PREFACE
In offering to the public the second volume of American Historic Towns the editor desires to bring three facts to the consideration of the reader.
1. This being the middle volume of a series dealing with the older towns along, or near, the Eastern coast, it is hoped that the title Historic Towns of the Middle States will seem not inappropriate.
2. The plan which underlay the making of the first volume, Historic Towns of New England, has in the main been followed. Each author has invariably been chosen because of unique fitness for his special task. The editor believes that in every case the enthusiasm of the native or the resident will be found wedded to the perspective of the litterateur or scholar. No effort has been made to harmonize divergencies in style or judgment, for obvious reasons. The success of the first volume
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