Since its founding in the late 17th century as a mill town, Glen Cove has been simultaneously rural and industrial, patrician and working class. A city of multiple ethnicities and close family ties, Glen Cove has been home to generations of immigrants who came to work and stayed to live, as well as to the children of America's elite who built their summer homes on the shores of Hempstead Harbor. In Glen Cove Revisited, "The Heart of the Gold Coast" is seen as only insiders know it, through images of the mill ponds and barnyards, estates and factories, schools and neighborhoods, and the people, famous and unknown, which make up this microcosm of America. Photographer Joan Harrison is a professor of art at the C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University and author of Glen Cove. She has spent the last three years gleaning a rich selection of photographs of the community from the intimate family albums of residents and from the Pratt and Morgan families, as well as from the archives of the Robert R. Coles History Room, Glen Cove Public Library, and North Shore Historical Museum. The Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stories from the past that shape the character of the community today. Arcadia is proud to play a part in the preservation of local heritage, making history available to all.

Glen Cove, the only city located on Long Island's Gold Coast, has long been reinventing itself. After World War II, the farms and estates in the area gave way to suburban development. Modern advancements like the zoom lens, the dimmer switch, and X-ray technologies were all developed within the city limits, while factories on the creek supplied the world with carbon paper, typewriter ribbons, and graphic arts film and cameras. Albert Einstein, Nikita Khrushchev, and the Kennedy families stayed in the community, and stars of stage and screen performed about town. In 1968, Glen Cove celebrated its tricentennial. It was followed by urban renewal and the rebuilding of the old downtown. In the final years of the 20th century, the industrial era ended, and under the auspices of Mayor Thomas Suozzi, environmental cleanup and waterfront revitalization began.

Glen Cove, the only city located on Long Island's Gold Coast, has long been reinventing itself. After World War II, the farms and estates in the area gave way to suburban development. Modern advancements like the zoom lens, the dimmer switch, and X-ray technologies were all developed within the city limits, while factories on the creek supplied the world with carbon paper, typewriter ribbons, and graphic arts film and cameras. Albert Einstein, Nikita Khrushchev, and the Kennedy families stayed in the community, and stars of stage and screen performed about town. In 1968, Glen Cove celebrated its tricentennial. It was followed by urban renewal and the rebuilding of the old downtown. In the final years of the 20th century, the industrial era ended, and under the auspices of Mayor Thomas Suozzi, environmental cleanup and waterfront revitalization began.