legendary coach Gus Lussi. When Lake Placid again hosted the Olympics in 1980, skating dominated, with state-of-the-art facilities that have continued to be used by stars like Dorothy Hamill and Sarah Hughes, and helped give rise to Scott Hamilton's Stars on Ice. For more than one hundred years, the Lake Placid community has worked together to support figure skating and skaters in this quiet Adirondack village. Local expert Christie Sausa tells this exciting story.
Lake Pontchartrain
by Catherine CampanellaNative Americans used Okwata, meaning "wide water," as a shortcut for inland trade between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. When the Europeans arrived, the original inhabitants showed them the route--the settlement near the river became the city of New Orleans, other lakeshore communities grew, and Lake Pontchartrain continued to be a vital waterway well into the 20th century. Aside from its economic value, Lake Pontchartrain was a cultural mecca: Mark Twain wrote about it and jazz sprang from its shores; locals and visitors traveled out to the amusement parks and opera pavilions, simple fishing villages and swanky yacht clubs, forts and lighthouses; and majestic hotels and camps perched precariously over the water. In Images of America: Lake Pontchartrain, photographs document memories of a time that not even Hurricane Katrina could erase.
Lake Pontchartrain (Images of America)
by Catherine CampanellaIn Images of America: Lake Pontchartrain, photographs document memories of a time that not even Hurricane Katrina could erase.Native Americans used Okwata, meaning "wide water," as a shortcut for inland trade between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. When the Europeans arrived, the original inhabitants showed them the route--the settlement near the river became the city of New Orleans, other lakeshore communities grew, and Lake Pontchartrain continued to be a vital waterway well into the 20th century. Aside from its economic value, Lake Pontchartrain was a cultural mecca: Mark Twain wrote about it and jazz sprang from its shores; locals and visitors traveled out to the amusement parks and opera pavilions, simple fishing villages and swanky yacht clubs, forts and lighthouses; and majestic hotels and camps perched precariously over the water.
Lake Quannapowitt
by Alison C. Simcox Douglas L. HeathLake Quannapowitt is named for James Quonopohit, a member of the Pawtucket tribe of Nipmuc Indians and signer of the 1686 deed selling land to European colonists. A town called Redding (now Wakefield) developed on the shore of the lake that provided colonists with a bounty of fish, including salmon and alewives, until mills stopped their passage upstream. The town remained rural until the Boston and Maine Railroad arrived in 1845. Overnight, new markets became accessible, and Lake Quannapowitt ice was exported to destinations worldwide. Icehouses dominated the shoreline and stood side-by-side with boathouses and bathhouses. Some in Wakefield remember the last days of ice harvesting, although barely a trace of its existence remains. More residents remember Hill's Boathouse and Dance Hall, where many a romance began. For recent arrivals who walk and jog its idyllic 5-kilometer shore, the lake's industrial and complex past will come as a surprise.
Lake Quinsigamond and White City Amusement Park (Images of America)
by Michael Perna Jr.In the 1800s and well into the 1900s, the area around Lake Quinsigamond, in Shrewsbury and Worcester, was one huge summer resort. Hotels, ethnic and social clubs, boat clubs, a horse racing track, picnic grounds, and two amusement parks, Lincoln Park and White City Park, lined the shore. Steamboats and smaller steam launches transported tourists to the area. Canoes, rowboats, sailboats, and motorboats crowded the lake on weekends. Crew boat regattas, which started in the 1850s, continue to this day. Lake Quinsigamond and White City Amusement Park lets readers experience the attractions, such as the shoot the chutes and White City roller coaster, and enjoy the fun atmosphere during those long-ago summers.
Lake Ronkonkoma
by Dale Spencer Janet RischbieterThe town of Lake Ronkonkoma began as a small farming community. By the 1870s, the lake's reputation as a vacation destination was spreading among wealthy New York City residents. The completion of the Long Island Motor Parkway in 1911 made the lake accessible to early automobile enthusiasts, and over time, as more could afford automobiles, the rich and poor alike flocked to its sparkling shores for swimming, boating, and fishing. In 1921, local businessman George C. Raynor created Raynor's Beach, the first in the lake's era of grand beach pavilions. By the mid-1920s, beach pavilions were located all around Lake Ronkonkoma's three miles of shoreline. Lake Ronkonkoma provides a view into the rich history of this unique community and its transformation to a bustling summer resort.
Lake San Marcos
by Jacque BakerIn 1962, the Frazar brothers purchased 1,648 acres of land, which included a 40-acre lake, in San Diego's North County with the goal of building a lakeside community of homes and two golf courses. By 1964, the lake was enlarged to 80 acres and the land was reshaped to accommodate 1,500 homes (eventually growing to over 2,500 homes); two golf courses, one a private country club and the other a public course; and a bridge across the lake. A motel, restaurant, shopping center, and residents' recreation center were later added. In 1967, the National Home Builders Association Convention in Chicago awarded the Lake San Marcos design the title of "Best Planned Lakeside Community in the Nation."
Lake Shore Electric Railway
by Dennis Lamont Albert Doane Thomas J. PattonThe Lake Shore Electric Railway commenced operation in 1893 on the north coast of Ohio, providing transportation to Cleveland, Lorain, Sandusky, Toledo, and on to Detroit, Michigan. The Lake Shore Electric Railway connected with many other electric railroads to offer a comprehensive quilt of transportation. This allowed increased commerce, ease of transportation, and access for the industrial-era family to visit such recreation spots as Linwood, Crystal Beach, Avon Beach Park, Mitiwanga, Rye Beach, Ruggles Grove and Beach, and Cedar Point, among others. An unimaginable feat in the late 1800s, the Lake Shore Electric could travel from Lorain to Cleveland (approximately 30 miles) in under one hour, making the railway a huge success. Unfortunately this success only lasted about 40 years.
Lake Superior Country: 19th Century Travel and Tourism
by Troy HendersonWhat attracted 19th century travelers to the rugged landscape of Michigan's Upper Peninsula? Most travelers had to brave the frigid, gigantic, and the often-perilous Lake Superior to gain entrance to the Upper Peninsula. But although the lake and rugged terrain often made it difficult for travelers to traverse the Upper Peninsula, it also often made travel an adventurous and enjoyable occasion.Lake Superior Country: 19th Century Travel and Tourism to Michigan's Upper Peninsula will follow these 19th century travelers, from the explorers in search of land titles and valuable mineral deposits in the early part of the century, to "literary travelers" seeking to witness the romantic region made famous by Henry W. Longfellow's poem "The Song of Hiawatha," to the sportsmen and sportswomen who found a bounty of wildlife and fishing grounds. It will also illustrate the various methods of travel undertaken by these people, from birch bark canoes, to steamers, to the railroads, and how these different methods of travel defined the overall tourist experience.
Lake Superior Profiles: People on the Big Lake
by John GagnonIntroduces readers to ordinary, offbeat, and interesting people living on and around Lake Superior.
Lake Tahoe's Railroads (Images of Rail)
by Stephen E. DrewLake Tahoe is the majestic mountain lake that spans the boundary line of California and Nevada. The lake’s clarity and scenic beauty are legendary. In the 1870s, the Nevada Comstock Lode created an insatiable appetite for Lake Tahoe’s virgin pine forests. The timbers would shore up underground mining and build communities approaching 40,000 inhabitants. Railroads on three shores delivered the logs lakeside, where they were towed by steam-powered tugs to sawmills, to lumber flumes, and again by rail to their final destinations. As the mines and giant lake pines subsided, railroads pushed farther north after 1898 into new timber stands in the Lake Tahoe and Truckee River basins. Other rail lines were sold, barged across the lake, and repurposed for the burgeoning new industry of tourism. For the next 40 years, railroads marketed Lake Tahoe as their unique scenic destination.
Lake Tahoe: A Maritime History (Images of America)
by Peter GoinThe Washoe Indians called it Tah-ve, an unfathomable liquid sapphire set in a 500 square-mile watershed of alpine snow and ice. Too deep and vast to freeze, Lake Tahoe's waters have, over time, reflected pristine forests, barren hillsides littered with slash and sawdust, managed restoration, and the glow of neon casino marquees. Its spectacular natural landscape, shared by both California and Nevada, is more designed than people realize. Humans transformed most of the old trees into mine shafts and cities. When the railroad, and later the automobile, domesticated the lake, putting it within recreational reach of the middle class, much of Lake Tahoe's shore became a managed wilderness. Its location along a political border created a unique merger of naturalist and gaming economies.
Lake Tahoe’s Rustic Architecture (Images of America)
by Peter Mires Peter R. Dubé NCARB AIALake Tahoe is the gem of the Sierra Nevada. Those who visit this beautiful "Lake of the Sky" may share Mark Twain's impression of the place as he camped on its shore in 1861: "As it lay there with the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole earth affords." Twain's quote, from Roughing It, includes the trinity of Tahoe's landscape--sky, mountains, and lake--that people still find inspiring. This explains, in large part, why the man-made environment around the lake is predominantly rustic, a style of architecture noted for its compatibility with its surroundings through the use of natural materials in construction--logs, stone, and wooden shingle--along with muted shades of green and brown. Through its homes, resorts, and other assorted buildings, Lake Tahoe remains "the fairest picture."
Lake Travis's South Shore (Images of America)
by Leslie Ann WebbThe Colorado River, running through Austin, Texas, and the area now referred to as Lake Travis, has always been a beautiful place to live. The early settlers found it suitable for farming and ranching--until it rained. The rain soaked up soil, and water upstream often engorged the land and washed out everything in its path. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal created agencies that constructed hydroelectric dams for the Tennessee Valley Authority, and those were used as blueprints for the Lower Colorado River Authority. The ground-breaking for the Mansfield Dam took place on February 19, 1937, and the dam was completed in 1942, providing power and flood control for the area. The dam created Lake Travis and brought about a new recreational industry. Boat docks, lodges, and parks sprang up along the newly created lake, and they are still enjoyed today.