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Using 134 sites scattered across the county's 18 towns and the city of Hudson, the author weaves an authoritative and well-documented group of narrative histories linking the evidence of the landscape with the underlying economic and social history of each community. Each town narrative is accompanied by individual site descriptions, which can be used as an on-site guide to local history. The author contends that the economic development of a community is its storyline, which can be read, to a greater or lesser degree, in representative surviving structures. These landmarks give concrete form to the abstract concept of the historical past, linking the written record with the present landscape.