There is a history in every place. “Images of America: Lincoln County” sets out to tell the early history of Lincoln County through the medium of photography.

The book contains over 250 photographs from as far back as the 1860s. The book was published by Arcadia Publishing & The History Press and written by Tammie Brewer, Bettie Bullard, Sue Dorman and Marti Parker. The authors are also members of the local Lincoln County Historical and Genealogical Society, a group dedicated to preserving the local history.

“History is lost every day,” Brewer said. “Older people are dying, and they’re taking a lot of our history with them.”

Lincoln County was officially created by the state legislature on April 7, 1870, according to the book.

“Settlement began more than 50 years earlier with Samuel Jayne’s small trading post on St. Stephens Road,” according to the authors. “Extensive timber resources, the arrival of the railroad in 1857, and the 1859 founding of Whitworth Female College put the county on the map. Logging, lumber mills and other industries brought scores of people to the region. The agricultural endeavors of cotton and farming provided a way of life before the oil boom of the 1940s. The varied ethnic and religious history of the residents further shaped the county into what exists today.”

Starting with the arrival of the lumber industry over 100 years ago, “Images of America: Lincoln County” tells the story of how the community we know today came to be. It covers prominent businesses, public figures and historical events. There is also explanatory text to give the photos context and meaning.

“Along the way, we’ve tried to give a little bit of the history of Lincoln County as we went through the book,” Brewer said. “Our main purpose for doing the book was to try and keep history alive and going.”

Brewer said they worked on the book for about a year and a half. Many of their photos came from the library, but in February they also began scanning photos from the community.

“The first day we scheduled to do that, it came a downpour, and we really didn’t expect anyone to come out because the weather was so horrible,” Brewer said. “But we actually had a good number of people come out and bring their photographs. We scanned them, and a lot of those photos were put in the book.”

Currently, the publishing date for “Images of America: Lincoln County” is Jan. 18, but Brewer said it will likely happen later that week.

“Jan. 18 is actually Martin Luther King Day, so I don’t think we’ll have the book launch on that particular day,” Brewer said. “Just because it’s a holiday.”

The publisher has set the price at $21.99. It will be available at local retailers, online bookstores, or through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com or 888-313-2665. Arcadia Publishing said that a portion of the profits from the book will be donated for a special project at the Lincoln County Historical and Genealogical Society.

“We really want to get something electronic, maybe, to go in the museum. We really are thinking something where we could do like a slideshow of old photographs,” Brewer said. “That’s one thing the museum gets a lot of — people donate their old photographs, or someone will get a photograph, and they don’t know who it is, but they’ll donate it to the museum.”