Unlike the Interstate Highway, the Intercontinental Railway or the Erie Canal, the Great American Rail-Trail is being created by hundreds of local communities, organizations, agencies and volunteers, who appreciate what such recreational trails mean for quality of life, health and wellness and economic vitality.
When completed, the Great American Rail-Trail will provide 3,700 miles, from Washington DC to Washington State, of connected multiuse trails and byways for biking and walking,
More than half of the route – over 150 existing railtrails, canalways, bikeways and greenways across 12 states totaling 2100 miles – is completed, the most complete stage letting you ride 350 miles from Washington DC to Cumberland Md. on the C&O canalway, connecting to the Great Allegheny Passage from Cumberland into Pittsburgh.
Now the task falls to connect more than 80 gaps, totaling 1,600 miles, with trails.
And that’s where we start our tour with Rails to Trails Conservancy, the stewards leading some 150 partners in the project, to see for ourselves how the Great American Rail-Trail is unfolding, what is happening to bring this 40-year vision of Rails to Trails’ co-founder David Burwell to reality.
At Pittsburgh’s Point State Park we come to the place where the Great Allegheny Passage ends and the first significant gap looms: 9.8-miles along the heavily trafficked West Carson Street, sandwiched between high stone walls and rail lines hugging the riverfront, posing the problem that even if there is a will, it is hard to find a way with such constricted space.
Our Rails to Trails Conservancy group shuttles by van to the next trail on the Great American Rail-Trail (GART), the Montour, stretching 63-miles to form a necklace around the south Greater Pittsburgh Area. Julian Wolfe, Board President of Montour Trail Council, boasts that the private, nonprofit, “100 percent volunteer” trail, supported by some 1,300 dues-paying members, is the longest suburban trail in the nation.
Here we meet a dozen of the more than 50 volunteers who give of their time (22,000 hours a year!), expertise and money to maintain and improve the trail and close a remaining four-mile gap. To create the Montour, they had to repurpose bridges, trestles, viaducts and tunnels, and create the connector to the Panhandle Trail that provides the next stage of the GART linking Pennsylvania to West Virginia.
We meet three of the original founders who got the idea 37 years ago for the trail and acquired the abandoned rail line from the railroad in 1991. Now they are faced with new challenges: raising $3 million to repair a 1913 tunnel at mile 25 which has been closed for 10 months after the ceiling collapsed, filling a four-mile gap on the existing trail, and most challenging of all, creating that 9.8-mile connector from the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) in downtown Pittsburgh to the Montour trailhead. Once that gap is filled, it will be possible to bike all the way from Washington DC to West Virginia and the next significant gap.
These volunteers and advocates recognize that bikeways and greenways bring so much benefit to local communities – quality of life, health and wellness, and economic development, even increasing property values. But they also build community.
Each project has had its challenges – to pave or put down a surface; rebuild a bridge, a trestle, a tunnel; acquire land or easements; create the infrastructure of parking lots, restrooms, signage and safe crossings.
What we see in the volunteers and officials and organizers is the pure joy and pride in creating these trails that have such impact on their neighbors today and for generations to come, and the satisfaction that comes knowing this is their legacy.
We bike the Montour Trail from mile zero to mile 16.6 where we will take the connector to the Panhandle Trail. But first, we ride just beyond the connector to the McDonald viaduct, a key attraction on the trail and point of considerable pride for the Montour Trail Council. The council raised $2.3 million to renovate it. Wolfe shows us a photo of the viaduct, built in 1913, as it was in 1915 with a steam train going over it (www.traillink.com/trail/montour-trail).
“When trails were first proposed, a lot of people say it will be a nuisance and don’t want it in my backyard. But when it is done, they see their property values increase with the development that comes with the trail, because people love the amenities,” Dave Borrebach, a long-serving board member and volunteer leader for the Montour Trail Council, tells us as we tour the McDonald viaduct. “Coraopolis is deprived of greenspace, so the trail gives the community the opportunity to get to nature. Trails represent making connection – municipalities, private, contractors – all elements brought together, carefully, blended. Continuity of organization is key – putting the pieces together takes a tremendous amount of time.”
The Montour Trail, he said, is the culmination of “37 years of effort, little by little, persistence and luck…The Founding Fathers [of Montour] organized quickly, made the right decisions of time, funding, legal counsel (an expert in rail law). It all had to come together.”
We take the Panhandle Connector and drop down from the Montour Trail, passing under the viaduct for a great view onto the Panhandle Trail.
We stop at the Paradise on Panhandle for lunch, in the repurposed train depot beside the trail.
There is a historic marker – one of 20 put up by Trails Across America, another project of Rails to Trails Conservancy – that notes, “Coal Mining. As early as 1903, bituminous coal from local mines shipped from here on Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway.”
Fortified by a delightful lunch (and delicious ice cream), we go back on the trail and find ourselves at a marker between Pennsylvania and West Virginia, where we continue on for four miles before we come to the Panhandle Trail’s end (www.traillink.com/trail/panhandle-trail).
We soon face another critical gap: the Market Street Bridge linking Weirton, West Virginia, and Steubenville, Ohio, which carried bikes and walkers in addition to four lanes of cars. It was closed indefinitely on December 21, 2023 after routine inspections revealed broken strands and significant deterioration in the 1906 steel suspension bridge’s cable anchoring system.
The bridge is a case in point of the challenge faced in building the Great American Rail-Trail.
It will cost about $200 million to replace and though the Biden Administration already approved $87.5 million, West Virginia, which owns the bridge, must come up with the rest by September 30, 2027 or lose the federal funding.
Now the task is to try to get extra money from the Surface Transportation Fund, which funds Active Transportation Infrastructure Projects. But this requires support from West Virginia’s Senator Shelley Wellons Moore Capito who sits on the Surface Transportation committee and she works closely with House Transportation Chair Representative Sam Graves (R-MO), who has vowed to cut all federal funding for walking and biking paths.
At a reception in Steubenville for Rails to Trails Conservancy at historic Fort Steuben next to the Market Street Bridge, the mayors of Weirton WV and Steubenville OH expressed support for rebuilding the bridge.
“This bridge is vital to revitalization and community,” said Ralph Petrella Mayor City of Steubenville, OH. “People want to go outside. They don’t want malls, they want nature. This is an opportunity for national entity to help give those experiences.”
“We see the importance of the trail – exercise, meeting people (socialization) – important to Weirton,” said Dean Harris Mayor City of Weirton, WV. “Bridge needs to have pathway for walkers, bikers across Ohio River (great Divide). The economic development of our area depends on this bridge. We need to get the link completed and join our two cities – for the economic prosperity of area.”
“We need to work with you to achieve this vision of a safe, accessible way to help people walk or bike across country. We want to be partner, to tell the story of a beautiful part of the country,” said Eric Oberg, Rail to Trails Conservancy’s Senior Director of Programs. “People want to see, experience, visit places like this, the Industrial Heartland.”
He took strong exception to the notion it could take 20 years to rebuild the bridge.
“Our message: speed up, prioritize. Just because historically took 20 years doesn’t mean it has to now. Communities fall into the trap that it costs too much money and takes obscene amount of time.” (You only have to look at the pace of data center construction, which blights, rather than benefits local communities.)
Oberg pointed to how fast the Interstate 35W Bridge in Minneapolis was rebuilt after it collapsed, the speed in rebuilding the Key Bridge in Baltimore (at a cost of $5 billion) and how the I-95 interstate in Philadelphia was reopened in 12 days and fully repaired in less than a year.
“The narrative that it takes 20 years shouldn’t be acceptable. We shouldn’t allow public leadership and agencies to take 20 years to develop critical infrastructure.”
These bike trails are an investment in infrastructure that benefits locals as much as visitors (think of overtourism, and how this spreads visitors and economic development around to the villages, towns they would never know to visit or be inspired to visit and not in the far future but today.
The trail brought us to Steubenville, which we learn, is the birth place of Dean Martin, who is featured in an important attraction, Historic Fort Steuben, and was the birthplace of Edwin M. Stanton, Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War and a strong abolitionist who backed Emancipation; Lincoln’s telegrapher, David Homer Bates; and Moses Fleetwood Walker, the first Black man to play in Major League Baseball, breaking the sport’s color barrier 63 years before Jackie Robinson.
Steubenville hosts Free Fridays events every month and an important Nutcracker Village Christmas festival (Nov.24-Jan. 8), displaying 230 life-sized carved Nutcrackers as the centerpiece of a free Christmas-market that now draws 40,000-50,000 people (www.SteubenvilleNutcrackerVillage.com).
A vision for a 3,700 mile-long Great American Rail-Trail linking Washington DC to Washington State is becoming reality (map: Rails to Trails Conservancy)
Imagine being able to bike 3,700 miles across the United States, from Washington DC to Washington State, on a network of connected, protected trails, the way people hike the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail and the Appalachian Trail. This is the vision for the Great American Rail-Trail, and I didn’t have to imagine, because I was able to bike newly made trail connections bringing the GART to reality.
The trail now consists of more than 150 existing railtrails, canalways, bikeways and multi-use trails – 2100 miles through 12 states and DC – totaling 56% of the 3,700 miles when complete. These include some of America’s most famous and popular rail trails like the C&O Canalway from DC to Cumberland Md., where it connects to the Great Allegheny Passage (the GAP) railtrail to Pittsburgh, PA, which together form the longest (and most well used) completed stage, 350 miles long.
It would be the largest, most ambitious public transport endeavor since the Interstate Highway and the Intercontinental Railroad, and longer than the longest Interstate Highway, Interstate 90 (I-90), 3,020 miles from Seattle, Washington, to Boston, Massachusetts, and longer than the Intercontinental Railroad project, 1,911 miles.
But unlike the Interstate Highway or the Transcontinental Railroad, the Great American Rail Trail is an enterprise of the local people who want to transform abandoned byways into leisure trails and greenways that can be enjoyed by residents and visitors alike, contributing to health and wellness (when being healthy is also key to financial health, productivity and prosperity), quality of life and economic vitality, instead of federal government exerting its eminent domain power or corporations blighting the environment in the name of “commerce,” reclaiming commercial and industrial land for public use. And it is about transport – accessibility, mobility for those who prefer to travel safely by foot or on two wheels.
“The Great American Rail-Trail is the most ambitious [public lands project] to connect East and West Coasts,” said Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Kevin Belle, Project Director, Great American Rail-Trail. The Great American Rail-Trail brings the promise of a new American experience – comparable to Route 66. 50 million people live within 50 miles of the route.
GART was the dream 40 years ago of Rails to Trails Conservancy co-founder David Burwell, who had the vision of converting disused rail corridors into a continuous, cross-country trail network. “He believed trails connect the country,“ said Eric Oberg, R2T’s Senior Director of Programs. “Every trail head feels like that – a cross section of the place we live. Trails are where community happens now – the new Main Street.”
Rails to Trails Conservancy, which is stewarding the Great American Rail-Trail project and leading a coalition of more than 150 partners, announced it six years ago, when half of the 3,700 miles were in place. It took two years to devise the route. (See a map, list).
The task now is to fill some 80 gaps – 1,600 miles – which is what brings R2T project managers and developers around the country, working with local groups.
The states and agencies and organizations for the more than 150 trails that form the backbone were eager to become a part of the Great American Rail-Trail, fully appreciating the enormous benefits that railtrails, canalways, bikeways and greenways bring to cities, towns and rural villages, and what being identified with a national network would mean. Eric Oberg, R2T’s Senior Director of Programs, explained.
An economic impact study projects GART investments could generate more than $229.4 million in visitor spending, 2,500 new jobs and $104 million in labor income, and $22.8 million in new tax revenue.
The GAP, for example, cost about $1 billion to build but brings 1 million users (they know because they have sensors under the trail that count), who spend $120 million a year,. In addition to the benefits to locals – health and wellness, outdoor recreation, increased mobility and safety away from dangerous road traffic, higher property values – the people who are drawn from around the country and the world spend money on hotels, restaurants, gear – $30 million worth in Pittsburgh alone; some even find a new place to set up a business and raise a family.
You would have a network of outfitters and bike tour operators at the ready to provide rental bikes, shuttle service, book lodging or direct you to campgrounds or trailside hostels, who can assist you in doing stages – as many as you want linked together, or come back and do new sections. (Many of these services for the existing trails are also easily found on Great American Rail-Trail’s website, and R2T’s TrailLink and mobile app, www.traillink.com, which details 40,000 miles of trails nationwide, and several tour operators like Wilderness Voyageurs and Discovery Bicycle Tours already feature these trails.)
We have been invited by Rails to Trails Conservancy, to bike trails from Pittsburgh to Columbus and see the vision of the GART unfold, what has already been achieved, and the task ahead in filling the gaps.
We meet Kelly Pack, the Trail Nation Accelerator Program Director, who counsels communities in eight states (WA, MT, AZ, MO, AK, IA, VA, TN), which are just starting development of a vision for a trail network. “We hope to provide the initial start of planning process – mapping support, bringing stakeholders together, to understand the importance [and benefits] of trails.” She explains how R2T can organize virtual workshops and create a “learning cohort” with communities that have had success creating trails.
“Every place is different but the challenges and strategies may be similar.”
We start our ride towards the end of the famous and popular Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail, to see a success story: a gap 8.2 miles long from Homestead along the Monongahela River, crossing near the Hot Metal Bridge, into Point State Park in downtown Pittsburgh, where the GAP ends. It took 20 years and $80 million (and a change of mayors) to finally complete the gap in 2013.
Volunteers help maintain it, forging community and pride. The trail contributes to public health, wellness and quality of life, and property values increase in communities along the trail, especially by repurposing aging, decaying abandoned rail lines, bridges and trestles and waterfront.
Along the trail, you see purposely left remnants of steel plants as a tribute and continuity of heritage and history and a source of interest. We come to the pump plant where steel workers attempting to unionize were rebuffed by Pinkertons summoned by the governor when they attempted to strike for better wages and conditions.
The trail passes by the NFL Steelers training center. “When they built the stadium, Mayor Tom Murphy, asked Steelers owner Art Rooney to move the stadium back so the trail could come through, reclaiming what was taken from the public by and for industry,” said Bryan Perry, Executive Director of the Great Allegheny Passage Conservancy.
We cross a bridge that used to be used to carry buckets of molten steel over the river, now repurposed to carry cars, bikes and walkers. Those steel plants and coal depots are gone now, instead, from the repurposed bridge you can see tech company buildings on one side, and hotels, housing, retail stores and a marina lining the other side, revitalizing the economy and the environment.
Indeed, Pittsburgh has been transformed from a carbon-choked polluted city to this glorious, wonderfully liveable, sustainable city. Not coincidentally, it is called “the City of Trails,” where six national and regional trails originate and three rivers converge, their riverfronts reclaimed for public space (GAP, Three Rivers Heritage Trail, Erie to Pittsburgh Trail, Pittsburgh-to-Harrisburg Main Line Canal Greenway, Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, and Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition (IHTC) Network). and Great American Rail-Trail.
And so we come to where the Great Allegheny Passage ends at Pittsburgh’s Point State Park where we encounter the first significant gap, a 9.8 mile section along a highly trafficked West Carson street, before reaching the next trail on the Great American Rail-Trail route, the Montour, which the Pittsburgh coalition has been working for two decades to connect.
It is not just for the benefit of long-haul, out-of-town users. “Solving the problem of West Carson would make Pittsburgh safer, better for pedestrians, bikers – cars, trucks pass at high speed, there is no dedicated space for bikes,” said Scott Bricker, co-founder and Executive Director of Bike Pittsburgh (BikePGH), a bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organization. He noted that one-third of Pittsburgh residents do not drive.
“The trail system is only as strong as its links. Missing links deprive communities of the benefit of trail – economically, socially, quality of life and health,” said Kelsey Ripper, Executive Director Friends of the Riverfront.
“The key to the project is every single foot in every connection. There are 150 trails today – every foot took hard effort of all the people. Every one worth it,” said Belle, who has spent the past 10 years helping develop those links and connections.
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.
Missouri’s Katy Trail, a Rails to Trails Conservancy Hall of Famer, is for bikers who want to ride 240 miles with pure abandon, with not much to distract unless you want to be distracted – such as by the historic markers that are fascinating, complete, and an excellent guide to what to look out for what I guarantee you would never have thought to look for.
Day 4 on Wilderness Voyageur’s six-day Katy Trail bike tour is another vigorous ride, 47.8 miles from the Missouri state capital, Jefferson City, to Hermann (elevation plus 772 ft, down 821 ft).
Starting out, though, we go back up that hill that provided such a dramatic view of the Capital Building the day before, back to the bridge over the river, and down the winding ramp (fun!), to the spur that brings us back onto the Katy Trail exactly where we turned off the day before.
Now we are back in Missouri’s farm land and a landscape that seems unchanged in 100 years. We ride passed fields of corn and soy, with the Manitou Bluffs in the distance beyond the plain.
What is so impressive all along the Katy Trail is Missouri Pride – it is evident in the meticulously planned rest stops and restored train depots, the historic notes at each one, the placards and markers and stories all along the trail that trigger our imagination as we ride, even on big posters and billboards and signs on buildings and silos. A city kid, I no sooner question in my mind how those grain silos work than we come upon an exhibit that explains the revolutionary invention.
That pride is especially clear here at Tebbets, our first rest stop.
Tebbets is where there is the volunteer-run Turner Katy Trail Shelter, the only bike hostel centrally located on the Katy’s 240 miles (the key hangs on a light pole), which was a home donated by its owner.
We ride through Rhineland, which I learn was the third largest producer of wine in the world before Prohibition dried it up. This is one of the few places where the Katy Trail follows a different path from the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad (the call sign, K-T). The town was destroyed by the flood of ’93, and moved along the bluff.
We ride along highway Route 93 (not really scary, actually, there is a wide shoulder), and over the bridge (there is a bike path over the bridge but getting there involves doing a clover leaf maneuver) that brings us into the town of Hermann.
We stay at the Hermann Crown Suites – which sounds like a modern chain hotel but is actually a charming historic hotel. It is a fun place – there is live music in its patio area in the evening, or if it is raining, in their 1837 Cellar Bar – and we are treated to a welcome drink (or ice cream, which I prefer).
We get here early enough to wander around the town checking out a remarkable selection of boutiques and shops before they close, and a beautiful riverside park. We check out the famous Hermann Wurst Haus.
The German-feel to Hermann is not imaginary – the town was founded in 1836 as the “New Fatherland” for German settlers.
We come upon the red brick German School, built in 1871 but incorporated in 1849 by the state legislature to offer classes in German and English. The structure was the only privately owned public school building in the state when it was deeded to historic Hermann Inc in 1955 to be preserved and used for cultural and civic purposes.
There is a plaque on the Monnig Family General Store which basically epitomizes America’s immigrant experience: Otto Monnig, who migrated with two of his brothers from Rees, Germany to the US in the 1840s, operated his general store from 1870 to 1890. He started with hardware and cutlery and expanded to add clothing, toys, groceries. Otto’s son-in-law, Dr. Gustave Ettmueller opened a drug store and post office in the building. Otto Monnig also founded the Hermann Savings Bank and served as president, 1867-1883.
Hermann’s historic district has many marvelous buildings to explore. They date back to early 19th century, but the vibe is 1940s/1950s – from the signs, the products.
We’ve been riding on what used to be the Missouri-Kansas-Texas rail line but In Hermann, we see an actual Amtrak train pulling out from the station just above the riverbank.
Dinner is on our own and there are lots of places to choose from, returning to the hotel for the live music on its back patio.
Day 5 is a 38 mile ride from Hermann to Augusta, almost entirely flat. We ride back on I-93 and back over the bridge to where we had left the Katy Trail.
The first support stop is at 18.5 miles (versus 9 miles which is more typical) at Treloar – and to get there, we need to make a 3 mile detour on roads because just the prior week, a storm put a tree across the trail (just ahead of the last Wilderness Voyageurs group so our guide James Oerding had to find a way around).
We stop at the Treloar Mercantile building, built around 1896 which served as the dry goods store and post office until closing in 1933. Dan and Connie Burkhardt, who created a foundation to preserve land and historic structures (katylandtrust.org), bought the building in 2018 and donated it to Missouri State Parks in 2024. It is being refurbished, and I chance upon the Burkhardts and the former state Transportation Secretary, David Kelly, who directed the building of the Katy Trail State Park and now is on the board of Magnificent Missouri, overseeing the restoration. There is a marvelous historic exhibition inside.
It is with justified pride that Kelly relates that the last economic impact study showed the Katy Trail generated $18 million for the state – a figure that is much higher after COVID. “There was a big uptick in users after COVID because people discovered the health benefits, and being outdoors.”
He acknowledges that places like Hartsburg (population 138) and Rotheport (population239) would be ghost towns were it not for Katy Trail and the tourism traffic it brings.
Of Missouri’s 93 state parks, the Katy is the most unique: 100 ft wide and 240 miles long. Missouri is now developing the 144-mile long Rock Island corridor, which opened 2021, of which 47 miles connect to the Katy Trail (so you can ride a loop).
Katy is the longest developed rail trail in US and Rock Island will be 4th largest; when combined with 13 miles in Jackson County, it forms a 445 mile long corridor to Kansas City.
Katy Trail State Park is built on the corridor of the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) Railroad, better known as the Katy. When the railroad ceased operation on its route in Missouri from Machens in St. Charles County to Sedalia in Pettis County in 1986, the right-of-way was secured through funding from the late Edward D. “Ted” Jones Jr. (the son of the founder of Edward Jones Investments) and his wife, Pat. Construction of the Katy Trail began in 1987. The first section of trail at Rocheport was opened in 1990.
In 1991, the Union Pacific Railroad donated 33 miles of rail corridor from Sedalia to east of Clinton. Additional purchases and donations were added over the years, completing the final 240-mile trail with Machens as the eastern terminus and Clinton as the western terminus. The trail’s 25th anniversary was celebrated in 2015.
As we ride the Katy Trail, we are reminded of the trail’s railroad history, passing old telegraph poles, riding over truss and trestle bridges. Four fully restored historic depots recall the past splendor of passenger service on the MKT, while the stone railroad tunnel at Rocheport displays the ingenuity required to complete the MKT rail line.
Meanwhile, Dan and Connie Burkhardt, retired partners of Edward Jones investment company, continued Jones’ legacy by founding the Katy Land Trust in 2010, which works cooperatively with landowners along the Katy Trail corridor to preserve farms, forests and Missouri River valley (katylandtrust.org).
Four miles further is the Peers Store, the “Magnificent Missouri” outpost, with a mission to conserve and increase appreciation of the Katy Trail and the last 100 miles of the Missouri River Valley, from Hermann to Confluence. Here, there are live music on the porch from June through August, art, snacks and community (magnificentmissouri.org).
We ride through tiny towns that reflect French and Native American influence. The furthest European settlements west of the Mississippi were in this region when Lewis & Clark first passed through in 1804. French fur trappers were prevalent settlers here.
A highlight today, is taking a bit of a detour off the Katy Trail to visit where Daniel Boone and his wife were buried. (They make no bones of the fact their bodies were supposedly moved from here back to Kentucky, but leave a bit of mystery in saying that the wrong bones may have been taken and Daniel may still be buried here after all.)
I first miss the turn but convince our guide, James Oerding, to go back (again, I am last, so the guide rides behind me). And I’m glad I did.
The small cemetery is very interesting, and is adjacent to his sons’ homestead (Daniel is said to have stayed there for a short time). It is interesting to see how Boone was so revered. (I think I am the only one of our group who did the detour.)
A marker at the rest stop relates how Daniel Boone, his sons’ and daughters’ families, other relations, friends and family slaves, came to Missouri in 1799 when Boone was 65 years old and already famous in America and Europe. He had fought in the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars. In between, he explored Kentucky and Tennessee and helped blaze the Wilderness Road over the Appalachian Mountains that settlers followed. In Kentucky, much of Boone’s fame was based on battling the Shawnee Indians who (understandably) resisted American expansion into Kentucky’s “dark and bloody ground.” But Boone “soured” on Kentucky. Spain, which then controlled the Louisiana Territory. was anxious to have settlers come, especially one as respected and influential as Daniel Boone, so Spain “recruited” Daniel Boone to come to Missouri, appointing him “syndic” (a justice of the peace) and militia leader. (I hadn’t realized until I visited the Gateway Arch National Monument in St. Louis that the Louisiana Territory went back and forth from France which claimed it in 1682, to Spain in 1762 through a secret Treaty of Fontainebleau, then (secretly) back to France in1800, before France sold the Louisiana Territory to the US in 1803. The whiplash!
We ride through Marthasville (named for Martha Washington) and end today’s ride at Augusta where we are shuttled (the only time we are taken by the van to our hotel) into the charming town of Washington, where we first have lunch at a fun spot, John G’s Beir Deck (delicious bratwurst and coleslaw). We walk off lunch to where we overnight, Elijah McClean’s, a wonderful inn attached to a mansion, now a restaurant where we will have a grand dinner.
Along the way, we pass by the Meerschaum’s Corn Cob Pipe factory, the only corncob pipe factory still operating in the world (James tells us) – unfortunately, it is already closed so we can’t visit.
After settling into my hotel room, I walk back to Main Street and come upon a community concert at the Farmer’s Market, held weekly on Thursdays, 5-8 pm (for future Katy Trail riders). It is wonderful, especially when people start line dancing.
On Day 6, our last day, I have my only regret of the trip: I forget to stay for James’ whiteboard talk that would have told me to look for the spur marked “Klondike Park” just 2.5 miles from where we start, to a steep asphalt trail that would have taken me to a white silica sand lake you can ride around. (Only one of our group actually did it). The photos I see at the rest stop look amazing and I’m tempted to ride the four miles back (I was so proud of myself for being first for a change), but I think it would take too much time. People were pretty much hurrying to get to the end of the ride when they would disperse to travel back home and I feel self-conscious if I would hold people up. (Actually, we have lunch at a restaurant at the end of the trail, and people who need to leave early just don’t stay for it so there would have been lots of flexibility).
We gather there for a delicious farewell lunch at Hendricks BBQ.
Then we are shuttled back to the St. Charles hotels where people parked. Only two of us are flying (we were advised not to book our flight before 6 pm).
The Katy Trail bike tour is rated a 3 not because of the trail’s difficulty, which is as easy as any dedicated recreational rail trail 240 miles long and as superbly served and maintained can be, – but because of the daily mileage, between 38 and 50 miles each day, except for the last (vastly easiest), 27 miles level or even with a slight downward slope.
This is my third tour with Wilderness Voyageurs (my first was the Badlands and Mikkelson Trail in South Dakota – I even had James as my guide on that trip – and Wilderness Voyageurs also provided the support for Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Sojourn biking/camping tour on the Great Allegheny Passage which goes passed its headquarters at Ohiopyle, PA.
Wilderness Voyageurs consistently provides sensational support – before the trip (with planning and packing lists, questionnaires) and most especially, during the ride (I love the Ride with GPS, the notes they provide and our daily ride orientation and especially their philosophy, “Ride your own ride.”), they even have on hand cold drinks, ice water, sunscreen, chafing cream, and each day organize two rest stops (great snacks) and a delicious picnic lunch. They also book the absolutely best lodgings and restaurants, like the Schoolhouse BnB and the General Store Restaurant in Rocheport where they arranged a private dinner for us. The guides are excellent and if necessary, can pick you up in the van should the distance or the elevation be uncomfortable. All of this makes what you pay for a guided bike tour well worth it.
Indeed, bike trips are ideal for solo travelers (there are four of us on this trip) – a way to travel on our own, but not alone.
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:
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:
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/
You don’t have to be a country music fan to tap your feet to the rich music scene here. The creativity spills over into its art, cuisine, and decor. And of course, there’s that famous “hot chicken” and barbecue and a surprising number of authentic ethnic eateries. No wonder so many reunions, conventions and bachelor and bachelorette parties happen here.
To get in the mood for my trip, I watch “It All Begins with a Song,” a documentary that features songwriters performing and talking about their music, the creative process, and the unique role Nashville has had in their lives.
The film leads me to expect live music everywhere 24/7. Sure enough, there’s a band setting up at the airport when I land at noon, and there’s live music at shopping malls and clubs all around the city. The iconic experience is bar-and band-hopping along Lower Broadway, a.k.a. Honky Tonk Highway. Here, dozens of bars serve up live music, often on multiple floors, from 10 a.m. until the wee hours of the morning. Most do not have a cover charge or minimum.
Live music is easy to find along Lower Broadway. @Geri Bain
One of my favorite Honky Tonk Highway spots is the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. Opened by the charismatic Tubb (a.k.a. the Texas Troubadour) in 1947 before country records were widely sold, his shop quickly expanded to become a leading retail and mail-order country music record outlet and a low-key performance venue/bar with its own (still-operating) live radio show. Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley were among those who would stop by and perform after their Grand Ole Opry appearances.
A band is playing amped up music with a captivating beat as I enter Ernest Tubb’s Record Shop and a duo is performing on acoustic guitars in the back room. I listen for a bit, use the QR code to send a tip, and then head up to the fifth floor, where the roof bar affords a birds-eye view of the neon-lit street. It’s December and nippy though, so the outside bar is closed. Back inside, the bar/record shop feels like a mini-museum with vintage vinyl records for sale and displays of an Ernest Tubb Nudie suit (named for its designer Nudie Cohn, not for the amount of skin shown), a guitar with his name inset in pearl, a note from Johnny Cash, photos, and other memorabilia. (We learned after our visit that the Ernest Tubb Record Shop closed temporarily.)
Fairlane Hotel features mid-century modern decor and works by local artists. @Geri Bain
After bar-hopping, it’s an easy walk back to my Nashville home, the boutique 79-room Fairlane Hotel. While it’s smack in the center of town and a short walk to most of the city’s attractions, when I tuck in to sleep that night there is zero noise. Plus I love my room’s floor-to-ceiling window walls, colorful mid-century modern decor, and the works of local artists (subtly for sale) throughout the public spaces, part of the hotel’s mission to connect with local culture.
Nashville’s Pathway of History is literally a walk through time. @Geri Bain
The next day, I set out to ground myself in some local history (Nashville is more than music). I walk up to the hilltop Tennessee Statehouse and then stroll into Bicentennial Mall State Park, created in 1996 to celebrate 200 years of statehood. I follow a self-guided map to the 200-foot granite map of the state. Then I find my way to the Pathway of History where pillars mark key dates on one side of a 1,400 foot long walkway and a timeline of events, quotes and commentary are engraved run in parallel a three-foot-tall granite wall on the other. Among the interesting factoids I pick up is that the word “Tennessee” is thought to come from a Native American name meaning place where water meets—describing its strategic location at the confluence of rivers.
At the edge of the park, the Tennessee State Museum presents an easy-to-follow narrative of the state’s history with eye-catching artifacts like a full-size cutaway log cabin, a model of a Conestoga Wagon, and the hat Tennessean Andrew Jackson wore at his 1829 presidential inauguration.
Liquor Lab offers mixology classes. @Geri Bain
That evening at a Liquor Lab mixology class, I learn the most effective and theatrical techniques for shaking cocktail ingredients including, importantly, how to give a strong twist to seal the shaker tightly. We mix three concoctions; my favorite is a spiked hot chocolate topped with crushed peppermint and whipped cream. Dinner is not part of most classes but happily mine is catered by the award-winning Peg-Leg Porker, a family-run restaurant/caterer, and I get my first scrumptious taste of classic Nashville barbecue.
The Country Music Hall of Fame offers classes for kids and adults. @Geri Bain
A highlight of my trip is a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum. Dolly Parton is one of my heroes, and there’s a major exhibit devoted to her (running through September 2026). Watching a video interview, I learn that her song “Coat of Many Colors” refers to a true time when classmates made fun of her patchwork coat. Displays of her exuberant outfits, her guitars, the books she wrote and videos of performances and interviews convey a well-rounded picture of her work as a singer, song writer, businesswoman and philanthropist.
The permanent collection is equally lively, intimate and insightful. It is laid out chronologically with listening stations and displays illustrating the evolution of country music along with costumes, instruments and memorabilia of individual artists from the Carter Family to Elvis and Jelly Roll. Especially touching is a display of Roseanne Cash’s childhood drawings and writings, outfits and a video of her performing.
I’m drawn to the Taylor Swift Education Center, a two-story, 7,500-square-foot learning space within the museum which was opened in October 2013 with a $4 million gift from Taylor Swift to fund educational programs. I gravitate to a “Songwriting Station” which invites young visitors to create their own lyrics and providing markers and coloring sheets about musical instruments. A songwriting camp, craft classes and musical performances and talks are offered, but not during my visit. Next time I’ll plan ahead!
For lunch, I make my way to the nearby Assembly Food Hall which features everything from Vietnamese pho to Hawaiian poke. I’m excited to try the renowned Prince’s Hot Chicken but, coward that I am, I order the medium spice level because I’ve been warned the three hotter levels will burn through your entire digestive system. My chicken is delicious, tongue-tingling and sinus-clearing but not painful.
You can make your own playlists at the National Museum of African American Music. @ Geri Bain
My next stop is the National Museum of African Music, which had its ceremonial opening on January 18, 2021, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with the museum opening to the public on January 30, 2021. It may well be the only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the history and impact of African American music genres.
At the ticket desk, I receive an RFID wristband; this allows me to download playlists I create throughout the museum which are emailed to me. Exhibits trace the history of African-American music from spirituals and gospel and their roots in indigenous African music to jazz, R&B and hiphop. I find it hard to move on from the interactive stations, especially the jazz table, where I play with layering on instruments and styles in the way a jazz musician might.
A short walk from here is the Ryman Auditorium, the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974. Outside the Ryman are bronze statues of stars including Loretta Lynn and Charley Pride. On a guided tour, I learn that the pew-like seats and stained glass windows come by their church feeling honestly. The building started its life as the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1892. It was built by Thomas Ryman, a onetime hard-partying riverboat captain who “saw the light” and was inspired to build this grand center for religious revivalist meetings.
Over time, it hosted more concerts than church meetings and became known as The Ryman Auditorium, thanks to Lula C. Naff, the gutsy general manager from 1920 to 1955. She saved the building from the wrecking ball by booking A-list entertainers and lecturers and eventually arranged for the Grand Ole Opry radio show to broadcast live from here.
In the early days of radio, this show was the only one broadcasting country music around the country. The original Grand Ole Opry radio show began in 1925, broadcast from a WSM studio in Nashville’s National Life & Accident Insurance building and is recognized as the longest-running radio broadcast in U.S. history. The show drew top talent to Nashville who to this day live and produce music in the many studios along Music Row, and effectively kicked off the city’s growth into the musical center (“Music City”!) it is today.
The exhibits, such as Johnny Cash’s and June Carter’s outfits, are cool, but the most fun is the chance to ham it up for a souvenir photo, included in the tour price, on the very stage where Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, and more recently, Bruce Springsteen, Lizzo and Taylor Swift have performed.
The Neoclassical Schermerhorn Symphony Center is beautiful, inside and out. @Geri Bain
Nashville isn’t only about Country Music. In the evening, I attend a performance by Trisha Yearwood at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. She is accompanied by the Nashville Symphony, which prides itself on its mastery of diverse musical genres. The acoustics here are so good that without amplification voices can be heard in all parts of the nearly 2,000 seat hall.
On my last evening, I experience a show at the modern “new” home of the Grand Ole Opry, featuring Ashley McBryde, Riders in the Sky and five other acts. This venue is more than twice the size of the Ryman, with more than 4,000 seats. Interestingly, when people talk about the Grand Ole Opry, they aren’t talking about a place; they’re talking about the musical variety radio show which is still broadcast with live audiences in attendance, so we get to see how this radio show is produced. Commercials between acts, read by the announcer, and the “On Air” signs are reminders that this still is a live radio show.
The Grand Ole Opry is a live radio show. @Geri Bain
The highlight of the evening for me is the pre-show backstage tour; I get a kick out of seeing the dressing rooms and mailboxes of Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks and other country music icons. My tour even gets glimpses of the Gatlin Brothers and Ashley McBryde strolling through the halls before their performances.
At Poppy & Peep, chocolate creation is a high art @Geri Bain
Nashville, of course, is about more than making music. All that inventiveness extends naturally into the food, cocktail and cultural scenes. Chocolate can be high art as I learn at a chocolate-making session at Poppy & Peep, a father-daughter owned company that makes handcrafted small-batch bonbons and confections that are both playful and flavorful. The workshop steps through process of turning cocoa beans into chocolate and then places us in workstations with food coloring and paint brushes to create our own bonbon designs.
This city also takes its coffee and cafes seriously. Among the acclaimed small batch brewers is 8th & Roast. I attend their “seed-to-cup” class, where I learn about their alliances with family farms that grow their beans and the various types of roasts, and participate in a traditional “coffee cupping” where we “slurp” and taste ten brews.
Nashville’s foods range from Michelin starred restaurants to casual barbecue joints. The city is also home to the largest Kurdish community in the U.S. along with many other immigrant groups, and this makes for some wonderfully authentic ethnic eateries. I head out of downtown into the neighborhoods to dine at Alebrije, a Mexican restaurant, where the mole sauce takes me back to Oaxaca, Mexico and taste my first Uzbek cooking at Uzbegim, a Michelin recommended restaurant, where I enjoy Tandir samosa, a savory pastry with spiced minced meat and veggies.
Among my favorites is Edessa Restaurant in “Little Kurdistan.” When I walk in, practically every table is taken, and several large groups have tantalizing spreads of kebobs, lamb shank, and sauces laid out. The food is done to perfection and the decor is authentic; a large painting on the wall is of the co-owner’s hometown in Turkey.
As I reflect on my Nashville getaway, what most impresses me is that the openness and collaboration that leads to great music seems to bubble over into the entire culture. Perhaps that explains the friendly, welcoming vibe that makes the city such a joy to visit.
Travel Tips:
Carry your id with you if you’re heading out to the bars—most are strict about requiring ID, even if you are obviously well over 21.
Plan to tip musicians you enjoy; that’s often their only compensation.
Plan ahead. Buy tickets for popular events and concert venues in advance, especially if you want to catch a top-name artist or attend one of the popular writer’s rounds.
