Ten local authors will converge on the Barnes and Noble store at King’s Mall in Kingston on Saturday and Sunday, November 6 and 7 from 1 to 3 p.m. each day to welcome the new store to the region with two days of book-signings celebrating “Local History Weekend.” Their books range from geological and architectural histories to hiking guidebooks, unique nature photography, the Hudson Valley’s great estates and Kingston’s historic districts, exploring much of the rich history and recreational opportunities that make the Hudson River Valley such an endless source of inspiration for historians and artists and such a popular destination for outdoor adventurers.
Saturday, November 6 will feature Robert and Johanna Titus, retired college science instructors and their books The Catskills in the Ice Age and The Hudson Valley in the Ice Age. Joining the Tituses will be New York State-licensed hiking guides Russell Dunn and Barbara Delaney and two of their more than 30 published books, Paths to the Past and Trails with Tales, which feature history hikes through the Capital Region, Saratoga, Berkshires, Catskills and Hudson Valley. Rounding out Saturday’s program will be retired SUNY New Paltz Art History professor William Rhoads, who will be on hand to meet the public and autograph copies of three of his popular books on Kingston and Ulster County history: Kingston, New York: The Architectural History & Guide; Ulster County, New York: The Architectural History & Guide; and Kingston: The IBM Years (coauthored).
Sunday, November 7 will feature Kingston’s own Lowell Thing, author of The Street that Built a City: McEntee’s Chestnut Street, Kingston, and the Rise of New York and coauthor of Kingston: The IBM Years. Joining Thing will be Pamela Malcolm and Andrea Monteleone, authors of the new book Staatsburgh: Gilded Splendor on the Hudson, the first book ever published on the grand mansion and estate below Rhinebeck in Dutchess County that was the home of Ogden Mills and his wife Ruth Livingston Mills. Award-winning photographer Nora Scarlett will showcase her two collections of unforgettable images of the Shawangunk Ridge: Ledge Lake Leaf Labyrinth: An Uncommon Portrait of the Shawangunk Mountains; and Trunks of the Gunks: A Visual Odyssey through the Shawangunk Mountains in Search of the Unexpected. And Shari Aber will help paddlers explore the region with her guidebook that has become a regional favorite, A Kayaker’s Guide to the Hudson River Valley: The Quieter Waters – Rivers, Streams, Lakes and Ponds.
For more information about the book-signings, call Barnes & Noble at (845) 336-0590. To learn more about the books featured during Local History Weekend, call Black Dome Press at (518) 577-5238 or visit www.blackdomepress.com.