Kate Mullany National Historic Site

Link and Sites

Women's Heritage Trail: State Link 

STATEN ISLAND /BROOKLYN/ NEW YORK CITY

Alice Austen House Museum   
2 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island

One of America's earliest and most prolific female photographers, Alice Austen, lived in this two-story Victorian Gothic cottage for 78 years.  She had a determined eye, and she knew what she wanted to say.  Her work often mocked Victorian traditions while examining everyday American life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Technically proficient, Austen developed her glass-plate negatives in her own darkroom located in a closet on the second floor.
Today the house and grounds are open for touring. The visitor travels back in time and experiences life as Ms. Austen knew it.
Hours: Mar – Dec, Thu-Sun 12pm-5pm
Phone Number: (718) 816-4506
Web Address: www.aliceausten.org

Weeksville Heritage Center
1698 - 1708 Bergen Street (Between Buffalo & Rochester Avenues), Brooklyn

Weeksville Heritage Center’s landmarked Hunterfly Road Houses are the last four surviving residences of 19th century Weeksville, one of the nation’s earliest self-sufficient African American communities. Residents included prominent women who worked passionately for abolitionist and suffrage causes, such as Dr. Susan Smith McKinney-Steward, the first female African American doctor in NYS. Historic Weeksville is also a model of the African American contribution to the development of Brooklyn, the region and the nation.
A visit to the Hunterfly Road Houses provides an insightful, close-up view of Black life in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including the significant contributions of African American women.  Also, offering a variety of thematic tours for travelers’ and classroom alike. All tours are led by a trained educator or docent. 
Hours: Tue-Fri 10am-4:30pm, Sat, 11-3pm Tours every hour on the hour
Phone Number: (718) 756-5250
Web Address: http://www.weeksvillesociety.org/
Tour approximately 1-2 hours

Lower Eastside Tenement Museum
108 Orchard Street (below Delancey), New York City

Today, although most citizens trace the beginnings of their American journeys to the urban rather than the rural environment and most descend from immigrants, the Tenement’s landmark tenement building at 97 Orchard Street is the first homestead of urban working class and poor immigrant people preserved and interpreted in the United States. Located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, an immigrant portal for almost two centuries, and was home to an estimated 7,000 people from more than 20 nations between 1863 and 1935.
Tours offer information on immigrant families and discuss the role of women in history.
Admission by tour only.

Hours: Mon, 11-5:30pm, Tue-Fri, 11-6pm, Sat-Sun, 10:45am-6pm.
Phone Number: (212) 982-8420
Web Address: http://www.tenement.org/

HUDSON VALLEY

Constitution Island-Warner House 
Access from the Cold Spring train station on Main Street, Cold Spring

Beautiful Constitution Island is located in the Hudson Highlands on the river's s-curve.  The Warner family moved to the 300 acre island in the 1830s.    From this obscure location Susan and Anna Warner became two of the most famous American writers of the 19th century.  Here they wrote over 100 books and many popular hymns, including "Jesus Loves Me."  The publication of "the Wide, Wide World" in the 1850s made Susan Warner world-famous.  Anna Warner is well-known for the publication of the first popular gardening book in 1872.  The Warner House is preserved as it was in the 19th century.

Hours: Public tours Jun 21-Oct 19, Wed, Thu 1pm, 2pm. Tours are approximately 2 1/4 hours in duration. Tours leave from South Dock at West Point.
Phone Number: (845) 446-8676
Web Address: http://www.constitutionisland.org/

Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site 
4097 Albany Post Road (on Route 9G), Hyde Park

“The greatest thing I have learned is how good it is to come home again”. --Eleanor Roosevelt
After the death of her husband President Roosevelt in 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt moved permanently to Val-Kill, which was the only place she called home.  She emerged as a world figure, beginning with her appointment as American Ambassador to the United Nations in 1946 and her work on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written chiefly at Val-Kill.  She traveled around the world to promote humanitarianism causes.
Val Kill Cottage and the grounds are open for touring.  Learn why Mrs. Roosevelt felt Val Kill was so special. Access is by guided tour only.
Hours: May-Oct, daily 9am-5pm. Nov-Apr, Closed Tue & Wed. Tour is approximately 1-2 hours
Phone Number: (800) FDR-VISIT
Web Address: www.nps.gov/elro

Wilderstein Historic Site   
330 Morton Road, Rhinebeck

Wilderstein was the home of the Suckley family for three generations.  Margaret (Daisy) Suckley was a cousin and confidante of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  She traveled with FDR during his presidency, gave him his famous black Scottish terrier Fala and helped establish his library in Hyde Park.  Miss Suckley was with FDR when he was fatally stricken at Warm Springs, Georgia in 1945.  She died at Wilderstein in 1991, in her 100th year.  The letters exchanged during their long friendship are regarded as one of the best resources for understanding the private life of FDR during his presidency.  The role of family matriarchs in controlling vast landholdings in the Hudson Valley and their importance in managing these properties is evident throughout the site's extensive collections and archives.
Hours:  Mansion: May-Oct: Thu-Sun, 12-4pm; Thanksgiving & Dec weekends, 1-4pm. Grounds open daily from dawn to dusk. Tour is approximately 1 hour
Phone Number: (845) 876-4818
Web Address: http://www.wilderstein.org/

CAPITAL/ SARATOGA & NORTH COUNTRY

Steepletop (House Closed for Restoration)  
427 East Hill Road, Austerlitz

Home of Edna St. Vincent Millay, the early twentieth-century Pulitzer Prize winning author, important literary figure and a leader of the Bohemian culture movement.  She was active in women's rights issues and incorporated activist themes into some of her poems. She also wrote poetry-propaganda during World War II and was jailed for her public stand on the Sacco-Vanzetti case.
Millay died at Steepletop in 1950.
The property includes her gardens, gravesite and cabin where she often went to write.  The house is closed for restoration, but the property is open for visitors. There is a quarter-mile Millay Poetry Trail leading to the family gravesite which is open daily in good weather.
The house is closed for restoration, but the property is open for visitors.
Hours: By appt. only. Poetry Trail- Daily 10am-4pm
Phone Number: (518) 392-3766
Web Address:  http://www.millaysociety.org

Shaker Museum & Library
88 Shaker Museum Road, Old Chatham 

Founded by Ann Lee (1736-1784),as a religious community based on democratic principles and equality of work and duties regardless of gender. The collection of the Shaker Museum and Library includes Shaker furniture, woodenware, textiles, tools and equipment, art, photographs, account books, and manuscript diaries.
The Library is a unique research library with significant holdings in primary and secondary materials.
Hours: Memorial Day weekend to Columbus Day, 9-5pm daily. Closed Tue.
Phone number: 518-794-9100
Web Address: http://www.shakermuseumandlibrary.org/

Watervliet Shaker Historic District 
Heritage Lane, Colonie

Located in the Watervliet Shaker Historic District was the first Shaker settlement in America and where Mother Ann Lee lived her final days. Leaving behind their native England, Mother Ann Lee with a small group of seven followers arrived in New York City in 1774 to establish a purer form of the United Society of Believers.
Guided tours are available for a small fee Saturdays, June-October at 11:30am and 1:30pm. For group tours or more information call 518-456-7890
Hours: Year-round Tue-Sat, 9:30am-4pm Closed major holidays & month of January
Phone Number: (518) 456-7890
Web Address: www.shakerheritage.org

Historic Cherry Hill
523 1/2 South Pearl Street, Albany

The five generations of Cherry Hill Van Rensselaers were largely comprised of women. They left an amazingly intact collection reflecting domestic life and broader subjects that document more than two centuries of American women’s history.  Materials include clothing and other textiles, needlework, jewelry, cookbooks, food preparation and service technology, manuscripts, artwork, photographs, decorative arts, books and ephemera.  Subjects range from childrearing and housekeeping, to women’s suffrage and female missionary service in China. 
Today, Historic Cherry Hill’s tours and programs explore many of these topics, including last Cherry Hill owner Emily Rankin’s active role as Recording Secretary in Albany’s Anti-Suffrage Society.
 Hours: Apr-Jun & Oct-Dec, tours Tue-Fri at 12, 1, 2 & 3pm. Sat: 10, 11am, 12, 1, 2 & 3pm Sun: 1, 2 & 3pm  Jul-Sep, tours Tue-Sat at 10am, 11am, 12, 1, 2 & 3pm Sun: 1, 2 & 3pm
Phone Number: (518) 434-4791
Web Address: http://www.historiccherryhill.org/

Kate Mullany National Historic Site (Closed for Restoration)
350 Eighth Street, Troy

This modest three-story brick house is the only surviving building associated with Kate Mullany, a young Irish immigrant laundry worker who in 1864 organized and led the all-female "Collar Laundry Union" labor union.  She exemplified a strong tradition in women's union activity. Kate Mullany was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.
Hours: Closed For Restoration
Phone Number: (518) 271-8036
Web Address: http://www.katemullanynhs.org

Johnson Hall State Historic Site
139 Hall Avenue, Johnstown

Molly Brant who was described by contemporaries as “handsome” and “sensible” with “an air of ease and politeness” – was the Mohawk wife of Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Six Nations.  Brant’s influence over the Mohawk nation was described as being “far superior to that of all their Chiefs put together.” As a diplomat and stateswoman, she served as a powerful link between the British and their Indian allies.  Molly was active in the Anglican community of Kingston, Ontario, after the war and was the only woman listed in the 1792 founding charter of the new church.
Visitors can tour the house and grounds of Johnson Hall, sharing a glimpse of what her life may have been like when the estate was active as the home and business headquarters of Sir William Johnson and Molly Brant."
Hours: May 1-Labor Day: Wed-Mon, 10am-5pm; Labor Day-Oct 31: Wed-Sun, 10am-5pm; Nov 1-Apr 30, by appt. only. Tour approximately 1-2 hours
Phone Number: (518) 762-8712
Web Address: http://www.nysparks.state.ny.us/sites/info.asp?siteID=17

Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum
4800 Lake Shore Drive, Bolton Landing

Marcella Sembrich (1858-1935), internationally known Polish soprano, first sang with the New York Metropolitan Opera in its initial season, 1883; retired in 1909; sang concert tours until 1917; gained preeminence as a vocal teacher at Curtis Institute and Juilliard School.  The museum is Sembrich’s former teaching studio.  Overlooking Lake George from a wooded peninsula, the Opera Museum contains memorabilia from Sembrich’s 50 year-long career, including paintings, sculptures, accolades and autographed pictures of her contemporaries. 
Concerts by well known singers, composers, and musicians, and symposiums by opera historians are offered throughout the summer months.          
Hours: Jun 15-Sep 15, daily 10am-12:30pm, 2pm-5:30pm
Phone Number: (518) 644-9839
Web Address: http://www.operamuseum.org/

WESTERN NEW YORK

Matilda Joslyn Gage Home
210 E. Genesee Street, Fayetteville

Gage was a noted speaker and writer on woman’s suffrage, and an abolitionist.  She and her husband used their home as a station for the Underground Railroad to help escaped slaves.  She worked very closely with prominent women’s rights leaders Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, often holding meetings in her home. Her lifelong motto and gravestone inscription reads “There is a word sweeter than Mother, Home or Heaven; that word is Liberty.”
The Gage House is not wheelchair accessible at this time.
Hours: House is closed for restoration. Site is offering walking/construction tours by appt. Call ahead.
Phone Number: (315) 637-9511
Web Address: www.matildajoslyngage.org

Harriet Tubman Home
180 South Street, Auburn 

Harriet Tubman, a freedom seeker herself, has long been associated with her extraordinary work with abolitionist causes and as the Underground Railroad's most famous conductor.  Her heroic efforts in personally leading many people out of slavery to freedom in the North defined her as the "Moses of her People."  During the Civil War Tubman worked both as a nurse and as a spy for the Union Army.  She led Union troops on a raid in Confederate held territory.  After the Civil War she continued her efforts to help people by establishing the Home for the Aged and the John Brown Infirmary near her own home in Auburn.
Today the house is maintained as a museum dedicated to preserving the humanitarian vision of Harriet Tubman.
Hours: Tue-Fri 11am- 4pm; Sat by appointment.
Phone Number: (315) 252-2081
Web Address: www.nyhistory.com/harriettubman/home.htm

Howland Stone Store Museum
2956 SR 34B and Sherwood Road, Sherwood

Miss Emily Howland (1827-1929) was avidly involved in women's rights, temperance, education, world peace, abolition, and Political Equality clubs. Members of the Howland family maintained the store for a hundred years.
The collection includes Underground Railroad artifacts and women's suffrage posters, as well as items related to the history of Sherwood and the Howland family.
Hours: Jun-Sep: Thu and Sat, 1-4pm  Tour approximately 1 hour
Phone Number: (315) 364-8307
Web Address: www.rootsweb.com/~nycayuga/howland/

National Women’s Hall of Fame
76 Fall Street, Seneca Falls

The National Women's Hall of Fame was created in 1969 with the belief that the contributions of American women deserved a permanent home.  The first Women’s Rights Convention was held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, which launched the struggle for women’s rights.  The National Women's Hall of Fame has been a catalyst in the expansion of knowledge, appreciation and understanding of women's contributions to the development of our nation.
The Hall is home to exhibits, a research library, and artifacts of historical interest.  The organization hosts an annual tribute ceremony to induct notable American women into the Hall.
Hours: Oct-Apr, Wed-Sat 11am-5pm. May-Sep, Mon-Sat 10am-5pm; Sun 12pm-5pm.
Closed in January except by special appt.
Phone Number: (315) 568-8060
Web Address: http://www.greatwomen.org/

Women's Rights National Historic Park
136 Fall Street, Seneca Falls

Women’s Rights National Historical Park preserves and interprets the sites associated with the first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848.  The convention allowed the open discussion of the state of women’s lives and their desire for the basic rights of American citizenship, to include the right to vote. 
The park maintains a variety of sites in and around Seneca Falls that are associated with the convention.  These include the Wesleyan Chapel, site of the convention, the Elizabeth Cady Stanton House, both in Seneca Falls and the M’Clintock and Hunt Houses in nearby Waterloo.   
Hours: Daily 9am-5pm except some Federal Holidays- see website.
Phone Number: (315) 568-0024
Web Address: www.nps.gov/wori

Ganondagan State Historic Site
1488 State Route 444, Victor

Visit this site where thousands of Seneca lived 300 years ago, tour a full-size replica of a 17th-century Seneca Bark Longhouse, walk miles of self-guided trails, climb the mesa where a huge palisaded granary stored hundreds of thousands of bushels of corn, and learn about the destruction of Ganondagan, Town of Peace, in 1687.
The visitor center hosts the exhibit by Seneca artist Carson Waterman exploring the importance of the clan system to the Haudenosaunee, a 30 minute video program surveys the History of Ganondagan, and the construction of the Bark Longhouse (closed caption available). The visitor center is fully accessible to people with mobility limitations.
Group Tours by reservation two weeks in advance.
Hours: Trails open year-round, 8 a.m. to sunset, weather permitting.
Visitor Center open: Tues- Sun 9am-5pm, May through October.
Guided Trail walks are available Saturdays and Sundays 12:00 p.m. and 2 p.m.
Phone Number: (585) 924-5848
Web Address: www.nysparks.state.ny.us/sites/info.asp?siteID=10

Susan B. Anthony House
17 Madison Street, Rochester

The Susan B. Anthony House was the home of the legendary American civil rights leader for her 40 most politically active years as she campaigned relentlessly all around the country and the world for woman suffrage, the right to vote.  The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, also known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, was ratified in 1920, finally granting women the right to vote 14 years after Miss Anthony’s death in 1906.  This House was her home from 1866 until her death here in 1906; it was the site of her famous arrest for voting in the presidential election of 1872. Miss Anthony’s bedroom features her original furniture, including the feather-star-pattern quilt on the bed that was made by Miss Anthony and her sister Hannah.
The house is filled with photographs, memorabilia, and much of the Anthony family’s furniture.  A museum room on the second floor illustrates major events of the woman suffrage movement, including extensive photographs of the people who worked so long and so hard to win voting rights for women.

Hours: Memorial Day-Labor Day, Tue-Sun 11am-5pm (last tour at 4pm)
Labor Day-Memorial Day, Wed-Sun 11am-4pm (last tour at 3pm)
Phone Number: (585) 235-6124
Web Address: http://www.susanbanthonyhouse.org/

Letchworth Museum & Council Grounds
Street Address: 1 Letchworth State Park, Castile

The William Pryor Letchworth Museum and Council Grounds is located in Letchworth State Park, Castile, New York.  The museum tells the story of William Pryor Letchworth, a nineteenth century industrialist and social reformer as well as the Native American and pioneer story of the Genesee Valley.  The fascinating cross cultural story of Mary Jemison, a white captive of the Seneca, is closely tied with that history and is also told at the museum.  A Seneca Council House ca. 1760, Mary’s gravesite and her daughter’s cabin ca. 1800 can all be found on the Council Grounds above the museum.
New interpretive signage and kiosks throughout the Park will enhance your visit. Many special events are being planned and interpretive programming is available year round.
Hours: Museum: May-Oct, 10am-5pm. Park is open year round. Camping area is open from mid-May to mid-October. Cabins may be rented year round.
Phone Number: (585) 493-2760
Web Address www.nysparks.com

Lucille Ball- Desi Arnaz Museum
212 Pine Street, Jamestown

The Center preserves and celebrates the legacy of Lucille Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz.  Ball, who was born in Jamestown, was an iconic American actress, business woman, comedian and star of the hit television show “I Love Lucy”.  She received four Emmy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Citation from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. As president of Desilu Productions, Lucille Ball was the first female studio head in Hollywood, breaking the glass ceiling for women executives in the film and television industry.    Her enormous contributions to women in entertainment are boundless.  She will always be remembered as the First Lady of Television Comedy.
The Lucy-Desi Center offers visitors three unique facilities located in Jamestown. 
THE LUCY-DESI MUSEUM-212 Pine Street
THE DESILU PLAYHOUSE-2 W. Third Street
THE LUCY-DESI CENTER GIFT SHOP-300 N. Main Street
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-5:30pm, Sun 1pm-5pm. Closed New Years Eve, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Day.
Phone Number: (716) 484-0800 or (877) 582-9326
Web Address: www.lucy-desi.com