The imposing outcrop of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz Island is synonymous with inescapable fear and unforgiving intimidation—its notoriety inextricably linked to its 29-year tenure as a maximum-security federal penitentiary. While this era of infamy has captured the public imagination, it represents only a single chapter of the island’s complex historical narrative. While surveying San Francisco Bay in August 1775, Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala chartered a prominent ro

In January 1692, a mysterious affliction tormented the parsonage of Samuel Parris, the reverend of Salem Village parish. The minister’s...

On August 4, 1892, a horrific crime of seismic proportions sent shockwaves through the headlines. An elderly New England couple...

The socioeconomic programs of Reconstruction stimulated extensive infrastructural development within the former Confederate states....