Title: Hidden History of St. Joseph County, Michigan
Author: Kelly Pucci
Publication: April 3, 2017
Publisher: History Press Library Editions
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 146
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
Michigan established St. Joseph County in 1829. It was a fertile land with an abundance of fresh water supplied by the St. Joseph River. The county s colorful past is the result of forgotten locals and visitors. Hezekiah Thomas fished for diamonds in Corey Lake. Saloon smasher Carrie Nation sold miniature hatchets at the county fairgrounds. The United States Congress recognizes the village of Colon as the Magic Capital of the World, and Lakeside Cemetery is the final resting place of more magicians than any other cemetery on the globe. Author and historian Kelly Pucci digs into the entertaining and often overlooked history of St. Joseph County.”
REVIEW:
For Christmas a few years ago my parents gave me this book as a gift. I am huge into history and at the time big into genealogy. I love reading about places and learning their history. I set it on my shelf to read but it go shuffled around and lost because of it’s size (less than 150 pages). This spring I reorganized all my TBR books and catalogued them into a spread, when I came across it again and put it on my nightstand to be read next.
This book isn’t really a story. Its broken down into sections based on a township or a city..for example Park Township (where I grew up), Leonidas Township, etc or a city, City of Three Rivers, White Pigeon, etc. So it’s super easy to read. Each section is about 10-15 pages with roughly 15 stories more or less in each one. Each story is well researched and easy to read. It’s not like a history text. The writing flows well from story to story although twice I turned the page and had to go back because the story ended to fast.
I learned so much about my hometown county. I could see each of the places that the author talked about no problem. I had no clue that Flowerfield was named because the surveyors walked in a field of flowers and came up with the name. I didn’t know that the small cemetery by the Langley Covered Bridge was in Ripley’s Believe It or Not because it’s literally in the middle of the road and you have to drive around it. I just wish there was more stories in the book, I would have eaten them up no problem!!! I am planning on loaning this book to my family who still live in St. Joe County, I know that they will enjoy reading and learning more about the county. I hope that maybe someday the author will write another book about more hidden history.
