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.
Time Travel with The History Chicks
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:
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.
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.
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.)
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.)
Starr: The book that Starr nerded out to and gave her visit to Jane’s world added depth:
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!
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.
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!
The History Chicks Podcast
Beckett Graham and Susan Vollenweider: Two women. Half the population. Several thousand years of history. About an hour.