Highlights

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Itinerary

Day 1 – Philadelphia, PA

This exploration into the lives of a few of America’s greatest women begins in Philadelphia, PA.  Check into your hotel for a two-night stay and get ready for tomorrow. Dinner is on your own this evening.

Day 2 – Philadelphia Women’s History Tour – Evening with Betsy Ross

Trailblazing women and girls have played a pivotal role in Philadelphia’s history since its founding. Their sacrifices, hard work and vision helped make the city what it is today.  History makers and heroines like Harriet Tubman, Betsy Ross and Lucretia Mott have ties to Philadelphia and some of its oldest sites. Throughout the Philadelphia region, museums, statues and buildings pay homage to some of the most notable and game-changing women in Philly history. As you explore Philadelphia with your local guide, you’ll see how many of these women also helped shape the direction of the nation during crucial times.

Start with a visit to the President’s House.  Both Martha Washington and Abigail Adams called this site home, but their stories are secondary to Ona Judge’s. Judge was born into slavery at Mount Vernon and became Martha’s personal slave. When Ona was brought to Philadelphia, the city’s free Black community helped her run away to freedom. She then married, had children and lived in New England, despite being chased by those trying to recapture her.

Next, visit the 1765 Society Hill Mansion of Eliza Powel. Known for her intelligence and wit, President George Washington counted her among his close friends. It was she who convinced him to serve a second term. Women’s history at the Powel House continues into the 20th century, when the building was saved from destruction by Frances Wister a female pioneer in the preservation movement.

After lunch you visit Historic Fair Hill.  This 1703 Quaker burial ground is the final resting place of Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society co-founders Lucretia Mott and Harriet Forten Purvis, as well as many other abolitionists and women’s rights activists like Mary Ann M’Clintock, who helped plan the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention for women’s rights. Today, six murals depicting 300 years of Philadelphia’s struggle for social justice accompany the cemetery’s well-known residents.

The afternoon features a visit to Valley Forge National Park to see the Justice Bell.  Ahead of the state referendum on women’s suffrage in 1915, the Justice Bell, a 2,000-pound Liberty Bell doppelganger created by a Chester County woman, toured Pennsylvania in an attempt to connect the cause to the Founding Fathers’ struggle. The referendum failed, but as a result, the Justice Bell became a national symbol for women continuing the fight for voting rights. Today, visitors can find the bell at the Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge National Historical Park.

Enjoy dinner this evening is at The Revolution House. Located in Philadelphia’s historic Old City District, it’s a charming multi-story restaurant & bar, proud to fuel your revolution.

End the Day at the Betsy Ross House which pays tribute to one of Revolutionary Philadelphia’s most notable women. Enjoy a unique evening tour of the Betsy Ross House with Betsy. Betsy tells her own story, sharing little-known details about her life on your private, self-guided tour of the house, including an interactive visit in her upholstery shop, where you will learn more about Betsy’s life as a working woman, upholsterer, and flag maker, and her contribution to what would later become the American Flag.  Be sure to spend time in the courtyard, where the flag maker was laid to rest in 1836. (B,D)

Day 3 – Harriet Tubman Memorial – Hyde Park, NY – Eleanor Roosevelt Historic Site –Winery Tour & Tasting – Dinner at The Culinary Institute of America

Before departing the Philadelphia area, visit the Harriet Tubman Memorial Statue.  Harriet Tubman spent time in Philadelphia after escaping slavery and has connections to many sites here, including Mother Bethel AME Church and the Johnson House. Just north of the city in Bristol, the Harriet Tubman Memorial Statue stands along the Delaware River in Lion’s Park with her hand pointing toward the North Star.

Travel then takes you to Hyde Park, NY. Following some free time for lunch on you own, visit and the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site. Get to know Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States, activist, and one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century. As wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, she played a key role in leading the nation through two national crises, the Great Depression and World War II. Through her activism and post-war diplomacy, she played a key role in the development of civil and human rights for all people.

Here you tour Val-Kill, the home of Eleanor Roosevelt. (Val-Kill is also the only National Historic Site dedicated to a First Lady.)  Here, Franklin and Eleanor entertained friends, state visitors, the press, and their associates in the tranquil and relaxed atmosphere of Val-Kill with over a thousand acres of gardens and trails. There is a permanent exhibit in the Stone Cottage, titled “Eleanor Roosevelt and Val-Kill: Emergence of a Political Leader.” It examines Eleanor’s world during the 1920s and ‘30s and the influential people she worked with to shape a national political agenda during the New Deal. After her husband’s death in 1945, she remained active in politics; becoming a delegate to the United Nations and First Chair for the UN’s Commission on Human Rights.

This afternoon includes a relaxing tour and tasting at Clinton Vineyards.  They specialize in award-winning Seyval Blanc and sparkling Seyval Naturel, and also produce handcrafted fruit and dessert wines. Your visit includes a stroll through Gardens and vines, a visit to the historic barn where their wine is made and it ends in the tasting room,

After you check into your Hyde Park, NY hotel, you dinner will be at one of the student-run restaurants of  The Culinary Institute of America (as available) . (B,D)

Day 4 – Hartford, CT – Harriett Beecher Stowe Center – Concord, MA – Louisa May Alcott House – Colonial Inn Dinner

Enroute to Concord, MA for a two night stay you stop in Hartford, CT to visit the Harriett Beecher Stowe Center. It’s a beautifully preserved Victorian Gothic cottage where she lived for 23 years.  You will hear about her life and the impact of her anti-slavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” and connect the past to the present as you discuss social issues of the 19th century and today.

Travel continues to Concord, MA where you visit Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Orchard House.’ It is here where she wrote her classic novel, “Little Women,” that was inspired by her sisters and her childhood. Guides in period dress take you through rooms of original furniture and personal possessions.  In addition to her novels she was a devoted abolitionist and suffragist. She was the first woman to register to vote in Concord after Massachusetts passed a law in 1879 allowing women to vote on school committee members.

Tonight you check-in to a local hotel for a two-night stay.  Then go out to dinner at Concord’s Colonial Inn featuring traditional New England cuisine.  (B,D)

Day 5 – Boston Women’s History Tour – Boston Tea Party Museum – Dinner at the Oyster House w/Guest Speaker

Today begins with your Boston Women’s Tour, You will find Boston has a female-inspired history and that many women made their mark.

You begin at the Boston Women’s Memorial. It’s dedicated to Abigail Adams, Lucy Stone and Phillis Whatley.  These three progressives were well ahead of their times. Abigail was an advisor to her husband President John Adams and fought for women’s rights. Phillis was a notable poet who holds the honor of being the first published African-American. Lucy was also at the forefront of women’s rights and funded her own education to become one of the first women in America to graduate from college.

Your next stop is Harriet Tubman Park here is the first statue on city-owned property honoring a woman. This 10-foot bronze is a powerful tribute to the underground railroad leader, abolitionist, civil war hero and civil rights activist.  She was an Underground Railroad conductor, a spy, nurse, warrior and women’s rights crusader.

Then visit the Massachusetts State House and see the Massachusetts Women’s Leadership Memorial.  This non-traditional installation pays tribute to the contributions of six women to public life in Massachusetts from the 1840s through the 1980s.

• Dorothea Dix, best remembered for her crusade to care for the mentally ill.
• Lucy Stone gained a national reputation for her lectures against slavery and for women’s right to vote.
• Sarah Parker Remond, an ardent abolitionist, lectured extensively against slavery.
• Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin started the first newspaper published by and for African American women. She was also a charter member of the NAACP.
• Mary Kenney O’Sullivan, union organizer, lobbied for laws to protect women and children in the workplace.
• Florence Luscomb, who appears in the panel on the far left, remained a strong advocate for women’s suffrage, labor unionism, peace, and civil rights well into her nineties.

Next, stroll through and browse the shops at Faneuil Hall Marketplace/Quincy Market. You will also have time to enjoy lunch on own. This location is synonymous with world-class street performers showing off unimaginable acts of juggling, acrobatics and more for throngs of tourists and locals who gather to watch. The street performances that visitors have come to identify with Faneuil Hall were born with the Marketplace’s historic revitalization in 1976 and have been going strong since.

Today’s highlight and the Grand Finale of this tour is a late afternoon visit to the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum. Here you will see  live actors, interactive exhibits, holographic displays and an authentically restored Tea Party Ship. The museum’s movie titled “Let it Begin Here.” Everyone will get a chance to participate in this rebellion by tossing the Crown’s tea into the same body of water where this brave act took place nearly 250 years ago. After taking part in the “destruction of the tea” aboard the full-scale replica 18th-century sailing vessels, enter the museum where you will encounter the Robinson Tea Chest, the only known surviving tea chest from the “Boston Tea Party”.

This evening’s dinner will be at The Union Oyster House, America’s oldest restaurant. The building dates to Pre-Revolutionary days and continues with much the same atmosphere and food that Daniel Webster frequently enjoyed. During dinner, you will be entertained by a guest speaker knowledgeable of the area’s history and surprising events that occurred in Boston and the surrounding areas. (B,D)

Day 6 – Depart for Home

After breakfast, depart for home. (B)

Tour Map