How did Kelly’s Island or Donnelly’s Wall get their names? Were there pirates in Buffalo Harbor? Was there a clothing-optional beach on the city’s waterfront? What lighthouse changed the shape of the United States?

All this and more can be found in the pages of this book, a collection of history and heritage that traces the colorful past of a waterfront that built a city in the 19th Century and is rebuilding its future in the 21st. Join journalist, historian and author Mike Vogel for a look back at some of the intriguing and sometimes obscure episodes that marked life on the Buffalo waterfront, and the forces that once made this harbor a critically important economic powerhouse for the nation.

Harboring History offers residents and visitors alike a sense of place and a deeper appreciation of the once-industrial shorelines now finding a new role as a modern recreational urban waterfront.