I must have spent about two hours in St. Louis’ Old Courthouse before exiting out the riverfront door to continue on to the Gateway Arch, stopping to take in the inspiring statue of Dred and Harriet Scott.
The riverfront Gateway Arch National Park, spanning 90 acres (and apparently configured on the site of the original colonial settlement) is a glorious community space, with the Gateway Arch becoming ever more monumental and striking as I get closer.
The Arch is an impossibly graceful ribbon of stainless steel, reflecting the sun.
I had been here decades ago, not realizing at the time that the Arch was actually relatively new, and an engineering marvel when it was built between 1963-5. Architect Eero Saarinen’s inspired design for a 630-foot stainless steel arch as an ideal monument to the spirit of the western pioneers was chosen after a nationwide competition in 1947-48. It was built for total cost of $13 million: 75% paid by the federal government, and 25% City of St. Louis funds; the $2 million Arch transportation system was financed by the Bi-State Development Agency.
I had not realized there is a fantastic (free!) museum beneath it, and interactive experiences, including a bizarro tram (it looks like a Woody Allen car from “Sleeper”), that takes you on a track inside the Arch to the very top where you get out for a view through windows, before riding the tram back down. (You have to reserve tickets early; they were sold out by the time I arrived in the afternoon.)
The exhibits in the Gateway Arch museum are fascinating. They trace St. Louis’ history from A French fur trading post, Colonial St. Louis, where you discover the Indigenous, French, and Creole cultures of St. Louis before the Louisiana Purchase; Thomas Jefferson’s Vision for the United States; The Riverfront Era (the first steamboat to arrive in St. Louis changed the city forever).
St. Louis was once inhabited by Native Americans of the ancient Mississippian culture. Due to the area’s proximity to both the Mississippi River that runs along the eastern border, and Missouri River that joins it just north of the city, and the Meramec River on the southern border of St. Louis County, it was not only a hub for the Mississippians, but for the European traders and later pioneers, frontiersmen and ultimately settlers. It switched hands, first being claimed by France, then Spain after the Seven Years War, then (secretly) back to France, before Napoleon Bonaparte sold the Louisiana Territory to President Thomas Jefferson in 1803, who used it as the launching point for the Lewis & Clark Expedition. St. Louis remained a gateway into the American West.
It was surprising to learn that St. Louisians went to sleep on March 9, 1804 under Spanish rule, only to wake up as American citizens. Indeed, in just a matter of days, residents were under French, Spanish, French, British, American flags. The implications were great: American land laws were different and Spanish land grants were subject to legal challenge; merchants and fur traders had new laws and trading partners; American slave law was based on British tradition, so slaveholders no longer could accept self-purchase and enslaved families could be torn apart through sale; free persons of color underwent greater oppression from the Spanish system; women had fewer rights under American law than under Spanish, and married women could no longer own property. (Now imagine what Greenlanders and Canadians are facing.)
The exhibit on Manifest Destiny, the USA’s determination to move west and control the continent, is the most interesting and relevant today, raising questions about the people who were displaced. (Trump has resurrected Manifest Destiny as his operative foreign policy); New Frontiers explores how people settled and lived in the West, the myths that became the West’s cultural legacy, and the changes caused by industry. I love the questions posed: “Because you plant a stake, does that mean you own it?” “Should the people of St. Louis have a say in who owned them?” (Spain. Britain or the US within a matter of days?. I can only wonder how long it will be before Trump shuts the exhibit down and replaces it with something akin to extolling the Divine Right of Kings.)
Building the Dreamis truly a fascinating exhibit where you learn how the Gateway Arch became a reality, from the engineering to the building. You learn that the Arch’s foundations are sunk 60 feet into the ground and the arch is built to withstand earthquakes and high winds.
But one of the most thrilling (and unique) experiences is the Ride to the Top of the Arch on a tram. It is a 45-60 minute experience (4 minutes up, 3 minutes down, 8-ish minutes at the top, plus a pre-boarding educational tour).
Each tram consists of eight capsules that have clear doors on the front and are closed on the back. Each tram car has a five-foot diameter and five seats. (Visitors with claustrophobia issues or who simply want to take souvenir pictures can sit in the replica tram car by the ticketing counter before purchasing tickets.)
The viewing area at the top was designed to hold up to 160 people when at full capacity, but with two trams operating, there are never more than 80 at the top at one time.
The Tram Ride to the Top operates rain or shine. The Arch is designed to sway as much as 18 inches in 150 mile per hour winds and it can withstand an earthquake; however, under normal conditions the Arch does not sway. It takes a 50-mile an hour wind to move the top 1 1/2 inches each side of center.
The Arch has weathered countless severe Midwest thunderstorms and is able to operate normally in all but the most severe weather. During tornado warnings, the tram rides will be cancelled as a precaution. The tram may also be shut down if it is swaying so much that visitors are having a hard time keeping their balance. This happens very infrequently.
There are 16 windows on each side of the viewing area. Each window is 7 x 27 inches and 0.75 inches thick. Over 500 tons of pressure was used to jack the legs of the Arch apart for the last four-foot piece to be inserted at the top. A larger window would not withstand that pressure.
At peak times, as many as 80 trips a day on each tram can go to the top. When operating at full capacity, 40 tickets are sold for each trip, accommodating 6400 people each day. During normal hours there are only 48 trips to the top each day on each tram, accommodating 3,840.
Tickets are sold at gatewayarch.com and cost $13-19; the Ride does sell out, so it is recommended to buy timed tickets in advance. The last tram of the day goes up approximately an hour before closing time.
Gateway Arch National Park was originally named the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, honoring President Thomas Jefferson whose acquisition in 1803 of the Louisiana Territory from France, known as the Louisiana Purchase, doubled the size of the United States, and who promoted the Westward Expansion. An act of Congress renaming the park was signed into law in February 2018.
Walking back to the 21c Museum Hotel, I spot the Economy Museum, housed in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (free), and up Washington Avenue, a lively boulevard lined with pubs, a bowling alley, restaurants. and come across the Blues Museum (which apparently has closed after many years).
The Old Courthouse and Gateway Arch National Park are reason enough to come to St. Louis and for me are the big bonuses of having come to the city to bike the Katy Trail, a Rails to Trails Conservancy Hall of Fame trail.
With only an afternoon and evening to explore St. Louis before my six-day Wilderness Voyageurs bike trip on the Katy Trail across Missouri, I immediately set out from the 21c Museum Hotel for Gateway Arch National Park. My walk takes me by majestic buildings and monuments such as Soldiers’ Monument, many from the 1930s and through the lovely Citygarden sculpture park. I find myself across the street from the Old Courthouse, with a banner that exclaims, “Open” and “New Exhibits.”
Touring the Old Courthouse is one discovery after another, beginning with its spectacular dome, architecture and stunning murals of historic scenes and important historical figures. I explore the four new museum galleries and the restored historic courtroom that opened in May 2025 after a five year, $24.5 million renovation, 2020-2025.
The Old Courthouse is actually part of Gateway Arch National Park. I find a National Park Service ranger in the spectacular lobby beneath a dome, and am amazed to learn the infamous Dred Scott case began here (two trials!) and would have ended in his favor were it not for the Supreme Court and its dastardly Dred Scott decision.
The ranger gives me a brief synopsis: The Old Courthouse was the site of the first two trials of the pivotal Dred Scott case in 1847 and 1850 before the infamous Supreme Court “Dred Scott decision” in 1857. I later learn that this was also where Virginia Minor‘s case for a woman’s right to vote came to trial in the 1870s. It was last used as a courthouse in 1930
Sufficiently intrigued, I go off to see the new exhibit, simply named, “Dred and Harriet Scott,” a detailed biography of Scott and his wife, and their legal struggle. The story is not anything that is taught anywhere else, which more typically reduce Dred Scott to the Supreme Court decision, and not a person, and, as I discover, a story worthy of an opera.
I can only wonder if these exhibits will survive Trump’s anti-DEI crusade manifest in an executive order in 2025 called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order directing federal historic sites to “avoid showing content that disparages past or present Americans” – in essence erasing Black history and struggle for civil rights, women’s rights, human rights, and what was and is still being done to native peoples. (In Philadelphia, the National Park Service was ordered to replace slavery interpretive panels at the President’s House.)
It would be a terrible shame, though, because the exhibit is absolutely fascinating, revelatory, and pretty much this is the only place to appreciate it. Most of us only know the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision and do not know what led up to it, that for the 11 years the case was being argued and decided, Dred and Harriet Scott were prisoners of the sheriff, who hired them out and kept their wages. All during this period, the Scotts secreted their daughters away to protect them from being enslaved.
I learn that Scott was suing for his freedom from Irene Emerson, who inherited him upon the death of her husband, Dr. John Emerson, on the basis that his previous owner had taken him to a free territory, and under Missouri law (and the Missouri Compromise), if a slave or freed person lived in a free territory, they could not be re-enslaved. The first case was dismissed on a technicality (“hearsay”!), but the second case, which went to a jury of 12 white men (what else?), agreed that Scott was free. But Irene Emerson appealed up to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision by Justice Roger B. Taney stated that Dred Scott did not have the right to sue for his freedom because he was not a citizen and Black people, enslaved or free, were not part of the original sovereign people so could never become citizens because they were not people but property; the Constitution’s protection of property rights overruled their human right to be free.
But in a fascinating turn of events, by then, Irene Emerson had married a Massachusetts politician, Calvin Chaffee, who ran for the US Congress in 1854 on the anti-slavery America Party Ticket, and was reelected in 1856; he only became aware of his wife’s connection to the Scotts in May 1857). He would have been mortified to be found to own slaves. So, to get rid of the embarrassing, inauspicious problem, sold the “title” to the Scotts to a descendant of the Blow family which had originally owned Dred Scott and who had actually provided financial support to the Scotts while the case was going on and who purchased the couple in order to emancipate them. Meanwhile, the Scotts, who had sent their two daughters away so they could not be captured and enslaved, were reunited.
Dred Scott was 48 years old when he initiated his suit for freedom (since he was illiterate and poor, it is assumed that he was encouraged by an abolitionist who guided him through the process). The operatic tragedy continues because after finally winning his freedom, his family lived in poverty (Irene Emerson kept the wages the Scotts earned during the 11 years of their arrest) and Dred Scott lived less than a year as a free man before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 59.
What I realize is that the landmark Dred Scott decision in effect nullified the Missouri Compromise that was put into place to forestall a Civil War; the decision intensified boiling national tensions and helped spark the Civil War. You also appreciate the lasting legacy and ongoing relevance of their case today. (You can hear reverberations of the Taney decision in Trump’s effort to overturn birthright citizenship enshrined in the 14th Amendment, which states that all persons born on U.S. soil and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens, no ifs, ands or buts.)
The exhibit includes A Bid for Freedom, an excellent 4 ½ minute video reenacting a hypothetical conversation between Dred and Harriett Scott, in which they discuss the risks to their family if they sue their enslaver for their freedom at the Old Courthouse and the risks they face if they don’t.
Pathways to Freedom gallery is another eye-opener. It personalizes African American life in St. Louis during the era of slavery and beyond, tracing the struggles of enslaved individuals seeking freedom, the continued fight for civil rights after the Civil War, and the rise of the Black elite known as the Colored Aristocracy, who built wealth and influence in the 1800s. Here you get an appreciation for the resilience, resistance, and influence of African Americans in St. Louis from slavery onward, with disturbing echoes as these struggles have resurfaced throughout the country today, as if the struggles of1865-1965, and brief period of progress and societal awareness, from 1965-2025 had been erased.
See You In Court, housed in a recreated 1850s courtroom, highlights the vital role courts have played in shaping our society, legal system, and daily life from 1839 to 1930. Visitors can explore the courtroom and even participate in mock trials, gaining a deeper understanding of how the court system helps resolve conflicts peacefully and supports the structure of our society (another important lesson for today, to remind of the foundational importance of the Rule of Law, without fear or favor.) I note the bust of Louis Brandeis, the first Jew to become a Supreme Court Justice, who was formally admitted to the Missouri Bar here on November 21, 1878.
One of the oldest buildings in St. Louis, the Old Courthouse is significant for its Greek Revival architectural style, engineered dome, and interior murals. In 1838, the County of St. Louis selected Henry Singleton’s cruciform plan with a central rotunda to replace the existing smaller courthouse. Construction started in 1839 and it opened in 1845 (just one year before the Scotts filed their suit). At this time emigrants traveling westward on the Oregon and California trails often stopped and gathered provisions in St. Louis, the “Gateway to the West,” and would meet up in the Old Courthouse rotunda. The present dome, which replaced a smaller one in 1862 (while the Civil War was going on, and the Capitol Dome in Washington DC was under construction), was designed by architect William Rumbold and was one of the first of its type. After the dome alteration, American painter Carl Wimar was commissioned to design four lunettes in the building’s interior. In 1976, the Old Courthouse was listed in the National Register as a component of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
Largely because of the Dred Scott case, St. Louis’ Old Courthouse is included in the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network To Freedom – places of “historic resistance to enslavement through escape and flight.” The Old Courthouse is linked with the Underground Railroad as a place associated with legal challenges to slavery. Slaves were auctioned from its steps in estate settlements, and the Old Courthouse was the site of hundreds of suits for freedom.
The city gave the Old Courthouse to the National Park Service for inclusion into Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in 1940, which was renamed Gateway Arch National Park by an act of Congress in 2018.
Plan to spend at least an hour, more likely two in the Old Courthouse.
National Park Service rangers provide guided tours of the building every day at 2:15 pm (only rarely cancelled due to staff availability). The tours cover the architecture and history of the building and the court cases associated with it. (No tickets or reservations necessary.)
The Old Courthouse is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm (closed on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Years Day). There is no admission fee.
From here, I leave the Old Courthouse through the riverfront exit on my way to the Gateway Arch, about two blocks further, stopping at a stunning statue of Dred and Harriet Scott.
It’s become my practice to arrive at least a day early for a tour or cruise – to take into account any unforeseen travel delays but also to spend at least a day to explore.
With a 6:30 am pick up time for my Wilderness Voyageurs six-day bike tour on the famed Katy Trail 240-miles through Missouri, this wasn’t even an option. So knowing I would be flying into St. Louis (about 25 minutes away from the pick-up), I took the opportunity to have a good portion of a day to explore this history- and culturally-rich city.
My first step is always to seek out a Historic Hotels of America member property because I know staying in a historic hotel will enhance my appreciation for a destination– these properties are integral to a place, even characters that typically play a part in its story, are always architecturally and culturally interesting and can be depended upon to be walking distance or close proximity to the what want to explore.
That was definitely the case for my stay at the 21c Museum Hotel in St. Louis, with a marvelous story, gorgeous architecture, set amid the city’s important historic and cultural structures, and most importantly, a delightful 20-minute walk to Gateway Arch National Park, which was top of my list to see. But it had something more: an important art gallery, that, I learned, is the essence of this hotel brand of six 21c Museum Hotels.
The 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis started its story as a community hub when it opened as a central branch of the St. Louis YMCA in 1926, and this year is celebrating its 100th anniversary and its third anniversary as a hotel.
You might imagine a YMCA as a modest, even institutional structure, but this one was built as an architectural gem.
It was originally constructed by architects Louis LaBeaume and Eugene S. Klein in the Renaissance Revival style as the central branch of the St. Louis YMCA, and was the organization’s largest local branch and a major community hub until 2017. Due to its architectural significance and deep ties to the city, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
21c Museum Hotels revived the 10-story YMCA building, preserving its historic architectural elements like the original indoor pool, billiards room, and gymnasium and reasserting the space’s relevance as a gathering point in the heart of St. Louis. The hotel opened and became an official member of Historic Hotels of America in 2023.
Today, the 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis is a 173-room boutique hotel which is not just a hotel with an art gallery, but houses a major contemporary art museum. It features 14,000 square feet of curated gallery space (much of it in what used to be the basketball court, and open free of charge to the public 24-hours a day (guests have to use their room card in the elevator to access the room floors).
“Infusing the extraordinary into daily life, radical access to contemporary art is the modus operandi of 21c St. Louis,” the notes read. “Dynamic and thought-provoking curated exhibitions reflect the global nature of art today.”
Indeed, I was enthralled by the exhibit on view during my stay, “The Future Is Female”; the current exhibit “Revival: Digging Into Yesterday, Planting Tomorrow” is on view through January (https://21cmuseumhotels.com/museum/revival/). (The exhibits typically rotate among the 21c Museum Hotels.)
Paying homage to its YMCA roots, the 10,500-square-foot full-service Locust Street Athletic and Swim Club boasts a stunning, tiled indoor four-lane lap pool you might confuse for a millionaires’ mansion, sauna, steam rooms and offers spa services.
Other features include the Idol Wolf restaurant serving Iberian-inspired dishes; the Good Press Café; a stunning lobby bar, and a lounge with pool table.
The art spills over throughout the building so you never know what you will come upon, causing surprise and delight. Even the staircase between floors is a work of art.
The property is known for its playful, colorful penguin sculptures scattered throughout the public spaces – a feature of the 21c Museum owners. Guests can even request to have one “adopted” and placed in their room during their stay.
The penguins first debuted at 21c Museum Hotel Louisville. 21c founders Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson had purchased the sculptures after seeing the joy they evoked from onlookers at the 2005 Venice Biennale public art project. Now perched around 21c Museum Hotels (each 21c has its own flock of penguins in the color that embodies the city’s identity), the playful penguins contribute to the hotel’s mission of making contemporary art more accessible to the public.
And while there is art everywhere and stunning interior design, it is not at all forbidding or unapproachable, but warm and welcoming, even comfortable. You feel very much a part of the “club.” And it is easy to see why 21c Museum Hotel Louisville was named to the Historic Hotels of America’s 2025 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America for a Romantic Proposal – indeed, I spot a bridal couple in an embrace, posing for their photos.
The 21c Museum Hotel also honors its original commitment to community, from its days as the YMCA, collaborating with its neighbors and community partners to ensure the historic establishment’s presence extends beyond its walls. Guests can enjoy poetry evenings, attend artist demonstrations, and support local creators during their stay.
From the hotel, I wander to see the Mississippi River as it winds through St. Louis. I stroll through the Citygarden Sculpture Park on the way to the riverfront – a green area filled with beautifully landscaped lawns, cooling water features including sprinklers for children to play in, and striking sculptures. At the riverfront, you can take a cruise on a 19th-century paddlewheel riverboat or cycle along the river on bike paths that connect Missouri from downtown St. Louis to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, a historic Route 66 landmark.
I am bound for the Gateway Arch National Park, coming upon the Old Courthouse, which I realize was the site of the first two trials of the consequential Dred Scott case in 1847 and 1850 (see next).
But St. Louis is, no doubt, a sports city.
Besides being integral to St. Louis’ historic and cultural attractions, the 21c Museum Hotel is close by to St. Louis’ key sports destinations that are a big lure to the city: Energizer Park, a 22,423-seat soccer-specific stadium and 32-acre urban sports district in downtown St. Louis; Enterprise Center, an 18,096-seat indoor arena located at 1401 Clark Avenue in downtown St. Louis, that is home venue for the St. Louis Blues professional hockey team and hosts major concerts, family shows, and basketball tournaments. It is also a short ride away from Busch Stadium, the 45,000-seat stadium that is home base for the Cardinals baseball team.
The hotel offers an “Ultimate Cardinals Experience” that includes a $10 Uber credit to Busch Stadium, a 4-pack of local 4 Hands City Wide brews and a $25 credit (per stay) to be used at Idol Wolf or Good Press
Year round there are special packages to meet the mood and the season. Some recent examples:
Celebrate Mother’s Day with breakfast in bed with in-room dining from Good Press café, a rejuvenating spa treatment at the historic Locust Street Athletic and Swim Club, tour the art exhibition and end with a show-stopping Spanish-meets-midwest dinner at Idol Wolf.
Yoga with Art: Beginners are welcome for Hatha Yoga Mondays and Wednesdays at 5:30 pm. (Drop-in passes can be purchased at the front desk at Locust Street Athletic and Swim Club).
Nightcap At The Museum: 21c Museum Hotel guests are invited to join the hotel every night for a complimentary late-night Angel’s Envy Bourbon sip and explore the museum exhibitions as the night winds down. Visit the restaurant bar from 8 pm-late and enjoy a pour with new friends, wandering around the galleries, or cozied up in your room.
There are currently six 21c Museum Hotel locations operating in the United States, managed as part of the Ennismore and Accor collection: Louisville, Kentucky (Flagship); Bentonville, Arkansas; Durham, North Carolina; Lexington, Kentucky; Kansas City, Missouri; and St. Louis, Missouri
21c’s chef-driven restaurants and bars highlight the brand’s Kentucky roots – so expect a healthy assortment of Bourbons behind the bar. You can explore the spirits and cocktail programs at: Idol Wolf, 21c St. Louis; Lockbox, 21c Lexington; Metropole, 21c Cincinnati; Proof on Main, 21c Louisville; The Hive, 21c Bentonville
21c Museum Hotel, 1528 Locust St., St. Louis, MO 63103, reservations: 888-831-7077, 21cMuseumHotels.com
A member of Historic Hotels of America since 2023, 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis has been named to these Historic Hotels of America Top 25 Lists:
Historic Hotels of America is a membership organization comprised mostly of independently owned and operated historic hotels but also from some 30 of the world’s major hospitality brands, chains and collections, and from 44 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. To be selected for membership into this prestigious program, a hotel must be at least 50 years old; been designated by the U.S. Interior Secretary as a National Historic Landmark or listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places; and recognized as having historic significance.
These historic hotels have all faithfully maintained their authenticity, sense of place, and architectural integrity. HHA members occupy buildings that date as early as 1651. Many are the site of key events in regional, national, or international history or have played host to famous figures, from heads of state and industry titans to writers and movie stars. Some hotels are also intertwined with the country’s cultural history, either as venues or culinary hotspots. As a historic preservation and hospitality program focused on experiences, Historic Hotels of America supports cultural heritage tourism and sustainability.
(Its sister organization, Historic Hotels Worldwide® is a global collection of more than 300 historic hotels in more than 40 countries, including castles, chateaus, palaces, academies, haciendas, villas, monasteries, and other historic lodging spanning ten centuries, historichotels.org.)
Historic Hotels of America® is the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation with the mission to increase the preservation, recognition, and celebration of the finest historic hotels in the USA.
For more than 70 years, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has led the movement to save Americas historic places. A privately funded nonprofit organization, it works to save America’s historic sites; tell the full American story; build stronger communities; and invest in preservation’s future.
Day 3 of our six-day Wilderness Voyageurs Katy Trail bike tour 240-miles across Missouri is the most scenic, most interesting, teasiest ride, and the most dramatic for what we see. The day starts with pictographs left by the Indigenous people who populated this place for centuries before Lewis & Clark or Daniel Boone ever laid their eyes on this land, and ends with a mirror held up to Missourians, at the State Capital building, where we see Thomas Hart Benton’s stirring “Social History of Missouri” mural.
The 38.7 miles we ride from Rocheport to Jefferson City (Missouri’s capital), is almost entirely flat – a mere158 ft rise, 200 ft. decline. It also turns out to be my favorite part of the Katy Trail – much of it with limestone cliffs and forest on one side and views of the Missouri River on the other.
We set out from the base of the 200-foot high limestone Manitou Bluffs that towers above the bike trail. They were once sacred to Native American tribes and we spot remnants of pictographs.
They are easy to miss, but I am intent to find them (look for the marker that gives the description). Still, I might have missed them were it not for our guide, James Oerding, riding along with me (because I am last – again), who has guided for Wilderness Voyageurs for the past 13 years, pointed them out.
What you do see most prominently is the symbol that looks like the Nike swoosh. Then you look to the right and make out others (there is a placard that shows all the figures to look for). They were like billboards of their time (perhaps saying “We are here”?).
The notes say that Lewis and Clark expedition camped below these bluffs just downstream from here on June 6,1804.
President Thomas Jefferson had made it clear the captains should carefully observe Indians and their way of life and though Clark and others in the expedition were conscientious about recording pictographs, there were no mentions of the pictographs we see here. But the Stephen Long Expedition did make note of these Torbett Spring pictographs in 1819. It is suspected that the Sauk and Fox Indians, who lived in the area until around 1814 and likely were the artists, painted the pictographs . after the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed by.
Needless to say, I linger here awhile, reading the notes, taking photos, so am last and James, our guide, hangs with me. (The Wilderness Voyageurs guides tell us at the outset, “This is your vacation. Ride your own ride” – and isn’t normally a problem with the route on our Ride GPS app and because on this trip, for all but the last night’s stay, we are able to bike from inn to inn without needing to gather in the van to shuttle to our lodging.)
A short distance further, we veer off the Katy Trail for a quarter of a mile to see The Big McBaine Burr Oak Tree, that sits all by itself with no other tree for 1000 feet. From a distance, it is just a tree. But as we get closer, I begin to appreciate just how gigantic it is, and why it is recorded in journals: The largest burr oak tree in Missouri, it is 287-inches around, 90 feet tall with a 13-foot spread, and takes a half-dozen people to wrap their arms around the trunk. It has stood strong for nearly 400 years, withstanding storms, droughts, floods, vandalism, and development and would have been formidable even to Lewis & Clark, who would have traveled within sight of the tree, a half-mile from the banks of the Missouri 200 years ago.
Coming into Jefferson City, we leave the Katy Trail onto a spur and bike up an extraordinary spiraling ramp onto the bridge over the Missouri River (and will return down the ramp the next morning to get back onto the Katy Trail). Riding over the bridge affords dramatic views of Missouri’s majestic State Capitol.
Jefferson City, population 42,838, is the most urban part of our ride – and having just come from such rural areas on the protected carless rail trail, it is a bit of culture shock to be riding on city streets.
The only tricky part is getting to our hotel (the only “modern” hotel of our stay, Courtyard by Marriott), especially because of construction underway. We come down a steep sloping street, once again providing a dramatic view of the State Capital building set at the end.
Once we are settled into the Marriott Courtyard Hotel (the only chain hotel of our trip), James offers to drive us to the State Capital Building, encouraging us to seek out the Thomas Hart Benton Murals that wrap around the walls of the House Members’ Lounge.
“A Social History of the State of Missouri,” Thomas Hart Benton’s famous mural, is more of an indictment than a glorification of Missouri’s history. It was 1934, in the midst of the Great Recession, when Benton got the $16,000 commission – “a prince’s ransom” at the time, equivalent to $300,000 today and more money than the governor earned – and a period of heightened racial tension in Missouri. Completed in December 1936, the state legislators immediately regretted having commissioned it and even considered painting over the murals, but feared humiliating defeats if they admitted their “misjudgment.”
The story of this extraordinary mural is being related to us by the Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the House, Ryan Clearwater, who we chanced to ask if we could visit when we find House Members Lounge locked. He takes us in (through the Speaker’s office, no less), and proceeds to spend an hour with us.
Instead of noble figures, Benton shows ordinary men and women who built Missouri, using real Missourians including his own family, as models for the 200 figures. He also shows its villains.
Instead of noble deeds and historic events, it depicts slaves being whipped and auctioned; a trader giving whiskey to an Osage Indian (he went to Oklahoma to find an Osage Indian to model); a Mormon being tarred and feathered (Missouri expelled Mormons and as recently as 1980s, Clearwater tells us, the state had a statute that it was permissible to kill Mormons); a settler being lynched by Civil War guerrillas while his family is turned out of their burning home; Huck Finn and runaway slave Jim on a raft escaping down the Mississippi River, the Samuel Clemons riverboat off to the side; Jesse James and his gang robbing a bank and a train; and Frankie entering the bar to murder Johnny, who did her wrong.
It depicts Missouri’s transition from frontier to factories, the Civil War to the Great War, people struggling and making due during the Great Depression (a comb with missing teeth as one of the symbols). One section portrays a political rally attended by all but one white man, while a woman on a bench, her back turned away from the rally, changes her baby’s bare bottom (scandalous! Benton’s nephew was the model),
The last scene, In the bottom corner, plainly depicts Tom Pendergast, at the time the boss of Missouri politics, who was so powerful, he is said to have elected his candidate governor in just 30 days and get Truman into the US Senate (a figure very much like Truman is seated in front). Then 2 years after the mural was done, Pendergast went to federal prison for corruption. Benton came back and made a couple of changes – he had to touch up where someone drew Pendergast’s prison number on his suit, and to put clothes on the burlesque dancers in the background.
“Benton put Pendergast in the mural to let every representative and senator and the public know how some got into office,” Clearwater remarks.
The scene with the political rally depicts a black man, the only black man wearing a suit, leaning against a pole. This figure is Jordan Chambers, who was the Black political boss (“Tom Pendergast”) of St. Louis. Some claim that Jordan Chambers wanted to be in mural, he tells us, despite the association with Pendergast’s corruption.
The mural is shocking to see, even today, and you wonder how Benton was able to get away with it.
“The mural got mixed reviews – slavery, tar and feathering, lynching, murder, robbery,” Clearwater notes with an air of understatement. “They had wanted history. When it was unveiled, they talked about painting it over. But they had spent $16,000 and felt they wouldn’t get reelected, so they said, ‘We should learn from past.’” (I wonder if they also calculated that since the murals were locked away in the House Members’ Lounge, few would actually see it.)
It’s 5 pm, when the building normally closes, but Clearwater takes us into the House chambers (he says that because the Senate is still in session trying to complete its business before the term ends, the building isn’t officially closed). It is a stunning, majestic room, with painted glass windows and a stunning mural (the gift of France). Clearwater says they had a $1 million budget for artwork when the building was built (the first two capital buildings burned down; this one is of “Carthage marble” – polished limestone). Missouri has the 4th largest House of Representatives per capita (163 House members and 34 Senate); a part-time position, they meet five months of the year.
I note portraits of Lincoln (“the first Republican,” Clearwater says) and Jefferson (“the first Democrat,” Clearwater says, but Jefferson was actually a Democratic Republican who advocated for states rights, agrarian interests and strict construction of Constitution, so also Republican; Franklin D. Roosevelt is probably the first modern Democrat).
The partisan animosity is practically built into the room. The center aisle is the width of “two swords”; the 7,000-page rule book includes such provisions as the member has to ask permission to speak, no member shall rattle their spittoon while another is talking, no one can intercede the line of debate.
Festooned around the room are the values these legislators are supposed to espouse for the state: Enterprise, Progress, Honor. Truth. Virtue. Temperance. Knowledge. Liberty. Equality. Justice. Fraternity. Education.
By now, Clearwater, the chief of staff to the Speaker of the House has spent about an hour with us, even though only two of us are actually Missouri constituents. He jokes, “I would rather spend time with the public than lobbyist or legislator,” (though upon leaving, I spot a few of them on the way in, and all around the Capitol building, are offices of various unions and industry and trade associations).
It’s after 5 pm, too late to visit the State Museum contained within the building, but we get a few minutes to admire the stunning lobby and dome, surrounded by engravings extolling the state’s (aspirational?) credos:
From our chaise lounges on the sundeck, we watch an ever-changing landscape: vineyards terraced into steep hillsides, imposing mountaintop castles, small villages built around soaring churches, and long stretches of forest and grasslands. We are cruising through Austria’s Wachau Valley on the 190-passenger Viking Tor, one of Viking’s virtually identical “Longships” that ply the Upper Danube between Germany and Hungary.
For our first three days the focus has been on two medieval German Bavarian cities: Regensburg, where we boarded the ship, and Passau. This morning, the Danube itself takes center stage. On and off, Teo, our charismatic cruise director, shares insightful stories and context about the Danube, which runs “from the Black Forest to the Black Sea.” As the longest river in Europe after the Volga and the only one to flow west to east, the Danube has been a major highway for goods and ideas since pre-Roman times.
Landmarks trigger colorful stories. Passing the ruins of Aggstein Castle, Teo tells of an infamous owner, a murderous robber baron who hijacked passing ships and often cruelly “disposed” of the crew and seized their goods. Those vineyards we see? They produce dry white Grüner Veltliner, Riesling and other acclaimed wines, and many vintners still harvest grapes by hand due to the steep terrain.
Gliding through the Wachau Valley in our moving hotel is a magical way to experience this iconic region. Its leisurely pace is the reason my husband and I chose Viking’s “Romantic Danube” itinerary. For us, it offers the perfect mix of curated and free time. Unlike many Danube cruises that spend less than 24 hours in each port, this eight-day/seven-night sailing overnights in each of its three main destinations. This gives us time to experience Regensburg, Vienna and Budapest in the evening when the squares and riverside walks are romantically lit. It also provides ample time to explore on our own, relax in a cafe, and join some of Viking’s optional excursions (at added cost), which range from e-bike tours to day trips to nearby cities to a behind-the-scenes visit to the Vienna Boys Choir.
Our trip starts with a flight to Munich where Viking meets our flight and takes us to the ship, which is docked in Regensburg. As we unpack, we are impressed with the generous storage space tucked into our 205 square foot Verandah Stateroom. In addition to a hanging closet and two three-drawer chests, there are shelves and a safe in the closet and ample space for toiletries in the bathroom. (In addition to Verandah staterooms, there are two levels of suites; 135 square foot French Balcony cabins and 150 square foot, lower-deck Standard Staterooms with a sealed-shut clerestory window.)
We’re tired, but we head out to get a sense of this frozen-in-time medieval city whose town center was larely spared by WWII bombs. A short walk along the river takes us to the graceful Stone Bridge. We dip into the small Bridge Tower Museum, whoseeasy-to-follow timeline for the region serves as a great grounding for the rest of our cruise.The nearby Historische Wurstkuchl dates back to its days of feeding the bridge’s 12th-century construction workers and its homemade mustard and sauerkraut-topped sausages have been described as “the best of the wurst”.
Back on board, we learn that cookies and local pastries are on tap 24/7 at coffee/tea stations near the library, and that meals are served both in the full-service dining room and, buffet-style, in the indoor/outdoor Aquavit Terrace.Each meal brings a selection of regional specialties and international dishes, and every evening the chef explains the featured local fare. This evening’s choices include a tasty Bavarian potato soup, pork tenderloin and sauerbraten. After dinner, several of us follow the twisty medieval streets up to the soaring Gothic St. Peter’s Cathedral.
On our walking tour the next morning, we see evidence of Regensburg’s long history; the remains of a Roman wall and the Porta Praetoria from 179 AD and its Old Town Hall, dating back to 1245. Most of the historic city center was built from the 12th to 16th century during Regensburg’s heyday as a prosperous trading center. We’re told residents are still proud of the city’s status as a self-governing Free Imperial City during the time of the Holy Roman Empire, and that for nearly 150 years, it was the venue for the Perpetual Imperial Diet, the Empire’s standing congress.
An ancient tombstone with Hebrew writing strangely built into the side of a house catches our eye. Our guide explains that Jewish people in Regensburg were welcomed with protected status until 1519 when their protector, Emperor Maximilian 1, died in the midst of a severe economic downturn. The entire Jewish community was forced into exile overnight. Their homes were looted, their cemeteries desecrated, and their tombstones used as building material around the city. The site of the 1519 synagogue is now a memorial park.
Our walking tour ends at St. Peter’s Cathedral, which boasts the world’s largest hanging organ. Between May and October, weekday visitors can join its noon meditation, accompanied by the organ. I spend our free afternoon exploring the town and the excellent Bavarian History Museum. Departure time is 6:45 p.m., and after dinner, we enjoy a musical soiree of operatic arias enacted in full costume by local performers. It feels privileged and quirky to have such quality performances in the ship’s lounge.
The next morning, we awake in Passau, the “City of Three Rivers.” Here, we see the Inn, pale green from the Alpine glaciers, the River Ilz, nearly black from the peaty Bavarian countryside, and the brown-green Danube (it turns blue farther east). Once again, we are pleased to be docked right in the historic town center.
One of the first stops on our walking tour is a giant vertical ruler that marks the height of the flood waters at various years. To this day, on streets near the Danube, the ground floors must be quickly cleared when flood waters are expected to rise. Interestingly. this lower part of the city is a trendy art district. We wind our way through quaint narrow streets up to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, whose onion dome and towers dominate the skyline. It has the world’s largest Cathedral pipe organ which, though under restoration, still sounds quite powerful.
That afternoon, I join Viking’s optional four-hour e-bike tour. We cycle through a lively park but soon have the riverside paths to ourselves and peddle to a quaint Austrian inn where we stop for drinks and pretzels before heading back.
Our scenic cruise through the Wachau Valley includes a stop at the vineyard-surrounded Gottweig Abbey, a Benedictine monastery founded in 1083, and sample local wines raised on its lands. Back on the Viking Tor, we enjoy a formal afternoon tea as our executive chef teaches us to make apple strudel and shares his recipe.
We arrive in Vienna in time to enjoy a “Viking privileged access” musical highlight of our trip—the vivacious 21-year-old conductor, composer and violinist Alma Deutscher presenting works by Strauss, Mozart and her own compositions at elegant Strauss House, where Johann Strauss once lived and performed.
We are excited to have two full days in Vienna ahead of us. Our guided tour of the city starts at the Ring Road that cradles the historic center. This grand boulevard, home to the Vienna State Opera House, the Rathaus (City Hall), Parliament and Hofburg Palace, replaced the former medieval walls in the mid-19th century.
Our first stop is the 59-acre Hofburg Palace complex, once the winter residence of the Habsburgs. Horse-drawn carriages clip-clop through its main square and the Vienna Boys Choir and Lipizzaner stallions still train and perform here (Viking offers behind the scenes visits to both) while monumental museums showcase the Habsburg’s immense wealth, power and legacy. That evening, we head out with some new friends to retrace our steps on foot and enjoy seeing the elegant Baroque, Art Nouveau and Neoclassical architecture dramatically lit at night.
Before heading out the next morning, we join Captain Lukas Hacunda for a wheelhouse talk about the unique challenges of navigating the Danube and its many locks and see how the wheelhouse tucks down into the ship when necessary to pass under low bridges.
Belvedere Palace, the opulent 17th century home of Prince Eugene Savoy, offers the chance to see world’s largest collection of works by Gustav Klimt, including the “Kiss,” so we decide to spend our afternoon there. Its gilded rooms provide the perfect setting for the works of Klimt, Monet and many other great artists, and its lovely formal gardens are an unexpected delight.
As we sail to Budapest that evening, Bratislava Castle appears, bathed in light, towering over its city. Later that evening, Teo’s unforgettable presentation on “Growing up in a Communist Country” provides a brief overview of communism in Eastern Europe brought to life by personal stories of his life as a young boy in Romania. Among the tenets of communist life: “If you see a line, get on it. There will be something you can use or trade.”
We dock in Budapest near the historic Széchenyi Chain Bridge that connects the Buda and Pest sides of the city. Our city orientation starts with a bus tour that swings by the grand main streets and monuments on the Pest side of the city and then crosses the Danube and delivers us to the Buda Castle Quarter for a walking tour.
That afternoon, we reserve tickets to visit the Dohány Street Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Europe. The Moorish Revival style complex we see today was built in 1864; the temple seats nearly 3,000 people and resembles a church in its ornate decor and layout. Our guide explains that is because it was built by a “neologue” reform sect of Judaism that emphasized assimilation. In fact, until WWII, Budapest had no ghettos.
That changed suddenly in 1944, when Germany forced them into ghettos and deportation and an estimated 500,000 were murdered in just 56 days. The complex has a poignant burial ground, a museum, and the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park with its weeping willow sculpture bearing thousands of leaves with the names of Hungarian victims.
A second Holocaust memorial, “The Shoes on the Danube Promenade” is a haunting array of 60 pairs of scattered cast-iron men’s, women’s and children’s shoes, marking an area where thousands of Jewish people were forced to remove their shoes before being shot and tumbling into the river.
We end our day at a happier historic site, the Veli Bej Bath, which harkens to the 16th century when Budapest was part of the Ottoman Empire. Still popular with locals, its domed octagonal central pool is surrounded by smaller pools of varying degrees of heat fed by natural thermal springs and a selection of sauna and steam baths. Locker rooms are basic, but the timeless baths feel exotic and indulgent.
We return to the ship for a farewell dinner where regional menu choices include chicken paprikash with potato dumplings and a yummy dessert of strawberries, caramelized pistachios in sweet Hungarian Tokaji wine sauce. After dinner, we set off with new friends on what has become our ritual evening walk. Soon, we are at Andrássy Avenue, the Champs-Élysées of Budapest. As we stroll along the grand boulevard, admiring the ornate details of the elegant Renaissance Revival architecture and delighting in our new-found friendship, we agree that our cruise has been all we’d hoped for and more.
The Basics: Prices for the seven-night “Romantic Danube” cruise start at $2,399 and include one excursion in each port, beer, wine and soft drinks with meals, port fees and taxes, and on-board lectures and entertainment. Budget extra for airfare, pre- and post- tours, additional excursions, tips, bar drinks, and transfers to and from the ship if flights are arranged independently. With recent flight issues, it’s more important than ever to plan to arrive at least a day early.
Rarely, but occasionally, low or high water levels can make parts of the Danube impassible, necessitating changes in the itinerary or a ship swap (where Viking transfers you and luggage to an identical stateroom and ship on the other side of the impassable section. Ask your travel advisor or Viking to see if your sailing might be affected.
To mark the opening of the Tang Wing for American Democracy, The New York Historical has expanded hours until 8 pm on Thursdays through Saturdays from June 18 to July 4. Admission during expanded hours on those dates are pay-as-you-wish admission from 5-8 pm.
Also enjoy “Songs of America,” a vibrant lineup of live music performances taking place at the Museum in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center, featuring music from across 250 years of the nation. Performances are free with pay-as-you-wish admission during expanded hours from June 18 to July 4.
And see a rare printed copy of the Declaration of Independence, on view through July 5.
By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com
The timing couldn’t be more perfect, nor more necessary: The New York Historical, New York’s first museum, has just opened a major new expansion, the Tang Wing for American Democracy with a mission and a facility dedicated to teaching the history and future of the nation’s founding principles.
Opening in time for America’s 250th anniversary of the signing the foundational Declaration of Independence and audaciously creating the first government “of, by, and for the people” since antiquity, “This transformative new wing embodies The Historical’s mission of illuminating the complexities of the American story and inspiring engagement with the ideas and principles that define it,” said museum president and CEO Dr. Louise Mirrer. “As we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary, the Tang Wing will serve as both a beacon for civic learning and a space for reflection on the values that continue to shape our democracy. We are deeply grateful to Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang for their extraordinary vision and generosity in making the Tang Wing for American Democracy possible.”
“The New York Historical’s origin story began with the American Revolution, and after 222 years we have achieved an institutional legacy as a steadfast witness to the history that shaped this nation,” said Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang, who chairs The Historical’s Board of Trustees. “On the occasion of America’s semiquincentennial, this new wing shall rise as a self-evident embodiment of the American evolution—from its beginning as the world’s first modern democracy to the world’s longest continuing democracy.
“When New York Historical was founded in 1804, 222 years ago, Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor of France while Jefferson was reelected by the people of a young republic, the United States of America,” Dr. Tang said.
New York City, she noted, was the first capital of the United States of America, was where modern democracy and the American presidency originated.
“We are here today, because this very institution for 222 years has steadfastly safeguarded the evidence of our history, through wars and peace,” she said. “The new wing, dedicated to teaching of American history and democracy, is the culmination of 222 years of engaged citizenship and assiduous examination of American history – the good, bad, ugly and beautiful. Our history began as a revolution and endures and will endure as evolution of democracy for all.”
Since the museum’s founding as the New-York Historical Society, New York City has become a capital of modernity, culture and arts, Dr. Tang said. “The roots of the New York Historical are in New York City, but it has grown and evolved in mission and understanding of itself to become a national museum of national significance.”
The expanded space – 71,000 sq. ft – adds new galleries, classrooms, collections areas, a rooftop terrace and courtyard, and was designed to maintain and expand upon the Beaux-Arts style of the museum’s landmarked campus. The project also pursued LEED Gold Certification and includes state-of-the-art HVAC equipment anticipated to reduce energy consumption.
“It’s not just a new building but a tactical renovation of the existing building to knit it together with the new wing, aesthetically and functionally,” Dr. Mirrer said. “We are reimagining, reinventing this institution – what it is today and will become.”
The $175 million project represents the museum’s first expansion of its landmark campus in nearly a century and will significantly increase its capacity and ability to have exhibitions that could not be installed before, education, collections preservation and public programming. In addition to the newly constructed wing, the project included renovations to more than 30,000 square feet of existing museum space. The project was supported by $9.25 million from Empire State Development, along with $5 million from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Dr. Mirrer noted that the institution has sought an education wing going back to1937 “to educate about who we were as a people, so we can see who we should become. We sit in the new Klingenstein Family Gallery – a soaring light-filled space – where historical figures can tell their stories.”
The expansion will also support New York Historical’s education programs, including its award-winning Chang Chavin Academy for American Democracy four-day civics residency program, where 6th graders are brought to the museum to learn about democracy from its origins in antiquity – Greece and Rome – to today. With the additional classrooms – set along a gorgeous balcony – the museum expects to grow the program from 5,000 sixth-grade students served annually to 30,000 students per year. The Historical’s education programs currently reach more than 300,000 students and educators annually and help support the New York City Department of Education’s social studies curriculum.
“Hundreds of thousands of children receive education in civics here at a time when civics is under-taught in schools. New York Historical is picking up the ball, but we needed a facility,” Dr. Tang said.
Also newly opened in the Tang Wing, the Stuart and Jane Weitzman Shoe Museum, exhibits three centuries of American women’s lives through an extraordinary collection of historical footwear (check out Beyonce’s custom stiletto tour booties).
Like most of New York museums, the bulk of their collections are stored off site. The expansion includes crucial new on-site storage for The Historical’s invaluable Patricia D. Klingenstein Library, which holds the Robert A. Caro Archive, Time Inc. Archive, and Billie Jean King Archive as well as millions of manuscripts, maps, photographs, and prints documenting American history
Another significant improvement is that its conservation facilities, where its renowned collection of paintings and historical objects are restored and conserved, are now consolidated in a new state of the art facility in the lowest level.
And because the renovation has been at the highest level museum design standards, the New York Historical can now borrow rare and top quality artifacts from other institutions.
Also, the outdoor greenspace has been “recaptured” and now offers an accessible sculpture courtyard (where you will find the Hamilton and Burr statues, set at the exact distance apart as where they stood for their duel) and a new roof terrace atop the Tang Wing which will be lushly landscaped.
Interestingly, the granite used to build the Tang Wing (which was built over a vacant lot where three brownstones were razed 80 years ago) is the same as in the existing building, even though the quarry had closed in the 1920s. The quarry, on Deer Island, Maine, was reopened just for this project, architect Graham Wyatt, partner, RAMSA (Robert A.M. Stern Architects), tells us.
“Designing the new Tang Wing and related renovations for The New York Historical has been an extraordinary opportunity to engage with one of New York’s most important cultural institutions and historic landmarks,” Wyatt said.
“Our design completes a plan first contemplated almost a century ago and enters into dialogue with The New York Historical’s existing building and with the craftsmanship and materials of the original structure, while introducing new interior spaces that meet the Museum’s evolving mission and programs.” It also was the last project designed by Robert Stern before he passed away.
The Tang Wing ultimately will create the first permanent home for the American LGBTQ+ Museum – a collaborative institution that will join The New York Historical’s Center for Women’s History in advancing the narrative of civil rights for all Americans – opening in late 2027.
“New York’s cultural institutions tell our stories, strengthen our communities and power our tourism economy,” Governor Kathy Hochul stated. “For more than two centuries, the New York Historical has preserved the history of our state and nation, and the new Tang Wing will ensure that millions of visitors, students, scholars and families can continue to learn from that history for generations to come. As our nation prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, this expansion reaffirms New York’s role as a global capital of culture, education and ideas.”
Democracy Matters
The opening of the Tang Wing coincides with New York Historical’s exhibition, Democracy Matters, in the new Klingenstein Family Gallery. Bringing together objects from The New York Historical’s collections, the exhibition explores how the concept of democracy has stretched, contracted, and shifted through key moments in the history of the nation; how competing understandings of it have come into conflict; and how those conflicts have reshaped its boundaries.
In 1789, George Washington was inaugurated the first president in lower Manhattan. He sat in a wooden chair, not the velvet cushioned, gilded throne of a king – indeed, the chair he used and the Bible he swore the newly written oath of office, are both on view in the new Klingenstein Gallery, where “Democracy Matters,” displaying essential artifacts organized around key moments in history and key pillars of our democracy – freedom of press, religion, free and fair elections, is on view through November 1.
Also on view is a fragment from the King George III statue that was pulled down at Bowling Green after the Declaration of Independence was read, and a glass bowl that served as a ballot box (so votes were transparent), a Torah scroll among other religious objects that show Freedom of Religion, all five Thomas Cole’s Empire Series depicting the “Rise and Fall of Civilization.” There is also an odd, 34-star flag, dating back to the “darkest days of the Civil War. Even as the Confederacy adopted their own flag, Lincoln refused to accept the union could be broken,” Dr. Mirrer noted. The exhibits are also arranged to spark thought and interaction.
The New York Historical is continuing to present a slate of special exhibitions throughout the America 250th anniversary year, that have already included Declaring the Revolution: America’s Printed Path to Independence and Stirring the Melting Pot: Photographs from The New York Historical Collections.
Indeed, before there was a United States of America or a New York, there was a New Amsterdam, founded by the Dutch 400 years ago, which set the stage for America’s entrepreneurism, individualism and culture.
New-York Historical’s current blockbuster exhibition, Old Masters, New Amsterdam, celebrates the city’s founding 400 years ago with a fascinating look at life in New Amsterdam from the perspective of 17th century Dutch Masters including Rembrandt van Rijn, Frans Hals, and Jan Steen.
“The Dutch greatly enjoyed family festivities that included music, dancing, food, and drink,” said Arthur Wheelock, co-curator of the exhibition and senior advisor to the Leiden Collection. “Jan Steen’s joyous Peasants Merrymaking Outside an Inn, wonderfully captures the vibrancy and wide range of human interactions that could be found at a country fair, whether in the Netherlands or in New Amsterdam.”
“Four centuries ago, the Dutch founded an outpost at the tip of Manhattan Island—a humble but vibrant settlement that would give rise to New York,” said Russell Shorto, the exhibition’s co-curator, director of the New Amsterdam Project at The New York Historical. “Across the ocean, meanwhile, Rembrandt and his peers were transforming art, revealing the beauty and drama of everyday life. These Dutch artists never set foot in New Amsterdam, but their portraits, character studies, and depictions of daily life in the Netherlands provide real insight into the world of Manhattan’s 17th-century settlers.”
Gerard Donck and Frans de Hulst portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Bayard (1644) – Samuel Bayard and his wife Anna Stuyvesant Bayard (1644). After Samuel’s death, Anna emigrated to New Amsterdam where her brother Peter Stuyvesant was the colonial Director-General.
Some of the most intriguing objects in the exhibition are those from New York Historical’s own collection: the journal of John Bowne who was arrested for hosting a Quaker meeting and deported to the Netherlands in 1662, where the West India Company directed Stuyvesant to “allow every one to have his own belief.” setting the stage for freedom of religion in New York. Also, a property deed to Manuel de Spangle (dated January 18, 1651), who won his freedom (the first enslaved Africans probably arrived in New Amsterdam in 1627), which encouraged other slaves to sue for their freedom.
The exhibition ends with several paintings providing a glimpse into 1776 and beyond.
Francis Guy’s painting depicting theTontine Coffee House, NYC 1797: After American independence, merchants founded the Tontine Coffee House at the corner of Wall and Pearl Streets, as a place to conduct business. Trading of stocks in the coffee house eventually gave way to the New York Stock Exchange.
From The New York Historical’s collection, Francis Guy’s 1797 painting Tontine Coffee House, New York City, where commercial activity seemingly bursts across the canvas, shows the expansive growth of the city in the century after the Dutch founded New Amsterdam, at the place that became the stock exchange.
The individuality fostered in the Dutch era evolved into a New York hallmark: a brash, confident, entrepreneurial energy. On the eve of the American Revolution, the city’s diversity made it a cauldron of debate and unrest. Built on Dutch foundations and shaped by waves of newcomers, New York reflected the American experiment and propelled it forward.
House Made of Dawn: Art by Native Americans, 1880-Now,: Drawing from a collection of more than 100 promised gifts of art, artifacts, and rare books created by Native American artists to The New York Historical by Board Chair Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and her husband Oscar Tang in celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial, this exhibition presents distinct artistic expressions and practices of modernism by more than 85 artists of diverse Indigenous heritage (through August 2, 2026).
Revolutionary Women: The Center for Women’s History foregrounds the women of New York City whose contributions to the Revolutionary War effort have been little recognized—but whose experiences highlight the material realities of living in the war-torn city as well as the divergent, contested meanings of revolutionary liberty itself and its unfinished promise. Revolutionary Women dives deep into the stories of the women who left indelible marks on the fight for—and even against—independence and who helped create the foundations of a new government. Liberty, equality, and independence were key bywords for that emerging nation. But who did these concepts apply to? Revolutionary Women attempts to provide answers and deepen the history we all think we know with letters, poems, petitions, archeological objects, paintings, household objects, and more from our Patricia D. Klingenstein Library collection.
Also visit the fascinating exhibit dedicated to the Presidency (you can visit a replica of Reagan’s Oval Office and sit behind the Resolute desk) and our three co-equal branches of government.
“Songs of America,” a vibrant lineup of live music performances taking place at the Museum in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center, features music from across two and a half centuries of the nation, from Revolutionary-era tunes, to blues, classic jazz, turn-of-the-century jazz, soul jazz and Americana. Performances are free with pay-as-you-wish admission during expanded hours from June 18 to July 4.
A rare printing of the Declaration of Independence, which has been in The Historical’s collections for generations though little was known about it, is on temporary view through July 5. It was likely printed by Samuel Loudon, a colonial New York printer who founded The New-York Packet newspaper. in the aftermath of July 4, 1776, and used to disseminate the new nation’s independence to the general public in town halls, houses of worship, and other meeting places.
To mark the opening of the Tang Wing for American Democracy, The New York Historical is hosting expanded hours until 8 pm on Thursdays through Saturdays from June 18 to July 4. Admission during expanded hours on those dates are pay-as-you-wish admission from 5-8 pm.
Founded in 1804, The New York Historical is New York City’s first museum and a nationally renowned research library, with holdings that include more than 14 million works of art, artifacts, documents and ephemera spanning four centuries of American history. Its collections document the founding of the United States, the evolution of New York and the stories of the people and communities that have shaped the nation.
In these unsettled times and despite high fuel prices (or perhaps because of them), the old-timey family Road Trip is enjoying renewed allure. Like comfort food from your childhood, the road trip evokes nostalgia for an imagined simpler, more innocent time. People like the freedom (from timetables, security lines, not having to agonize over what you can’t fit into your carry-on), the ability to spend as little or as much time, to come upon some serendipitous discovery, to immerse in local happenings and celebrations.
Map of Historic Route 66 (photo: www.route66roadtrip.com)
A key event sparking interest in the road trip this summer is the centennial celebration of Route 66. Spanning 2,448 miles across eight states from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California, Route 66 became synonymous with the ultimate road trip adventure, a symbol of American freedom on four wheels, as an industrializing America was rolling out highways and paving over dirt roads.
This year, the Route 66 Centennial Commission is inviting roadsters to step back in time and experience the retro charm, vintage vibes, small-town hospitality, and trendy twists on classic roadside dining.
Dubbed “the Mother Road” and the “Main Street of America,” states all along the route are featuring exhibits honoring 100 years of the highway that coincides with a focus on history because of America’s 250th.
Centennial Web Hubs: Discover more historical milestones and celebrations via the Route 66 Centennial site or check out the broader travel calendar on the Route 66 Centennial (route66-centennial.com).
Chicago: Be among the first to visit the Obama Presidential Center (photo: Obama Presidential Center)
The legendary route serves up awe-inspiring scenery, cultural landmarks and nostalgic charm along the way. Starting out in Chicago, don’t miss an opportunity to be among the first to visit the Obama Presidential Center; in St. Louis, Gateway Arch National Park (and the museums underneath) and the Courthouse where the Dred Scott Decision began; Petrified Forest National Park, in Arizona, ending in Santa Monica at the famous pier.
Here are suggestions for an itinerary built around natural attractions:
Lake Michigan’s shores extend to four states – Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. Chicago’s 42 kilometers of lakefront encompass public parks, gardens, paved trails and beaches. Take the South Shore Line commuter train from Chicago’s Union Station to Indiana Dunes National Park for a serene escape from the big city.
Meramec Caverns, Stanton, Missouri, an hour’s drive southwest of St. Louis, is an underground wonder, towering stalactites and shimmering mineral deposits, believed to have served as a hideout of famed outlaw Jesse James. Rent kayaks or canoes on the Meramec River.
Springfield Botanical Gardens is a free, picturesque sanctuary Springfield, Missouri, at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park, Springfield, Missouri.
Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area, a short drive from Tulsa, Oklahoma, offers forested hills, rocky outcrops and scenic overlooks of Turkey Mountain.
Palo Duro Canyon State Park, set in the Texas Panhandle near Amarillo, is the second-largest canyon in the USA.
Blue Hole, tucked away in the high desert town of Santa Rosa, New Mexico, a two-hour drive from Albuquerque, is where you can jump into the artesian spring from cliffs along its shores and scuba dive, and fish in the crystal clear waters.
When cruising Route 66 through Arizona, set aside time to visit the Grand Canyon National Park.
Mojave National Preserve, a lesser-known gem located a four-hour drive from Los Angeles or an hour’s drive from Las Vegas, Nevada. is a desert ecosystem of soaring sand dunes, forests of Joshua trees, ancient volcanic cinder cones and magma flows.
Amboy Crater is a dormant cinder cone volcano in Mojave Trails National Monument, located near Amboy, California, a three-hour drive from Los Angeles. Follow the Amboy Crater Rim Trail to circumnavigate the symmetrical cone, which was formed about 10,000 years ago. Due to minimal light pollution, it’s also a popular stargazing spot.
Santa Monica, California, at the western end of Route 66, on the Pacific Ocean, is famous for its beaches and the Santa Monica Pier, home to a popular amusement park.
Kampgrounds of America’s 6-Part Route 66 Itinerary
Want to take your Route 66 roadtrip adventure to the next-level? Plan to camp along the way. Kampgrounds of America (KOA) has created a 6-part itinerary (https://koa.com/blog/travel-route-66-in-6-parts/):
KOA and AdventureGenie have also teamed up to create ready-to-go itineraries. In each section, there is a link to a corresponding AdventureGenie trip that can be customized using their AI technology to add the activities and stops that fit your personal preferences —all in just a few clicks.
Some of America’s best summer getaways are closer than you think, conveniently located just off major highways and within an easy drive of key cities. Pack up the car, bring what and who you want, and hit the road to destinations for outdoor adventure, history, family fun and standout local flavors.
Shenandoah County, Virginia: Great Outdoors Road Trip: Tucked into the Shenandoah Valley, this stretch takes you to small mountain towns like Woodstock, Strasburg and Edinburg in Virginia (reached via Interstate 81) to immerse in the great outdoors:
Hiking or mountain biking at Bryce Resort, a year-round retreat that offers trails, lift-served biking and water sports at Lake Laura.
Kayaking, paddling and fishing along the Shenandoah River.
Ride or hike the towpath of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historic Park, the 184.5-mile historic waterway that connected the nation’s capital to the mountains of Western Maryland. (photo: Allegheny County Mountainside of Maryland)
Allegany County, Maryland: American History Road Trip: This part of Western Maryland (reached via Interstate 68) had a front-row seat to countless important moments in American history. Since the nation’s infancy, Cumberland has served as one of the United States’ most significant transportation hubs for covered wagons, canal boats, trains, automobiles and bicycles. Along the way, this region – affectionately dubbed “The Mountain Side of Maryland” – also played a quiet but important role in the journey to freedom via the Underground Railroad. A sampling of ways in which visitors can experience history in this mountain destination includes:
Start your journey at “Mile Marker Zero” of the old National Road. A small monument still exists downtown, situated right outside the historic Western Maryland Railway Station, a reminder that this city was also a significant railroad stop.
Sightsee on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad: steam and diesel trains make the 16-mile loop between Cumberland and Frostburg year-round and offer themed seasonal rides such as ice cream trains and sunset on the mountain.
Explore the tunnels underneath the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, which was a stop along the Underground Railroad. Tours are available on request and subject to availability.
Ride or hike the towpath of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historic Park, the 184.5-mile historic waterway that connected the nation’s capital to the mountains of Western Maryland. Construction began in 1828, and by 1850 the canal reached its western terminus in Cumberland, still an engineering marvel.
Staying in a new (but old) hotel. An adaptive reuse project is breathing new life into a long-vacant Victorian-era building in historic downtown Cumberland. The Wills Hotel, set to welcome its first guests in June, is the destination’s first boutique property.
Bowling Green, Kentucky: Family-Friendly Road Trip: Located in South Central Kentucky via Interstate65, Bowling Green is ideal for a family summer vacation, offering classic Americana and plenty of sweet treats. Some of the top family-friendly activities in Bowling Green include:
Catch a Bowling Green Hot Rods baseball game at the downtown ballpark, where summer nights come with fireworks and a side of tasty snacks.
Cool off at Chaney’s Dairy Barn, known for farm-fresh ice cream, playground fun and the chance to meet adorable cows.
Explore Lost River Cave, where guided boat tours take visitors underground through one of Kentucky’s most unique natural attractions. During the summer, the cave’s former nightclub is transformed into an underground movie theater that features kid-friendly movies. (The movies are for members only, but an annual membership costs less than taking your family to a standard theater and it comes with other perks, too.)
Ascension Parish, Louisiana: Foodie Road Trip: Located along Interstate 10, the highway that connects New Orleans to Baton Rouge, Ascension Parish lives up to its nickname “Louisiana’s Sweet Spot.” This is a destination where food takes center stage. The menu of ways visitors can taste the incredible flavors of Ascension Parish includes:
Sip your way along the Louisiana’s Sweet Spot Cocktail Trail, which runs through July 31 and features locally inspired drinks offered by 20 participating restaurants and distilleries.
Taste something sweet at The Cane Sugar Toffee Company, a beloved stop for handmade confections that feature an agricultural staple of the parish … sugarcane!
Dig into the parish’s signature dish in Gonzales, the Jambalaya Capital of the World, where jambalaya shows up at festivals, restaurants and dinner tables alike.
Road Trip to Explore America’s Story in Central Pennsylvania
Central Pennsylvania offers a road trip that brings American history to life, ideal for a driveable summer getaway. Blending immersive museums, iconic landmarks, and family-friendly experiences across three easy-to-navigate days, this itinerary offers storytelling, hands-on activities, and scenic exploration, ideal for families, history enthusiasts, and cultural travelers.
Day 1: Industry, Innovation & the Civil War (Hershey & Harrisburg):
Start at The Hershey Story Museum, an interactive museum exploring the legacy of Milton Hershey, complete with chocolate tastings and hands-on experiences.
Head to theIndian Echo Caverns, an underground featuring guided cave tours, gem mining, and family-friendly activities.
End the day at the National Civil War Museum, one of the most comprehensive Civil War museums in the U.S., with artifacts tied to figures like Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant.
Discover “101 Things to Do Just Off the 101” in California’s Conejo Valley
Visit Conejo Valley is inviting travelers to take the scenic route between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara in southern California, conveniently accessible from Highway 101, with the launch of its new “101 Things to Do Just Off the 101” guide, a curated collection of stops and activities.
Long considered a hidden gem, Conejo Valley blends outdoor adventure, dining and cultural attractions. Spend the day discovering oak-studded hiking paths, sipping small-batch craft brews, exploring local art and history museums or unwinding at open-air restaurants and lively community gathering spots.
The “101 Things to Do Just Off the 101” guide highlights attractions across Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills and Newbury Park, featuring everything from horseback riding trails and local coffee shops to golf courses, breweries, performing arts venues and immersive cultural attractions. Among the featured 101 experiences:
A major highlight for a visit to Sonoma County, California, this year takes place at one of my favorite places: Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen: the celebration of 150th anniversary of novelist Jack London’s birth, with a full year of public programming and special events.
Planned events through 2026 include a quarterly speaker series featuring scholars and London’s great-granddaughter, a “Call of the Wild Day” family celebration with art, music, and guided walks, and gala events. The program also introduces new offerings such as an online “Around the World on the Jack London Trail” guide and themed trail challenges to highlight London’s global travels and local legacy. This yearlong initiative aims to blend heritage interpretation with immersive experiences in a beautiful, hike-friendly setting at a California state park.
I am lucky to visit the state park on Jack London’s actual birthday (admission free that day!) and visit the cottage he lived in while he and his wife, Charmian, were building their dream home, Wolf House. (Wolf House tragically burned down just before they would have moved in, but you can visit the spectacular ruins.)
The cottage – amazingly modest for such a successful writer – is filled with original furnishings and artifacts and photos – you even see the fireproof safe where he stored his manuscripts. The cottage gives you such an intimate window into the man – you see a large office, but it is the tiny porch room with a simple cot where he slept and worked – and get a peek at his personality and idiosyncrasies (like how he liked to play practical jokes on his guests, who slept in a separate building).
The Cottage was the Londons’ principal home on the Beauty Ranch, which he eventually expanded to 1400 acres through acquisitions and used to experiment with sustainable farming techniques.
London purchased the wood-framed Cottage, built in the 1860s, in 1911, along with the Kohler and Frohling Winery buildings where he housed workers and guests. They lived in the cottage while building the Wolf House, but enlarged it after the Wolf House burned in 1913 until it included some 3000 square feet of living space. Here in the cottage, he wrote many of his later stories and novels; a disciplined writer, he produced 1000 words a day, while Charmian edited, typed manuscripts and letters in the expansive office.
You actually have to go out of the cottage to an adjacent building that served as the kitchen and their dining room, where you see the piano that London bought as a gift to woo Charmian.
As the docent notes, these two buildings capture Jack and Charmian’s bohemian lifestyle and their unique working relationship. (You can visit the cottage noon-4 pm.)
After touring the cottage, I take one of the many hiking trails through a redwood forest – this one to the small “lake” Jack London used for fishing.
You realize what a visionary London was – he pioneered sustainable farming (he called it “model farming”) and ranching techniques here, experimenting and learning by trial and error (his bet on Eucalyptus trees did not turn out well). It was a noble mission for him: the docent tells me that London realized that settlers were constantly overusing the land but could mov West to new land, but when you reached California, there wasn’t much more West to go, so you better not deplete the land. He eventually expanded his Beauty Ranch to 1400 acres. Charmian wrote, “He had ideas on the profession of farming that will do the world more good than the stories he could ever write.”
Not to be missed is the House of Happy Walls, the grand stone home that Charmian London and Jack London’s stepsister, Eliza Shepard, built after London died in 1916 at the age of 40 (all the more remarkable to consider his body of work in such a short life). The stunning Arts & Crafts structure was Charmian’s home from 1935 until 1952. She put it into her will that it become a museum to London. Today, the newly re-designed exhibits in the museum showcase the adventurous and inspiring lives of the Londons.
The fascinating exhibits help you appreciate not only what a brilliant writer and amazing adventurer Jack London was, what but what a decent human being. I came away with the intention to re-read “Call of the Wild,” then read for the first time “White Fang,” and go down the list of his many books (a bookcase in the gift shop is filled with first editions). It makes me wonder why Americans venerate the bad-boy Ernest Hemingway when Jack London is the better writer and a more noble, heroic man.
On weekends talented Piano Club volunteers play Charmian London’s 1901 Steinway grand piano bringing the House of Happy Walls to life (it was the piano that Jack London gifted to her to woo her.) (open 10-5 daily)
From here, I hike another trail to the ruins of Wolf House – the dream house that Jack London was building that burned down in 1913 just before it was completed, at a cost of $75,000 ($1.9 million today). Ironically, with the 1906 San Francisco earthquake in mind, London had San Francisco architect Albert L. Farr, construct the 15,000-sq. ft., 26-room structure to be earthquake proof. Built in the Arts & Crafts style, the design was described as “rustic and individualistic”. Jack’s library measured 19 by 40 feet, and a two-story high living room measured 18 by 58 feet. Even in 1911, it was designed to include a water heater, electric lighting, refrigeration, a built-in vacuum cleaning system, laundry facilities (including a “steam dryer rotary wringer”) and a wine cellar. Even the ruins are impressive – and dramatic.
I stop to visit the modest grave sites of Jack London and Charmian on my way back.
Frankly, all of America should be celebrating Jack London’s 150th, the way Britain is celebrating Jane Austen.
Before you head up the winding road to Jack London State Park, stop at the market right at the base and pick up a picnic.
Glen Ellen, a charming classically historic Californian town, is right in the middle of a score of wineries (Benziger Winery is next door to Jack London State Park, 1883 London Ranch Road, Glen Ellen, CA 95442, benziger.com, https://benziger.com/tours-and-tastings/; also, Imagery, its sister winery, is one of our favorites;), the Sonoma Regional Park (hiking), and Sonoma Botanical Garden.
Spend another day trip traveling less than an hour further to some of the most magnificent coastline in California: the Sonoma Coast State Park, where there are stunning trails that hug the cliffs and go down to beaches and get drinks and food at Fishetarian Fish Market on Bodega Bay watching the sun go down.
Get carried away to another continent at Safari West – spend a day, or even better, overnight in their glamping tents (luxurious). After 35 years, Safari West is transforming toward nonprofit stewardship through the newly formed Safari West Zoological Society — “a thoughtful step that strengthens our commitment to Research, Education, and Conservation and supports the animals we cherish for generations to come.” (Safari West, 3115 Porter Creek Road Santa Rosa, CA 95404, 800-616-2695, 707-579-2551, safariwest.com).
Park Rx- Forest Bathing Walks: Forest Therapy, also known as Shinrin-yoku or forest bathing is a guided walking practice that originated in Japan which focuses on slowing down, reducing stress, and engaging the senses to support mental and physical restoration. In Sonoma County, Sugarloaf Ridge State Park offers a recurring Forest Therapy Series as part of its Park Rx Program, held on the fourth Sunday of each month from March through November. Led by certified Association of Nature and Forest Therapy practitioners, the experience introduces participants to simple techniques designed to deepen presence and enhance the restorative impact of time spent in nature. The program highlights Sonoma County’s commitment to accessible, science-backed wellness experiences set within protected natural landscapes.
Elevate Sonoma features hyperbaric sessions that increase oxygen delivery in a pressurized environment to support healing, recovery, and overall well-being, while complementary red-light therapy aims to enhance results. The clinic brings a modern health and recovery option to Sonoma County’s wellness landscape, positioning the region as a lifestyle travel destination for visitors seeking restorative experiences beyond traditional wine and outdoor offerings.
Craft Brewing For a Good Cause
Russian River Brewing Company, the Sonoma County brewery behind Pliny the Elder, a craft beer repeatedly named among the best beers in the world, is pairing purpose with production in 2026. The brewery has introduced Russian River 110, a West Coast–style pilsner created to support Russian Riverkeeper, the nonprofit dedicated to protecting and restoring the Russian River watershed. A portion of net proceeds from expanded production, and the beer’s first bottled release will fund local conservation efforts. The release underscores how one of America’s most influential craft breweries continues to connect its beer, its place, and its environmental stewardship, giving visitors another reason to experience Sonoma County’s craft beer scene firsthand.
Sol Rei Wines, a boutique, women-owned producer known for low-histamine, low-sulfite wines that are lab-tested to be free of detectable pesticides and other residues, has opened a new tasting room in downtown Sonoma. The space is designed as a light, nature-inspired retreat that reflects the brand’s focus on purity, sustainability, and connection to the land and the craft of winemaking. Founder Katherine Kitzmiller created Sol Rei after a personal health journey led her to prioritize clean, intentional winemaking; the winery has quickly earned national honors for its 2023 vintage wines.
Marietta Cellars has just opened its first tasting room in downtown Healdsburg after 47 years as a Sonoma County staple known for its Old Vine Red and other approachable wines. The space, in a former police station near the Healdsburg Plaza, highlights the winery’s small-lot, artisanal selections rather than its widely distributed labels. Designed by co-owner and designer Lisa Steinkamp with a contemporary feel, the tasting room offers flights, glasses, and bottles of single-estate and experimental wines in a relaxed setting with indoor seating and a leafy patio.
Wolves Lovers + Thieves, a new tasting room focused exclusively on sparkling wines, has opened in Glen Ellen. The launch reflects broader confidence in Sonoma County’s tasting room growth this year, with several new wine destinations debuting.
Sonoma County Winegrowers and Reservoir launched Reservoir Farms, Sonoma, the first on-farm robotics and automation hub for vineyards and the flagship of SCW’s Farm of the Future initiative. The site includes fabrication space, an engineering workshop, and 14 acres of vineyard test blocks where startups and AgTech partners develop and test new tools with grower input. The hub addresses labor shortages, rising costs, and production pressures while supporting job growth and local innovation. Reservoir expects to bring six startups into the incubator by late 2025, strengthening Sonoma County’s leadership in sustainable, tech-driven viticulture. To arrange a Vineyard Adventure walk at one of the group’s seven vineyards, visit sonomawinegrape.org/visit/sonoma-county-vineyard-adventures, info@sonomawinegrape.org, 707-522-5860.
New in Restaurants
Bubbles & Delights Café, Petaluma’s newest breakfast spot, features a menu of scratch-made classics and bubbly drinks, including mimosas alongside farm-fresh eggs and hearty plates. Opening early for daily breakfast and brunch, the cafe adds a fresh, community-oriented spirit to Petaluma’s food scene.
Aroma de Cafe has opened in the heart of Railroad Square, one of Downtown Santa Rosa’s most historic districts. Owners Luis Rodriguez and Alejandra Bravo have relocated their well-loved brunch cafe from Fifth Street to the larger Railroad Square location, where they are continuing to serve Latin and American brunch favorites. The expanded space allows the cafe to grow while staying connected to the neighborhood’s historic character and steady flow of locals and visitors. Adding to its appeal, chef Carlos Mojica of Guiso Latin Fusion has introduced a dinner-only Latin-Italian menu, broadening the restaurant’s reach from a daytime brunch favorite into an all-day and evening destination.
Pick’s Roadside in the far northern Sonoma County town of Cloverdale has reopened with fresh energy while honoring its century-old roots. The drive-in first opened in 1923 and has become a local landmark known for burgers, milkshakes and root beer. After a complete renovation and menu reboot, the reimagined Pick’s features premium Wagyu beef burgers, classic shakes and a curated Sonoma County wine list. New owners Anidel Hospitality led the revival to preserve the site’s historic spirit and create a community gathering place with a Sonoma County Wine Country twist. The original neon sign and nostalgic feel remain.
New in Hotels
Madeira House a new boutique stay on the Sonoma Coast, is set where the Russian River meets the Pacific Ocean in the town of Jenner. The intimate property offers 11 rooms across three restored houses, pairing coastal restraint with warm, residential design. Many rooms offer river or ocean views, private decks, fireplaces, and select kitchenettes, while the overall experience is intentionally quiet and unplugged. With gardens, waterfront seating, and immediate access to coastal trails and beaches, Madeira House offers visitors a fresh lens on Sonoma County lodging beyond Wine Country, rooted in landscape, calm, and a strong sense of place.
Fresh off its grand debut as the flagship resort of Appellation – a visionary, culinary-first hospitality brand founded by Michelin-starred chef Charlie Palmer and luxury hospitality veteran Christopher Hunsberger – Appellation Healdsburg announced its acceptance intoSmall Luxury Hotels of the World™(SLH), becoming the first Appellation hotel to join SLH. Located on the north side of Healdsburg in Sonoma County on 8 1/2 acres of lush landscapes, Appellation Healdsburg is a culinary-driven retreat designed to immerse guests in the region’s rich food, wine, and agricultural heritage. It features 108 guest rooms and suites, two pools, Terroir Spa, a thoughtful wellness program, dynamic programming, and expansive indoor-outdoor event spaces. Folia Bar & Kitchen offers progressive American cuisine fueled by live oak embers, led by Executive Chef David Intonato and Chef de Cuisine Reed Palmer, a Healdsburg native whose experience spans acclaimed kitchens including SingleThread, Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Amass in Copenhagen. After honing his craft globally, Palmer has returned home to honor Sonoma County’s agricultural heritage, shaping Folia’s menus around local ingredients and seasonal rhythms. Andys Beeline, the resort’s vibrant rooftop lounge, offers shareable bites, garden-infused cocktails and sweeping vineyard views. Channeling the region’s natural bounty into a deeply immersive wellness experience, Terroir Spa offers a sensory journey rooted in place, featuring treatments inspired by the surrounding landscape, locally sourced botanicals, and holistic rituals that reflect the rhythms of Sonoma’s land and lifestyle. At the heart of Appellation’s ethos is a celebration of craftsmanship. Through Crafted at Appellation, guests are invited to roll up their sleeves and dive into Sonoma’s creative spirit — joining local artisans, farmers, and makers in hands-on workshops that transform regional traditions into memorable, personal experiences. (www.appellationhotels.com/healdsburg or www.slh.com)
Most Americans might not think of New York State first in context of the American Revolution and independence – Boston, Philadelphia are more top of mind. But it will surprise virtually everyone to know that more battles – and pivotal ones – of the Revolution were fought in New York than any other. In fact one-third of the battles and incursions were fought in New York, which the British considered vital to their conquest of the continent. Here are some of the places and events commemorating America’s 250th in New York State:
Fort Ticonderoga
At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold realized that the British Fort Ticonderoga made an easy target for the American rebels. They captured the fort in 1775 with a band of Green Mountain Boys only weeks after Lexington and Concord, making it America`s first victory in the Revolution. Visitors can tour the restored fort, research library, museum galleries, and acres of beautiful land overlooking Lake Champlain and see artillery demonstrations and frequent reenactments. Fort Ticonderoga Real Time Revolution™ Event Series(Adirondacks): The iconic historic site continues honoring its role in America’s origin story with the Real Time Revolution™ event series, designed to bring the Revolutionary War to life on the very grounds it took place through reenactments of key events. One of the highlights takes place during Independence Day Weekend, with a signature reenactment, “Return of an Army,” depicting the Northern Continental Army’s retreat to Ticonderoga during the same period that the Declaration of Independence was being signed in Philadelphia (102 Fort Ti Road, Ticonderoga, NY 12883, 518-585-2821).
Saratoga National Historical Park (Saratoga Battlefield)
Two hotly contested Revolutionary War battles here ended in an American victory which some proclaim as one of the most important in world history. Visit the Saratoga National Historical Park (Saratoga Battlefield) visitor center with film, light map, museum exhibits; tour the scenic 10-mile auto and bike road and hike historic paths. The park also has four other sites located nine miles north of the battlefield around the villages of Victory and Schuylerville: Victory Woods where British General Burgoyne’s forces made their last stand, the 155′ Saratoga Monument with panoramic views of the Hudson Valley, General Philip Schuyler’s 1777 home and estate, and the Saratoga Surrender Site (648 Rte 32, Stillwater, NY 12170, 518-664-9821, x 2980, www.nps.gov/sara to plan your visit).
Fort Stanwix National Monument offers a full-scale reconstruction of the original fort built in 1758 by the British during the French and Indian War (re-created from the original British plans) and occupied by Americans during the Revolutionary War, where you can engage with costumed interpreters and really appreciate the complex dynamics surrounding the War for Independence.
In August 1777, Fort Stanwix, under the command of Col. Peter Gansevoort, successfully repelled a prolonged siege by British, German, Loyalist, Canadian and American Indian troops and warriors commanded by British Gen. Barry St. Leger – becoming the only American post never to surrender to the enemy throughout the entire War of Independence. Significantly, the failed siege, combined with the battles at Oriskany, Bennington, and Saratoga thwarted a coordinated effort by the British in 1777, under the leadership of Gen. John Burgoyne, to take the northern colonies. The Americans’ success (after so many defeats) led to American alliances with France and the Netherlands. Troops from Fort Stanwix also participated in the 1779 Clinton-Sullivan Campaign and protected America’s northwest frontier from British campaigns until finally being abandoned in 1781.
At the Marinus Willett Center, explore centuries of history through interpretive exhibits and cases of artifacts unearthed on the site that put into context the colonials and the indigenous people who lived here (that will surprise you), and why New York State was so crucial to the Revolution – not just logistically, but as a critical source of food supplies for the troops. The park also collaboratively manages both the Oriskany Battlefield State Historic Site and the Steuben Memorial State Historic Site, all three locations inexorably connected from the time of the American Revolution. (100 N James St, Rome, NY 13440, (315) 338-7730, https://www.nps.gov/fost/learn/historyculture/index.htm)
New York City Hosts ‘Sail 4th’ Spectacular
Statue of Liberty, New York city
New York City which celebrated its 400th anniversary throughout 2025, is where America’s entire history is on display – the indigenous people who lived here before the Europeans, the Dutch founding in 1625 with the establishment of Fort Amsterdam and how diverse cultures built the city and continue to be the hallmark – at the Museum of the City of New York (a superb film unrolls 400 years in 30 minutes) (1220 5th Ave, www.mcny.org). One of the more unexpected places to explore America’s Native American history is at National Museum of the American Indian, a Smithsonian Institution, housed at Alexander Hamilton’s Custom House on Bowling Green (right around where King George III’s statue would have been ripped down by patriots) (https://americanindian.si.edu/visit/ny).
New York City will have its share of blockbuster events celebrating America’s 250th. One of the most sensational is “Sail 4th 250”, taking place July 3-9, 2026, with 30 Tall ships and 30 Grey Hull ships from 32 nations bringing 10,000 officers, cadets, crew and diplomats to parade down the East River on July 3rd up the Hudson River on July 4. Open to free public visits through July 9 (www.sail4th.org).
Macy’s 50th anniversary fireworks on July 4th will be especially spectacular with an International Aerial Review, headlined by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels.
The Blue Angels will then headline the FourLeaf Air Showat Jones Bach State Park (date change from Memorial Day Weekend to July 5 – 6) to celebrate America’s 250th.
The New York Historical is opening its new Tang Wing for American Democracy on June 18, 2026, greatly expanding both the landmark building and The Historical’s wide-ranging schedule of exhibitions, educational initiatives, and public programs. Dedicated to the history and future of the nation’s founding principles, the 71,000-square-foot Tang Wing will open as the United States launches the celebration of its 250th anniversary. On view now: Declaring the Revolution: America’s Printed Path to Independence which features the documents that provided the ideological and philosophical underpinnings for the Revolution and the founding of a new kind of government (by the people) and that raised the rabble, forged a collective consciousness and identity, and inculcated the outrageous idea that a ragtag collection of colonial people of diverse race, ethnicity, religion and national origin could and should take on the most powerful empire on the globe (on view through April 12); also, Stirring the Melting Pot: Photographs from The New York Historical Collections. The New York Historical will present a slate of special exhibitions throughout the anniversary year. New York’s first museum, The New York Historical is a leading cultural institution covering over 400 years of American history. (New York Historical, 170 Central Park West, New York NY 10024, 212-873-3400, nyhistory.org)
NYC Revolutionary Trail: Echoes of Revolutionwill launch in June 2026 to celebrate America’s upcoming 250th anniversary. Founded by The Gotham Center for NYC History at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, the multimedia 90-minute, 3-mile walking tour in downtown Manhattan reframes New York at the heart of the American Revolution. Partnering with Video Game Publisher Ubisoft and Creative Technology Studio Sugar Creative, the Gotham Center, Echoes of Revolution is a FREE, mobile, geo-located immersive walking tour that uses augmented reality to place visitors inside Revolutionary-era New York. Starting at the Battery and ending at Federal Hall via Bowling Green, Wall Street, and other pivotal sites, visitors will relive pivotal historical moments from the founding of the United States, uncover the stories that shaped the nation’s beginnings in the actual locations where they took place, and have a close-up experience of the “city at the heart of the Revolution,” with each stop providing audio narration with site information, character profiles, videos and links to Center’s Library. Echoes of Revolution is a new version of Gotham’s original NYC Revolutionary Trail App and will also partner with the Museum of the City of New York for the upcoming exhibit, “The Occupied City,” to ring in New York’s 250th celebration (https://nycrevolutionarytrail.org)
Follow Washington’s Culper Spy Ring Trail on Long Island:
The Culper Spy Ring was an intelligence network that George Washington himself credited as crucial to the American victory over the British Empire. Largely following Route 25A (Long Island Heritage Trail), President George Washington traveled this route in 1790 by horse-drawn carriage on a mission to thank his Long Island supporters and the ‘Culper Spy Ring’ for their help in winning the American Revolution (hence the many places that boast “George Washington slept here”).
Indeed, Long Island in 1778 was largely occupied by the British (as was New York City) but there were Patriots who risked their lives to get intelligence to General George Washington. You can visit the houses where secret messages were written in invisible ink and follow the Washington spy trail map. (The AMC series TURN: Washington’s Spies, now airing on PBS was based on actual events involving the Culper Spy Ring on Long Island, focusing on farmer Abe Woodhull and his childhood friends gathering vital intelligence for the Continental Army.)
Among the Revolutionary War sites: Raynham Hall in Oyster Bay, where Robert Townsend became a part of the spy ring; the Arsenal in Huntington; the Conklin House’ Joseph Lloyd Manor, the Brewster House in Stony Brook where American patriot Caleb Brewster spied on British soldiers; and Sherwood-Jayne Farm, home of Loyalist William Jayne aka “Big Bill the Tory”. See where the Battle of Setauket was fought near the Setauket Presbyterian Church on Caroline Ave.; Strongs Neck Road, where Anna Smith Strong and Abraham Woodhull lived, a key location for the spies; Thompson House where spies’ names are in the doctor’s book. On the South Shore, Sagtikos Manor in Bay Shore is where President George Washington stayed here during his Long Island tour in 1790. See: https://www.discoverlongisland.com/plan-your-trip/famous-long-island/george-washingtons-spy-trail/; find more Long Island 250 events: https://www.discoverlongisland.com/longisland250/.
Westchester’s American Revolutionary Trail
Once the volatile “Neutral Ground” between British and Patriot forces, Westchester County was where generals strategized, spies swapped secrets and ordinary people found themselves at the crossroads of independence. Follow the American Revolutionary Trail to discover Westchester’s most compelling historic sites, among them:
Jacob Purdy House (White Plains): Washington’s wartime headquarters during key moments of the Revolution.
John Jay Homestead (Katonah): Home of a Founding Father, tracing early American politics, antislavery roots and family life.
Philipsburg Manor (Sleepy Hollow): A powerful look at slavery in the Colonial North, complete with hands-on demonstrations, one of the Historic Hudson Valley properties.
St. Paul’s Church (Mt. Vernon): A 1704 parish turned field hospital after the Battle of Pell’s Point.
Square House Museum (Rye): A historic tavern where John Adams, Samuel Adams and George Washington once stayed.
Thomas Paine Cottage (New Rochelle): Last home of the legendary pamphleteer, filled with rare artifacts.
Genesee Country Village & Museum(Finger Lakes) explores early American life through costumed interpretation, working trades and educational programs that illuminate the nation’s evolving identity. The museum, now in its 50th year, spotlights its “Seeking Freedom” initiative, highlighting stories of enslavement, freedom-seekers and abolitionists while hosting special cross-century exhibits and events tied to the national 250-year commemoration.
Commander in Cheers Augmented Reality Experience (Hudson Valley):Running through 2026, restaurants, pubs and other locations in the region offer an augmented reality experience that brings a pint-sized George Washington to life, sharing stories of Dutchess County’s Revolutionary past, by scanning a specialty coaster. Participating locations include Mill House Brewing Company in Poughkeepsie, The Tavern at Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck, Tenmile Distillery in Wassaic and Treasury Cider at Fishkill Farms. More information will be announced soon on additional programs as part of Dutchess County’s Commander in Cheers celebration.
Orangetown and the Bicentennial 1776-1976: From Democracy to Disco(Hudson Valley): On view through 2026 at the Orangetown Historical Museum’s DePew House, this exhibition highlights Rockland County’s crucial contributions during the Revolutionary War and showcases the historical and cultural impact of the 1976 Bicentennial. This spring, the Spirits of ’76 Wine Tasting companion event will feature historically inspired wines curated by Grape d’Vine, honoring Orangeburg and Tappan’s Revolutionary War legacy.
RevCon 2026 (Hudson Valley): Dutchess County hosts RevCon on June 13 at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park. The Revolutionary War reenactment and history fair brings the era to life with weapons demonstrations, military drills, camp displays and Q&A sessions with reenactors.
America’s Revolution did not end with the War for Independence. New York State has made it a mission for its America 250 commemoration to review America’s many revolutions in striving to realize the “more perfect union” the Founders could barely imagine.
“One of directives in New York State’s America 250th is to make it broad and diverse and think of the American Revolution as incomplete because it didn’t include all residents,” said Devin Lander, NYS State Historian.
Many of these revolutions were sparked or furthered in New York State, and as you travel across the state, you can see them unfold: women’s suffrage, abolition, civil rights, voting rights, environmental protection.
To see how America came to be, join Parks & Trails NY’s annual eight-day Cycle the Erie trip that takes place each July, and travel 400 miles and 400 years of history from Buffalo to Albany- 356-miles of them along the Erie Canalway. (In addition to Parks & Trails NY, bike tour operators offer guided and self-guided trips.)
You see how the Industrial Revolution unfolded, how the Canal was the ‘Mother of Cities” like Rochester and Syracuse, and birthed canal towns, united the American continent, and turned New York City into a financial capital of the world; at the Canal Museum in Syracuse, you see how immigrants used the canal to settle the West, turn the Midwest into America’s breadbasket, and unite the nation, and how the canal spurred the innovation and entrepreneurism that made the Industrial Revolution possible; how Native Americans and colonists lived side by side at Fort Stanwix and the Indian trading post at Schoharie established 400 years ago and how knowing the Oneida women influenced Melinda Gage’s zeal for women’s equal rights. You see the context for the Women’s Rights movement at Seneca Falls. (https://www.ptny.org/cycle-the-erie-canal-bike-tour/).
The 356-mile Erie Canalway is part of New York State’s 750-mile Empire State Trail network, from Buffalo to Albany and the tip of Manhattan at Battery Park to the Canadian border. It will ultimately be expanded and connected to a Long Island Greenway Trail Expansion– 200 miles of new greenspace from Montauk to Manhattan. With construction expected to begin this winter, the Long Island Greenway will connect 27 communities and 26 existing park – a route that is also rich in America’s history, from indigenous times (so many of the towns still have their names), through the American Revolution (George Washington’s Spy Trail), to the Shinnecock Indian Nation, in Southhampton.
New York State will be paying homage to its many revolutions in which the state played such a pivotal part, including linking “Freedom” to the theme of “Independence.”
Cayuga County, in the heart of New York’s Finger Lakes, is Harriet Tubman’s chosen home. Auburn is where Tubman lived for more than 50 years, continued her activism, and established the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged. Today, visitors can explore this powerful legacy through nationally significant historic sites, museums, and landscapes that speak to freedom, abolition, and the ongoing pursuit of equality. This makes Cayuga County a particularly meaningful place to reflect on America’s 250th anniversary.
Cayuga County will be hosting several commemorative events and experiences in recognition of America 250, with more details continuing to take shape. Among those that have been scheduled:
The Harriet Tubman National Historical Park is planning programming under the banner “Freedom 2026,” which will serve as a lead-in to “Freedom 2027,” marking the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in New York State.
Cayuga County is also looking to the anticipated opening of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad New York Scenic Byway and its first leg, which will connect Buffalo with Tubman’s chosen hometown of Auburn.
In 2026, the Finger Lakes Sweet Treat Trailwill feature an America 250 theme, with several sweetly patriotic offerings highlighted along the itinerary.
Each year, the Town of Ledyard hosts a well-attended reenactment and ceremony that includes replica parchment printings of the Declaration of Independence, a full-costume public reading, and a horseback rider arrival with classic “Hear ye, hear ye” flair.
July 4th fireworks on Little Sodus Bay in Fair Haven and at Emerson Park in Auburn are always community highlights, and is expected that 2026 to be especially memorable in honor of the 250th anniversary.
In the next few weeks, a full America 250 schedule from several of Cayuga’s historic and cultural partners, including the Seward House Museum, Schweinfurth Art Center, Cayuga Museum of History and Art, Auburn Public Theater, Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, Willard Memorial Chapel, Frontenac Museum, and the Equal Rights Heritage Center, will be available. See more at www.tourcayuga.com.
Urban Civil Rights Museum(New York City):Located within the National Urban League’s new Harlem headquarters, the Urban League Empowerment Center, the museum will be the first institution solely dedicated to the American Civil Rights Movement, when it opens later in the year. (https://urbancivilrightsmuseum.org/)
Underground Railroad & Abolitionist Movement: Saratoga in 2027 will mark the 200th anniversary of abolition of slavery in New York State; there will be exhibits at the State Museum in Albany, and state parks.
Women’s Suffrage: visit Seneca Falls, dubbed the “Birthplace of Women’s Rights” where you can visit the National Women’s Hall of Fame in addition to the Women’s Rights National Historical Park, Elizabeth Cady Stanton Home, plus :”It’s a Wonderful Life” Museum.
New York’s role in the Environmental Movement is on display at Tanglewood Nature Center Canopy Treetop Walkway opening in the Finger Lakes in late spring/early summer. This ADA-accessible forest canopy path climbs 70 feet high, offering sweeping views. Designed in collaboration with world-renowned scientist “Canopy Meg” Lowman, this treetop walkway is only the second of its kind in New York State (the first is the Wild Walk at The Wild Center). Also, travel to the Adirondacks State Preserve (at 5 million acres, the largest tract of publicly protected land in the Lower 48) and enjoy the newly opened Adirondack Rail Trail(34 miles from Lake Placid to Tupper Lake).
“As we commemorate America’s 250th anniversary and welcome the world for the FIFA World Cup, there’s no better time to explore New York State – where every corner tells a story. From the historic grounds of Fort Ticonderoga and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, to the Statue of Liberty and the thundering power of Niagara Falls, visitors will discover experiences as iconic and unforgettable as the milestones we’re honoring throughout 2026,” I LOVE NY Executive Director of Tourism Ross D. Levisaid.
An excellent source of all things historic in New York State is the Passport to History site, which can steer you to 700 destinations across the state. You can choose from themes to create your own Path Through History: https://www.iloveny.com/things-to-do/path-through-history/
July 1776, “La Destruction de la Statue Royale a Nouvelle Yorck”, published in Paris. When General Washington’s troops heard about the Declaration of Independence, they pulled down the statue of George III at New York’s Bowling Green.
Ken Burns’ phenomenal documentary series, “The American Revolution” opens with the underpinnings of the Revolution – the documents that turned grievance over land and taxes by 13 disparate colonies into a fight to the death over independence of a new nation, the United States of America, the first founded on the principle of “consent of the governed.” What is most remarkable is that many of those documents – Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense,” Paul Revere’s propagandist print of the Boston massacre, an early surviving print of the Declaration of Independence – are now on view, “in the flesh” so to speak, at the New York Historical.
The exhibit, “Declaring the Revolution: America’s Printed Path to Independence,” is New York Historical’s first in its series of exhibits focused on the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. This exhibit, featuring David M. Rubenstein’s Americana Collection, is on view through April 12, 2026.
You see the documents that provided the ideological and philosophical underpinnings for the Revolution and the founding of a new kind of government (by the people). And you see the documents that raised the rabble, forged a collective consciousness and identity, and inculcated the outrageous idea that a ragtag collection of colonial people of diverse race, ethnicity, religion and national origin could and should take on the most powerful empire on the globe.
Dr. Louise Mirrer, New York Historical’s President and CEO, noted the “unique urgency of now” to delve into how the American Revolution became “a war of ideals, in beliefs that Americans shared and believed important enough to fight and die for.”
“Declaring the Revolution traces the emergence of our nation through a shared belief in the power of the people and the promise of democracy,” Mirrer stated. “Through historical printings, the origins of the ‘American experiment’ are on display, allowing us to reflect on how we live and fulfill the ideals of our nation today. As stewards of history, The Historical is proud to kick off our celebration of America’s 250th anniversary with this remarkable testament to record-keeping as we invite Americans nationwide to share and preserve their hopes for our democracy through our On Our 250th initiative.”
Declaring the Revolution portrays the arc of the struggle through 18th-century pamphlets, broadsides, engravings, proclamations, and books, each declaring an aspect of how the colonies achieved independence. In an era when print was the only form of mass communication, these printings furthered the democratic ambitions of Americans—the highest expression of this being the Declaration of Independence.
(It is also why the Stamp Act, which imposed a tax on every piece of paper, from wills and pamphlets to newsprint, was such a factor in inspiring newspaper editors and pamphleteers to embrace independence and inspire colonials to see themselves as Americans with the ability to win an armed conflict against Great Britain, the most powerful empire in the world at the time.)
Declaring the Revolution demonstrates that America’s quest for independence was not only a military conflict, but also a battle of ideas that inspired colonists to fight and sacrifice for the promise of a sovereign new nation that adequately represented its citizenry.
A highlight of New York Historical’s “Declaring the Revolution: America’s Printed Path to Independence” is a rare State Department engraving of the original engrossed copy of The Declaration of published in 1823.
Most affecting is getting to see (in person) two extraordinary printings of the Declaration: its exceedingly rare first newspaper appearance in the Pennsylvania Evening Post and the renowned State Department engraving of the original engrossed copy. Other highlights include Thomas Paine’s electrifying 1776 pamphlet, Common Sense, which called for independence from Great Britain, and John Hancock’s 1774 oration honoring the Boston Massacre, the deadly confrontation between British soldiers and American colonists on March 5, 1770.
You get to see the Virginia Declaration of Rights, drafted by George Mason in 1776, and shown in its uncommon earliest printing, which outlines the requirement of natural rights that influenced subsequent documents like the Declaration of Independence.
There is an exceptionally rare 1773 handbill printed by enslaved persons in Boston asks that the language of freedom apply to them and points out the incongruity of a land with bondage desiring to be liberated.
Also on display are key texts which provided the intellectual foundation for the Revolution; you actually see printings of the Magna Carta and English Bill of Rights, as well as books by John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, among other philosophers.
There are also printings describing major events of the military conflict between Britain and the colonies including the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Brooklyn, Washington’s victory at Trenton, and the Sieges of Charleston and Yorktown.
“The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5th 1770 by a Party of the 29th Regiment,” the print by Paul Revere helped to incite colonists against Great Britain, on view at New York Historical’s “Declaring the Revolution: America’s Printed Path to Independence.”
The documents are from the collection of David M. Rubenstein, who introduced them at the preview of the exhibit which opened November 14 saying, “Why do we need to see the documents, versus a computer image, to see in person?” He answered his own question saying that there is more of a visceral, emotional, engaged reaction to seeing something “in the flesh.”
“You might read about it, but are more likely to learn more by seeing the real thing. That’s why it is so important to preserve [these original documents].”
Rubenstein went on to reflect, “When this country was set up, no one thought it would last 250 years. Jefferson said to Madison that every 20 years, we should re-do the Constitution or the nation won’t last.
Nobody expected the United States – 13 colonies of 3 million (including 500,000 slaves) – to endure and even less likely, that it would become the military, cultural, financial [superpower] of the world. 250 years later, to look at the legacy, they would have been astounded.”
Then he reflected, “We are celebrating the 250th anniversary of country, but why was July 4th 1776 designated as its birthday? Why not 1775, or 1492 with Columbus’ arrival, or 1565 when St. Augustine was settled by Spain, or 1619 when the British came to Jamestown or 1620 when the Pilgrims established a home at Plymouth?
“Or even, August 2 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was formally signed [not on July 4th as we commonly think], and it wasn’t until 1777 when the last Founder signed. Or should we celebrate January 17, 1777 when those who signed it finally made it public that they did? (They didn’t earlier because they could be hung for treason.)
“The decision to break from England was July 2, 1776, so John Adams felt July 2nd would be celebrated. It was agreed to on July 4th, but they came back in August and signed it on August 2nd.”
Or should the founding of the nation be celebrated when the Constitution was finished in 1787, or 1788 when it was agreed to and ratified, establishing the format for government and the rights guaranteed in the first 10 amendments, the Bill of Rights.
John Adams wanted the first anniversary of independence to be celebrated on July 2, 1777. Thomas Jefferson (who was not happy with the editing of the Declaration and didn’t even admit to having authored it until much later) wanted July 4th when the Declaration’s wording was adopted. This difference led to a schism between Adams and Jefferson.
“Well, they forgot to celebrate on July 2, so organized July 4 as a day of celebration and fireworks,” Rubenstein related.
“But July 4th won out as the birthday of the new nation because of a sentence that became most famous, and some have called the greatest ever written: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’
“It is the creed we’ve tried to live up to for 250 years, a creed so many other nations have adopted. That sentence has become the symbol of the United States. I am proud to have some of these documents that live up to the creed.”
Rubenstein added: “My reason for collecting these original printings is to show them to the public to give Americans an opportunity to encounter our country’s impressive history and the accomplishments of those who came before us. The American Revolution was a civil war with Britain and a transformation in the hearts and minds of colonial inhabitants, who began to identify nationally with a new alliance of thirteen colonies built around the democratic principles that the United States holds most dear. To not remember these origins of our democracy is to risk losing our democracy.”
What you come away with, though – like the New York Historical’s just concluded “Blacklisted” exhibit – is how eerily and scarily we are to those times and complaints that led to rebellion – the first to break away from dynastic tyranny and replace it with self-rule – against an authoritarian regime.
Let’s also be reminded about the grievances against King George III listed in the Declaration of Independence that instigated not just protest, but revolution. Does this sound familiar (the summary compiled from A.I. query)?
Taxation and trade: Imposing taxes without consent and cutting off colonial trade with other parts of the world.
Legislative and judicial powers: Suspending legislatures, dissolving them for opposing his policies, and making judges dependent on his will.
Military and justice: Quartering large numbers of armed troops in colonial homes, transporting colonists to be tried for “pretended offenses,” and protecting British soldiers from punishment for crimes committed in the colonies.
Economic and political interference: Abolishing new forms of government, obstructing naturalization laws, and imposing new offices to “harass our people and eat out their substance”.
Incitement of violence: Exciting domestic insurrections, inciting “merciless Indian savages” to attack colonists, and waging war against the people.
Abuse of power: Vetoing laws necessary for the public good, and generally abusing power to establish a tyranny over the colonies
That’s the importance of preserving and studying history – and the original documents – and not enable whitewashing or literal brainwashing.
And it is good to be reminded of what it means to be American, what we value as Americans, what is precious and not to be taken for granted.
Holding on to the Declaration of Independence on the battlefield.
“I am grateful to The New York Historical for featuring these foundational documents ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” said Rubenstein. “The items on view bring new context to one of the most important documents ever written, giving insight into the minds of our Founding Fathers as they changed the course of history.”
The exhibition is curated by Mazy Boroujerdi, special advisor to the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection, which mounts non-partisan exhibitions of historically important printings to foster civic engagement and historical understanding, and is coordinated at The New York Historical by Valerie Paley, senior vice president and Sue Ann Weinberg director of the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library. Declaring the Revolution marks the fourth exhibition produced by the Rubenstein Collection in conjunction with The New York Historical, where the Semiquincentennial will be celebrated with a yearlong schedule of exhibitions and programs.
With the 250th anniversary of the United States approaching, The New York Historical is sharing messages of national hope and encouragement from the digital campaign On Our 250th, which invites individuals from across the country to post their personal wishes for America’s future. Launched online by The New York Historical in April 2025 in partnership with history museums and historic sites throughout the United States, On Our 250th has already received messages from people in 37 states, as well as Washington, DC and US territories. The exhibitions related to the 250th anniversary will take place over a 15-month period, from October 2025 to December 2026, in both The Historical’s main building and, starting summer 2026, its new Tang Wing for American Democracy.
Throughout the fall and winter, David M. Rubenstein will be in conversation with noted historians and scholars at The New York Historical. Visit the public programs calendar to learn more. Private group tours can also be arranged.
New York Historical, 170 Central Park West, New York NY 10024, 212-873-3400, nyhistory.org.
