Fern Nesson takes us on the road following the original WPA Guidebooks. Follow along as she re-enacts these journeys, discovering what’s old and what’s new.
Minnesota is the epitome of an unprepossessing state. It is interesting, friendly, varied, cultured, but above all, it is modest. The Minnesota State Guide, like the state that produced it, tends toward matter-of-fact statements. Even when it describes a gem… read more
Until the 1960’s, the elite Ivy League colleges did not accept women students. Women who wanted the highest quality education sought and achieved it through the establishment of the Seven Sisters. All founded in the 1880’s and 90’s, the Seven… read more
Bridgehampton was farmland from the first three centuries of its existence. Settlers in the 1640s displaced the Shinnecock natives (who called the area Sagaponack) and they soon discovered that plowed, flat, farm fields bordering the Atlantic Ocean were perfect for… read more
Massachusetts claims William Lloyd Garrison as a native son. Garrison founded of the anti-slavery movement in our state and was among its most powerful spokespersons. Garrison is best know as the editor of The Liberator, an anti-slavery newspaper, founded… read more
In 1939, North Carolina was segregated and the Guide had a lot to say about that: “In North Carolina towns, as in most southern towns, there are segregated sections for Negroes, and in these sections housing and sanitation generally have been… read more
“Left from Salisbury Square on State 1 A is the Old Burying Ground at the junction of State 1A and Beach Rd. In this cemetery, laid out in 1639, may be seen large flat stones known as ‘wolf slabs’ placed… read more
Sheridan Square, in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village was named for General Philip Sheridan, a Northern general in the Civil War. The Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac, he defeated Confederates in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864… read more
City Island, a small dot in Long Island Sound just east of the Bronx, was purchased by Thomas Pell from the native Lenape tribe in 1654. The next generation to live on the island had big plans. They renamed it… read more
One of the mysteries of the New Jersey Guide is the short shrift that it gave to the town of Asbury Park. Sited on a lovely stretch of the Atlantic Coast that provides a miles-long beach, a boardwalk filled with… read more
Thomas Edison died in 1931. One of the world’s greatest inventors, Edison invented the phonograph, the microphone, the electric light bulb, the fluoroscope, the stock ticker, the kinetoscope, the rechargeable battery, and countless other more obscure inventions. Edison’s lab was… read more
When its Guide was published in 1939, “North Carolina had no publicly owned art museums or galleries.” (North Carolina Guide p. 116) But art was by no means lacking. The practice and profession of fine crafts in the form of… read more
The Maryland State Guide is an excellent source book for Maryland’s traditional foods. As the Guide makes clear, cooking and eating have been a preoccupation in the state since colonial times. The Guide’s section on food is perhaps the longest,… read more
In 1939, Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn was one of two New York City airports, the other being North Beach Airport in Corona, Queens. Today, Fort Bennett Field is part of the Gateways National Park while North Beach, now called Laguardia… read more
The entrance from the Atlantic Ocean to New York Harbor is through The Narrows. Only one mile wide, the Narrows is bounded by Staten Island to the West and Brooklyn to the East. Whoever controls the Narrows effectively controls maritime access… read more
In 1889, in a Gilded Age exploit, rivaling those of his contemporaries Whitney, Rockefeller and Carnegie, New York millionaire George Vanderbilt completely transformed the small city of Asheville, North Carolina. Formerly a small mill town, Vanderbilt arrived in Asheville, purchased… read more
“On Christmas night, 1776, General Washington and 2,400 soldiers crossed the Delaware to surprise the merry-making Hessian mercenaries. During a blinding snowstorm, the Continentals entered the roomy Durham boats for the perilous trip and [succeeded in capturing] Trenton.” Pennsylvania Guide,… read more
One of the most shameful episodes in our history was the Cherokee Removal in 1838. The original homelands of the Cherokee consisted of 10 million acres of land in eastern Tennessee and northern Georgia and Alabama. The Cherokee were… read more
Visiting the Currier Museum in Manchester, New Hampshire is a bittersweet experience. Built in 1927 , the museum was a magnificent structure. The New Hampshire Guide aptly described it as massive and beautiful: “In a setting of old hemlocks and… read more
The Borough of Brooklyn has always had a somewhat fractious, competitive relationship with its neighbor, Manhattan. Founded as a separate village — later a separate city — Brooklyn resisted incorporation into New York City until 1898. The New York City… read more
Dorchester County on the Eastern Shore of Maryand was the birthplace of Harriet Tubman. The Maryland Guide noted that slavery and post-Civil war Jim Crow were particularly harsh on the Eastern Shore. “In the counties of Maryland particularly on… read more
Guns are much in the news today. Thinking about the genesis of American fascination with them, and the terrible consequences of our misuse of them, inspired me to visit the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. Springfield was our country’s first… read more
No person is mentioned more frequently in the Massachusetts Guide than Paul Revere (At least 12 times, and that doesn’t include the references to the city of Revere and the countless streets, squares, statues, businesses, and schools that bear his… read more
“At 253 West 125th Street, near Eighth Avenue, is the Apollo Theatre, known as Harlem’s “opera house.” Opened in 1913, … in 1934 it [began] to present weekly all-Negro revues, with outstanding dance orchestras.” New York City Guide, p.259. The Guide’s… read more
Newport, Rhode Island during the Gilded age (post-Civil War – World War I) is a particular focus of the Rhode Island State Guide. In contrast to the colonial, religious roots of the city and its sea-faring enterprises before the Civil… read more
This August, my husband and I sailed into Bristol, Rhode Island to visit the famed Herreshoff boatworks. Since 1863, Herreshoff has been designing and building sleek wooden sailboats, which are prized and still in use throughout New England’s sailing waters…. read more
For much of its history, the western Massachusetts city of North Adams was a mill town. In 1937, the Massachusetts Guide could imagine no other purpose for its existence: “This little mill city bursts suddenly into view in a setting… read more
When the New York City Guide lavished praise on Grand Central Station in 1939, it gave no hint that this extraordinary building would face destruction thirty years later. In a city chock full of interesting architecture, Grand Central merited three… read more
The New York City Guide’s writers had a passion for the city’s architecture of all periods. Grand Central Station, St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Metropolitan Opera House, City Hall and Gracie Mansion, The Flatiron Building , the NY Public Library, The Metropolitan… read more
Black Mountain College was founded in 1933 by several professors who had been fired by Rollins College for refusing to sign a loyalty oath. The founders purchased land outside Asheville, North Carolina and both students and teachers pitched in to design and… read more
Perhaps the most striking change that I have seen in two years of travels with the State Guides is the nearly total recreation of the waterfront on the west side of Manhattan below 34th Street. The neighborhood was once a… read more
When the Revolutionary war ended in 1783, many Massachusetts soldiers returned to find themselves in debt. In addition to debts incurred by their families while they were at war, the state was proposing to increase taxes to cover its own… read more
“The Cambridge [of Harvard] is famous…. But the story of Cambridge the Unknown City has seldom been told. Yet this is a very real Cambridge. A hundred and fifty thousand people throng its streets, stores and crowded subway stations. Five… read more
The Rhode Island Guide contains a section on ethnic groups entitled ”Foreign Born.” But it notes that 75% of those termed foreign-born are, in fact, American citizens born of immigrant parents. The Italians are the largest group. In 1936,… read more
In 1937, the entrance to Harvard’s rare books collection was housed in one room in Widener Library. The Guide has this mystifying description of the collection: “The Treasure Room, reached from the southwest corner of the entrance hall, is allotted… read more
The small city of Quincy has an outsize place in Presidential history. John Adams, second President of the United States and important contributor to the draft of our Constitution, was born here in 1735. His son, John Quincy Adams, our sixth… read more
In the first half of the19th century, Massachusetts was the scene of the intersection of two social movements: Transcendentalism and Utopianism. Best known in the writings of Emerson and Thoreau, Transcendentalism taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity. Emerson, and… read more
Pre-Civil War firefighting in New York City was done by volunteer groups who built and equipped their own neighborhood firehouses. In 1865, when the city created the Metropolitan Fire Department (MFD), it acquired these buildings and hired distinguished architects to… read more
“I am in earnest – I will not equivocate – I will not excuse. I will not retreat a single inch – and I will be heard!” William Lloyd Garrison, “The Liberator” Boston was the center of the pre-Civil War… read more
The Lower East Side is likely the most colorful and diverse neighborhood in all of Manhattan and it inspired equally colorful descriptive language in the New York City Guide. First home to many immigrant groups “straight off the boat,” this… read more
The New York City Guide has lots to say about New York’s impressive harbor. Foremost among the sites that it describes are the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. One is little changed, the other almost totally transformed. It is… read more
Abraham Lincoln once greeted Harriet Beecher Stowe saying, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!” A similar claim can be made for Thomas Paine and the American Revolution. Good writers can do that…. read more
In an absolutely masterful piece of writing, the anonymous writer of New York City Guide described Coney Island in profusely colorful, engaging language. It is hard to imagine that any writer could have done it better: “CONEY ISLAND, the sand bar… read more
Attitudes change over time. What once seemed “progressive,” can now be seen as truly repressive. This is certainly the case with the Carlisle Industrial School for Indians. The Carlisle School was founded by U.S. Army Colonel Richard Pratt in 1873…. read more
One of the great pleasures during a New York winter is a visit to the Metropolitan Museum. Not content to display its immense and broad collections in the simple, airy rooms of most museums, The Met has gone to great… read more
The state guides use two different sizes of type: 12-point type for major sites, 8-point for byways and places of less importance. But it is often these 8-point type blurbs that prove the most interesting. A perfect example is the… read more
Thomas Jefferson is one of our most interesting, brilliant, and complicated historical figures. A polymath who authored the Declaration of Independence and founded the University of Virginia, a philosopher and political scientist of the highest quality, a naturalist, an inventor,… read more
By Fern L. Nesson There’s not much to see in Watertown, Massachusetts, a quiet suburb of Boston on the banks of the Charles River. The Massachusetts guide mentions a few historic houses and historical markers memorializing the first settlement in… read more
By Fern L. Nesson and Sasha Wolfrum, October, 2020 One of the most charming aspects of the WPA State Guides are their sections on culture. Aside from the requisite essays on geography, economy, and history, the authors were free to… read more
By Fern L. Nesson Even in the depths of the Great Depression, Nantucket drew tourists for its quaint, but stunning beauty. Here’s what the Guide had to say: “Nantucket is an experience. The steamer rounds Brant Point Light and comes suddenly… read more
By Fern L. Nesson In 1939, the North Carolina Guide unflinchingly described the plight of Blacks in the state. Twenty-nine percent of North Carolina’s population was Black, down from 50 percent before the Civil War. The decline was no mystery;… read more
By Fern L. Nesson, June, 2020 In these days of pandemic and civil unrest, lay-offs and economic insecurity, anxiety and depression, the WPA Guides can be a source of comfort. The Guide’s writers would have related to our pain, as it… read more
Fern L. Nesson, April, 2020 An Introduction: On The Road With the WPA’s American Guide Series The Massachusetts State Guide devotes an entire page to the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge and it urges a visit. Rightly so. “Mt. Auburn… read more
Fern L. Nesson, April, 2020 An Introduction: On The Road With the WPA’s American Guide Series The American Guide Series, produced by the Federal Writers’ Project is one of the most well-known WPA projects. Written as a collection of travel… read more
The American Guide Series by the Federal Writers’ Project have a lot to say about the Civil War, none more than Virginia where the greatest number of battles were fought from the first land battle at Bull Run in 1861,… read more
By Fern L. Nesson I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came… read more
Whaling in Massachusetts ceased in the early 20th century, but the wharves, chandleries, captains, and customs houses remain, offering scenic and fascinating reminders of the trade. In 1939, the writers of the Massachusetts State Guide took a great interest in… read more
The American Guide Series, produced by the Federal Writers’ Project, is one of the most well-known WPA projects. Written as a collection of travel guides, the series included recommended tour routes as well as essays on the history and culture… read more
The American Guide Series, produced by the Federal Writers’ Project is one of the most well-known WPA projects. Written as a collection of travel guides, the series included suggested tour routes as well as essays on the history and culture… read more
