In 2006, the Kate Mullany National Historic Site was included in the new New York State Women’s Heritage Trail.
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/
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/
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/
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