THREE CENTURIES IN TWO DAYS
NEW JERSEY WOMEN’S HERITAGE
Travel three centuries in two days to experience the historic sites and attractions that depict and honor the accomplishments of women who helped shape the country. Along the way, enhance your journey with roadside attractions and must-see extras that embrace women’s history and demonstrate how New Jersey is unlike any other state in the country.
Simply follow our two-day New Jersey Women’s Heritage: Three Centuries in Two Days travel itinerary. To access more details about each historic site, be sure to click the links throughout to learn more.
Day 1: Passaic County
Begin your journey at Dey Mansion Washington’s Headquarters. Join a guided tour to hear the stories of the Dey women and women of the colonial army encampment nearby. Head into Paterson to grab lunch at one of the ethnic restaurants in the historic downtown area and stop by Paterson Great Falls National Park. Spend the afternoon at the American Labor Museum - Botto House. Tour the house and gardens to learn about the life and times of Maria Botto, Italian immigrant, silk worker, and host to labor union activists, including Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, during the Paterson Silk Strike of 1913.
Had a long day of exploring? Stay in one of the many Airbnb’s in historic homes in Montclair and West Orange.
Day 2: Essex County
Visit the Montclair History Center to experience the building's history as one of the few African American YWCAs for girls and woman. Venture to downtown Montclair for a meal at the many restaurants on Church Street and Bloomfield Avenue. From there, drive the short distance to the Edison National Historical Park and join a tour of Glenmont, Thomas Edison’s home in America’s oldest planned community, Llewellyn Park, where Mina Miller Edison considered herself a “home executive,” overseeing the management and social obligations of a wealthy Victorian household.
THERE'S MORE TO SEE AND DO: EXTEND YOUR STAY AND ADD THESE STOPS
Visit The Hermitage in Ho-Ho-Kus where Theodosia Prevost hosted George Washington and his troops, including her future husband Arron Burr, while her husband was away fighting for the British. Visit the Ballantine House at the Newark Museum to learn about Lilly Martin Spencer, one of the most popular painters of the mid-nineteenth century who spent most of her productive years of her career living and working in Newark. Best known for her portraits, two of them are on display at the museum!
MORE WAYS TO EMBRACE WOMEN'S HISTORY
See the Women’s Federation Monument, located within the Palisades Interstate Park, it was erected in honor of the women who helped save New Jersey’s most iconic cliffs overlooking the Hudson River. Take a stroll in Roosevelt Common in Tenafly designed by landscape architect, Marjorie Sewell Cautley, and gifted to the local residents by Malcolm Sutherland Mackay and his wife, Helen Raynor Mackay.
DISCOVER NJ
New Jersey history is everywhere, hidden away on quiet back roads, right out in plain sight, in urban areas, country towns and villages, and along the Jersey shore. Historic sites across the state tell intriguing stories of New Jersey’s diverse, inventive, creative, and revolutionary people. History is alive and waiting for you. View Additional Resources