Helen-Chantal Pike

Selected Works

American Studies

Spiked Boots:
Sketches of the North Country

“The new edition contains rare photographs and an insightful foreword by the author’s daughter.”

-Dr. Barbara Tomlinson, Princeton, N.J.

Tall Trees, Tough Men

This is basic history, geography, psychology, economics, and folklore all
rolled into one top-quality volume.

-The New York Times

Greetings From New Jersey:
A Postcard Tour of the Garden State

“a Jerseyana journalist”

-The New York Times

Asbury Park’s Glory Days:
The Story of an American Resort

"The collapse of American towns and cities is now so complete that our collective memory of why they existed and how they came to be is nearly lost. Helen-Chantal Pike's history of Asbury Park is a worthy, lively, and well-researched effort to correct this cultural amnesia."
- James Howard Kunstler, author of "Geography of Nowhere".

Anthology

Asbury Park: Where Music Lives

"Although its rock-and-roll legacy is well known around the world, other music forms - gospel and blues, jazz and even classical - have an Asbury Park address that contribute to the American music treasury." - Bob Santelli, author of Greetings from E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Local History

Images of America

Five volumes of illustrated history about New Jersey's North Shore communities.

Business

Crossroads of Commerce

Tracks the evolution of leading industries across a 300-year span.

Historical Fiction

Spirited Ladies of Liberty Street

"In the swish of a flapper dress, the smell of the potato mash or the shape of looks-just-like-it liquor bottle, the period details are superb."
- Pamela Waterman, Mesa, AZ

The Pike Log: Random Entries About Making His Story Mine

Aren't We All Unfinished?

June 12, 2012

Tags: Bernard Lyle Kobel, Ludwig Moorehead, Lynn Franklin, Asbury Park, Jersey Shore, White Mountain Museum of Forest History, Northeastern Vermont Development Association, New York Times, Maine Sunday Telegram, Littleton Courier, Monmouth College

We compartmentalize our lives to organize the chaos: Is that good? How you apply the pronoun is a step to figuring out your own M.O.

Interested in the discoveries captured in this photo? Follow the Pike Log to the end for the extended caption. Thanks!

You’ve probably read at least one story about somebody who turned 50 and decided to change her or his life’s trajectory: lose weight, get a divorce (or married), change jobs (or where you live), take up sky-diving (or sing in a rock-and-roll band). For me it stacked up like this: one third of Read More

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Why We Pray for Snow in Pike Country

February 16, 2012

Tags: Pike Country, Farm-Way, Northeast Kingdom Weather, WREN, Local Works Gallery, Jersey Shore, Rutgers, Asbury Park Casino, Upper Connecticut River Valley, snow, ice, kitty litter

Beer but no gear sold here. In January 2012, regular unleaded gas with 10% ethanol went up to $3.60/gal at the all-purpose convenience store. Photo taken December 2011. BTW: Home heating oil: $800 for 200 gallons. How long do you think I can make that last?

Against all wisdom to the contrary, I picked a January closing date for the sale of my childhood home on the Jersey Shore so I could then move north 400+ miles in what has traditionally been the dead of winter.

You know the dead I mean. Read More

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