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 250: Austria Travelogue, 2024

For a few weeks a year, we head out of our ordinary lives to take a Field Trip. Like any decent Field Trip, we don’t go alone and offer up the opportunity to join us to you, Dear Listeners! This June we headed to Austria with 50 people who would become friends in a very short time. We toured Vienna, Salzburg, Hallstatt, and several locations in between with an accent on history and this week we opened up our mics to let those traveling with us tell their stories.

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Episode 208: London Field Trip Report

Of course, we had to pose in front of Highclere Castle! (Yes, that’s “Downton Abbey.”)

Once upon a time a couple of chicks and a group tour expert thought it would be fun to plan a tour around our former subjects… finally, three years, four reschedules,  56 people went on that eight-day trip. These are their stories. (And historical trivia, travel and book recommendations, societal observations, and even a lesson in gas exchange…there’s a lot to learn in this one.)

Our Poundland haul!

Some finds at Blenheim Palace:

Gladys Deacon sphynx at Blenheim Palace
Winston Churchill’s curls from his first big boy haircut
Nobody puts Wallis in the corner!

 

 

TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS TRAVELERS

The Superbloom at Tower of London was a favorite for A LOT of us

Head on over to our Instagram, The History Chicks Field Trips, for the motherlode of trip photos!

The history pub tour that Beckett and her dad took was through Liquid History Tours; the Jack the Ripper tour Susan took was through RipperVision, her guide was Richard (although some Seagulls took the tour with a different guide from the same company and loved it just as much.)

Susan and our Jack The Ripper Tour guide, Richard! (He said he was going to look scary for this, he was a perfectly charming gentleman!)

Our tea etiquette lesson was delightfully presented by Eileen Donaghey at Fortnum and Mason where, you too, can stock up on Jubilee-themed tea and biscuits from wherever you are! 

Tea at Fortnum & Mason, Susan and Beckett’s table.

Beckett and her dad visited the Bate Collection of musical instruments at the University of Oxford.

Finding a pub in England is…not hard, but when we were in Oxford, this is where we enjoyed dinner and drinks (and more drinks): The Chequers. 

“Other” Susan: Learn more about Saint Frideswide, an Abbess at Christchurch Chapel in Oxford

Starr: The book that Starr nerded out to and gave her visit to Jane’s world added depth:

By Helena Kelly

Susie: The public art installation of giant corgis are dotted throughout Westminster (where we were staying so it was hard NOT to see one.) Here is a map of them, and the one that she referenced, Susan, represents Queen Elizabeth’s first corgi and the grandma of many of the ones she called for walkies in the Queen’s life. Funny story: this piece was created by the class of one of our Traveler’s daughters!

One of the many corgis! This one is named Susan who was Queen Elizabeth’s original corgi and the matriarch of the many corgis she’s had over the years.

June enjoyed her time at the Postal Museum!

Find yourself near Victoria Station on a Sunday evening and fancy a game of Trivia? Our Trivia Teams really enjoyed the Sunday evening game with Johnny the Fox at The Warwick!

The Superbloom music that Diana referenced was this, Music For Growing Flowers, by Erland Cooper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_35eEzViLk

If you’re excited to join us on another Field Trip, we would love to have you join us on our October Boston and Newport adventure! Click on over to Like Minds Travel for information, or if you are going to be in Boston and would like to join that trip’s Local’s Meet Up, find out more here!