CHAPEL HILL - Valarie Schwartz discovered a curious phenomenon while she was interviewing local residents and tracking down old photographs for her new book, a people's history of Chapel Hill: Good stories procreate at a dizzying rate.

You might think a town this size would have a finite number of fascinating characters and noteworthy events. But Schwartz, who wrote the Neighbors column for the Chapel Hill News for a decade, found that every lead, every family photo, every surprising story led to another, and that one to another and another.

"I could write an endless number of books about this town," said Schwartz, whose "Remembering Chapel Hill: The Twentieth Century as We Lived It," has just been published by The History Press. "There are so many interesting, productive, creative people who have passed through here; every time you turn around there's another amazing person with a great story. I'll be able to write about Chapel Hill for as long as I can write."

Dozens of those stories are included in "Remembering Chapel Hill," and Schwartz concluded the research and writing of the book armed with pages of names and notes for the next volume -- the one she plans to write after she finishes her next book, a similar history of Carrboro.

Schwartz arrived in Chapel Hill in 1994, by way of Dallas, Texas, and much of the rest of the world; she worked as a flight attendant for American Airlines. Once she settled in Chapel Hill, she fell in love with the town, its history and especially its people -- the well-known and the little-known, the powerful and the humble alike. In 1997 she began telling their stories in the Neighbors column she wrote for this newspaper. She continues it now in columns for the Carrboro Citizen.

Her book, with a striking cover by local fabric artist Elaine O'Neil, revisits many of the people she wrote about in her columns, but it expands on their stories, fills in gaps, adds context and color and images. Still, the essence of what she's after remains the same.

"It's about the people who, in large ways and small ways, have made and continue to make Chapel Hill the special place it is," she said. "Whether by talent or education or just showing up, they furthered the life of the university and the civic life of the town. They all added to the rich fabric that is Chapel Hill. What interests me is not a bunch of facts and dates. It's the people."

People ranging from luminaries such as UNC system President Emeritus William and his wife Ida to lively but lesser-known residents such as Mack Foushee, the son of a former slave. Foushee was 99 years old when Schwartz interviewed him in 2000, but he still had a twinkle in his eye; although he had always had an eye for the ladies, he told Schwartz, he credited his longevity to never having married: "You'll never get to 99 if you've got a wife."

In addition to its personal stories, "Remembering Chapel Hill" touches on events such as the opening of the UNC Hospitals and the local struggles for civil rights.

Both she and the Charleston-based History Press wanted photographs to illustrate the text. That turned out to be more of a chore than she anticipated -- but it also led her to discover a great many more stories. The book includes some wonderful photos from local families' personal collections, including a wide shot of an Orange County Training School parade on Franklin Street; in the background, where the McDonald's is now, the front porch of the home of community leader Frances Hargraves is visible, on a heavily shaded hill.

"At first I thought I'd just go up to the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library and get all I needed," Schwartz said. "But that's not so easy. It's $10 a pop, and only a few of the photographs are in photograph form; all the rest are negatives. I didn't have the time or the money to go that route.

"So I started making phone calls around town. I got back in touch with so many people, and it turned out to be so much fun. I found some great photos and learned a ton of new stories about people I had never heard of before."

Many of her subjects are elderly, or have died in the years since she first spoke with them -- which makes her book a sort of tribute to them, she said.

"I'm so glad I was able to talk with them and hear their stories," she said. "Through the stories of our elders we learn what life was, how far we've come, how much we've left behind, and how much we still have to strive for," she said. "There are so many lessons to be learned from our elders. That's what this book is, a way of paying homage to the people who came before us."

dave.hart@nando.com or 932-8744

IF YOU GO

Valarie Schwartz's book is on sale at A Southern Season, the Chapel Hill Museum, the Bull's Head bookstore, The Bookshop, McIntyre's Fine Books and other locations. She'll give a reading on July 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. at William Travis Jewelry, 133 W. Franklin St. She has additional readings scheduled for Aug. 16 at 2 p.m. at McIntyre's in Fearrington Village, and Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. at The Regulator Bookstore in Durham.