Episode 255: New York City Travelogue

Very happy travelers on Liberty Island, September 2024

Three times a year a collection of History Chicks listeners embark on a Field Trip with us, this September that adventure was to New York City! Our travel organizer, Laura Hart of Like Minds Travel, put together an itinerary of experiences and places that feature some of our former subjects, this time over a 5-day weekend.

The podcast episode is our report on that trip told by us and some of our friends who traveled with us. There are lessons to learn, spots to visi that we recommend if you visit New York, and a whole lot of references for our former subjects.

Because we let our fellow travelers tell the tales, we thought we would also let them show you some photos from their experiences.

Carpet at Sagamore Hill, a gift from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Laura
Alice Roosevelt Longworth’s childhood bedroom, Lori

Our space at the Russian Tea Room, Catherine

Beckett, Michele “The Swimmer,” Bowery Boy Greg Young, and Susan at the Russian Tea Room
Emily hung back to meet with the creator and star of Suffs, Shaina Taub!

Melanie got this shot of some travelers having a nightcap at our hotel bar
Portrait of Madam X by John Singer Sargent at the MET, Sharon
The building where the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was in 1911, Nathalie

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire memorial
Daryl, Gates, and Susan head to Hamilton, Daryl
Toasting Dorothy Parker at the Algonquin Hotel, Kris

The layers of linoleum at the Tenement Museum, Lisa

On a tour at the Tenement Museum
Sidequest! Ashley found an old friend at the MoMA (it’s Frida Kahlo, obviously.)
Sidequest! Stonewall Inn riot memorial, Poppy
Sidequest! Rachelle had lunch at Tiffany’s
Sidequest! Angela’s birthday lunch at Katz’s Deli
Sidequest! At Trinity Church Cemetary, Sari found Eliza Schuyler’s grave

Gilded Gentleman Carl Raymond and Bowery Boy Greg Young

Dinner cruise antics

The Brooklyn Bridge posing for the ladies

Laura Hart, Susan, and Beckett

June climbed to the crown of the Statue of Liberty

Graffiti on a pillar at Ellis Island, Susan’s Susan
Beth looked up at the 9/11 memorial

We talked a bit about our personal sidequest up to Eleanor Roosevelt’s home, Val Kill, and to the FDR Library and Roosevelt home in Hyde Park. Both are open to the public, although Val Kill is open seasonally, and with special hours from November until December. Here’s their website with not only hours and visiting information, but also lots of other online exhibits. Eleanor Roosevelt Historic Site in Hyde Park, NY. The FDR Presidential Library and Museum is open all year, is very close to Val Kill, and it makes a wonderful weekend! (The “tour of diners” that we did was just a personal mission, not a formal activity through any tour company.)

While a lot of our excursions were private, the places we visited are all open to the public. If you’re planning a NYC visit, here’s some of them:

Our Field Trip kick-off cocktail party was at the Monarch Rooftop Lounge.

If we had one “must visit” it would be the Tenement Museum at 103 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side. You can choose from several tours in the tenement apartments, and all are amazing. They also have creative and informative interactive virtual exhibits.

Everyone knows about Hamilton, and it’s as much of a delight now as when it first opened in 2015, but Suffs stole our women’s history-loving hearts! While the Tony Award-winning Broadway show is closing in January of ’25, the show is going on tour and if it’s near you, scoop up those tickets and slap on your Votes for Women pins to go see it.

Sagamore Hill Historic Site in Oyster Bay, NY. Our old friend Alice Roosevelt’s room is on display with her furnishings and things the way that she remembered them. Their National Park Service website has a virtual tour! Love a virtual tour!

Bowery Boys Walking Tours of NYC! History-focused tours from the gents who are experts on the city!

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Memorial: Located just off Washington Square Park, the memorial wraps around the building where the fire happened.

Russian Tea Room– historic, special, and tasty!

Delmonico’s– dine like you’re in the Gilded Age!

Registration is now open to join us on our Field Trip to Paris from April 25-May 3, 2025! For information and to register visit LIKE MINDS TRAVEL

Episode 254: Gertrude Ederle

Gertrude, circa 1922 in her WSA sweater via Library of Congress

They said it couldn’t be done; that the deck, and the odds, were stacked against her, but Trudy Ederle listened only to her heart during her record-breaking swim across the English Channel. She was the first woman to accomplish this feat, and her record would hold for another 24 years, but there was a lot more to her life than one phenomenal swim.

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Episode 253: Emily Warren Roebling

Emily dressed for court, circa 1894 by Charles-Émile-Auguste Carolus-Duran –she was more than “just” the bridge

Emily Roebling stepped in to facilitate the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge after her husband, its chief engineer, fell victim to a mysterious illness. Though her contributions were kept shadowed at the time, later generations have realized how critical she was to the project’s completion (and she did so much more afterward!)

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