6" x 9" • Trade Paperback • 334 pages • Photographs • Bibliography • Index

About the Books

A community without knowledge of its history is like a man without knowledge of his soul. Catherine Morison Rehart’s captivating vignettes extend to all of us an invitation to learn something of California’s Central Valley history. It is here in Rehart’s near near-magical journey through time that we are privileged to view the sacrifices and successes, the toils and triumphs of those who preceded us, each contributing his or her measure to the legacy of this extraordinary place.

In Legends & Legacies, a five volume series, Rehart sojourns at the wellspring of local history, chronicling with warmth and affection the intriguing, exciting, humorous, and poignant stories of the vibrant, colorful Valley inhabitants who created the legends and bestowed the legacies on those of us who now roam the same cherished ground.

New! Volume V

In this, the fifth volume of her award-winning collection of vignettes, we are treated to cultural evenings at the Barton Opera House, damp Kings River revival meetings, exhilarating afternoons at the races, and family trips to the coast. Within these pages, you will meet bankers and bandits, physicians and postmasters, editors and evangelists...even a paperhanger who dazzles his audience at the elegant Pleasanton Hotel with his mind-reading shenanigans. It’s all part and parcel of our fruitful Valley’s legends and legacies.

Volume I: Stories include Millerton, Selma, Reedley, Fresno, Clovis, Coalinga, Madera, Kingsburg, Friant, Kerman, Sanger

Volume II: Stories include Millerton, Selma, Reedley, Fresno, Clovis, Coalinga, Madera, Kingsburg, Friant, Kerman, Sanger

Volume III: Stories include Firebaugh, Selma, Hanford, Fresno, Dunlap, Coalinga, Madera, Kingsburg, Fowler, Oakhurst, Mariposa

Volume IV: Stories include Clovis, Madera, Sanger, Academy, Hanford, Fresno, Grangeville, Centerville, Fowler, Dos Palos

Volume V: Stories include Academy, Centerville, Coalinga, Easton, Fresno, Hanford, Kingston, Laton, Pine Ridge, Wawona, Woodsville

About the Author

Cathy Rehart’s mother’s family arrived in Fresno Station in 1873, the year after the town was founded. She was born in the Sample Sanitarium on Fulton Street, is a third generation graduate of Fresno High School and a second generation graduate of Fresno State College with a BA in English and history. She is the mother of three grown children.

She has served as first vice-chairwoman for the Historic Preservation Commission for the City of Fresno; as a member of the board of directors of the Fresno City and County Historical Society; as chair of the Preservation Committee of the FCCHS; and a president of the La Paloma Guild, the FCCH’s auxiliary. From 1986 to 1994, she held the position of education/information director for the FCCHS.

Her work as a freelance writer includes writing the KMJ Radio scripts for “The Valley’s Legends and Legacies” —from which this book is derived—and other writing projects on local history.