Around Hornell tells the tale of western New York's "Maple City" and its neighbors, the rural towns of Canisteo, Dansville, Fremont, Hartsville, Hornellsville, and Howard. The region is set in the dramatic countryside between the Finger Lakes and the Appalachian Mountains, home to the deep gorges of Stony Brook State Park. Great arks floated down the Canisteo River to markets in Baltimore, and for more than a century, Hornell roared with round-the-clock work in the Erie Railroad shops. Hornell is a musical city of community bands, high-school operettas, and barbershop quartets, and its famous residents include radio star and pioneer pilot Blanche Scott, aspiring major leaguer Don Zimmer, and New York's longest-serving mayor, Shawn Hogan, who has graciously provided the introduction to Around Hornell.

Kirk W. House, who has been enthusiastically pursuing western New York's history since 1996, is the author of 10 Arcadia Publishing volumes. He is a member of Historic Hornell Incorporated, the Kanestio Historical Society, and the Steuben County Historical Society.