Champlain Valley Suffrage Auto Tours Set

The Champlain Valley Suffrage Centennial 2021 Auto Tour events are set for July 31st, August 6th-7th, August 14th, August 21st. The tour commemorates and celebrates the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1920 and recognizes and demonstrates the many ways women fought for the right to vote prior to 1920.

Scheduled events include:

The opening events of Auto Tour will take place on July 31st from 10 am to noon at Clinton County Historical Association, 98 Ohio Avenue, in Plattsburgh, NY. The opening event of the Champlain Valley Suffrage Auto tour will include speeches by actors portraying Susan B Anthony and three Clinton County suffragists – Marian Inman Parkhurst, Hannah Straight Lansing and Harriet Dudley Bell – who made their mark on their community and New York State with their commitment to woman suffrage. Displays will tell the local and state suffrage story with a special exhibit by Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership. Suffragists will leave in vintage cars for the North Star Museum at noon. For more information contact Helen Nerska at (518) 561-0340 or director@clintoncountyhistorical.org.

From 1 to 3 pm, the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association Centennial Suffrage afternoon event at the North Star Underground Railroad Museum, Pavilion at Ausable Chasm will focus on three African American women who were strong leaders in their community, Ida Wells-Barnett, Portia S. Blackiston and Helen Appo Cook. There will be reenactments and speeches. Each of these women were educators and played major roles in their community. Portia spent time in the Westport area, Helen in North Elba and Ida was in New York City when her newspaper building was burned down. For more information contact Jacqueline Madison at (518) 572-9552 or ugr@frontier.com.

On August 6th through 7th, the Lewis and Elizabethtown events will focus on the life of suffragist hero Inez Milholland who gave her life for the movement and is remembered annually for her commitment and contributions to obtaining votes for women.

A special pre-tour event will be held on August 6th at 4 pm featuring a hike up Mount Inez , hosted by CATS (Champlain Area Trails).

On August 7th from 11 am to 2 pm the Auto Tour continues with Inez Milholland and antique automobiles leading a suffrage procession at the Lewis Congregational Church. There will be a celebration of Inez’s 135th birthday, the naming of Mount Inez, and the creation of an Inez Milholland Trail in Thrall Dam Park. Attendees can also listen to talks about the Milholland family, join a procession to Inez’s grave, participate in a broom brigade, and make suffrage crafts. There will be self-guided tours inside the Church, at Lewis Town Hall (Inez history exhibit), and at Veterans’ Memorial Park.

From 2 pm to 3:30 pm the Meadowmount School of Music tour will proceed to the Meadowmount School of Music, which was previously the Milholland estate. The Meadowmount grounds and the first floor of the main house will be open.

The Auto Tour rolls into Elizabethtown from 4 to 7 pm, stopping at the Courtyard in front of the Essex County Courthouse. Welcoming speeches will be followed by addresses from Inez Milholland and anti-suffragist Dr. Charles Dana. Attendees can participate in a broom brigade and then catch a ride in a Model A to view suffrage-related exhibits at the Adirondack History Museum and the Hale Law Library. The celebration will end at the pavilion behind the Museum with the spectacular Adirondack folk-duo Peggy Lynn and Dan Duggan presenting their Songs of Suffrage concert, “Forward Into Light.” For more information contact Sandra Weber at (518) 873-1137 or weber@sandraweber.com.

On August 14th from 10 am to noon visit the Suffrage displays at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. The museum is open and free for all to visit. Featured exhibits include: Women’s VOTE Centennial, an outside display celebrating the anniversary of the 19th Amendment and working toward a future of equity, respect and justice for all; Women at the Helm, a display featuring women leaders of the Champlain Valley from the 1700s to today; The Noble Failure: Prohibition in the Champlain Valley, a new outside exhibit exploring the complex relationship between government and individuals and changing attitudes about alcohol consumption over time. The replica canal schooner Lois McClure is dock in the Museum’s North Harbor and open, conditions permitting. For more information contact Meg Salocks at (802) 475-2022 x116 or meg@lcmm.org.

The Suffrage Auto Tour will travel from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum to Chimney Point from 12:30 to 3 pm. Historic personages will be on hand to talk with people about the contributions and challenging lives of some of the early French and Vermont women here and provide some show and tell. Attendees can try their hand at turning the crank for home-made ice cream; enjoy a sample while it lasts. For more information contact Elsa Gilbertson at (802) 759-2412 or Elsa.Gilbertson@vermont.gov.

A procession on across the Lake Champlain Bridge will take place at 3 pm.

The final stop on the Champlain Valley Suffrage Centennial Auto Tour is the City Park in downtown Glens Falls, on August 21st from noon to 3 pm. The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library will host the Suffrage pageant Forward Into Light Reimagined. Actors in white will perform the history of women’s rights throughout the ages, along with songs and a chorus of “The March of the Women” by Dame Ethel Smyth. Before and after the pageant the audience is invited to participate in the Broom Brigade, Votes for Women! Story time, and children’s activities. Suffrage and local women’s history exhibits sponsored by Warren County Historical Society, the Chapman Museum, and Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership will be on display outside. Inside the Library in the Folklife Galleries, visit “Equali-tea: Suffragist in Redwork,” an exhibit of 42 embroidered portraits on NY suffragists. For more information contact Tisha Dolton at (518) 792-6508 x292 or pdolton@sals.edu.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information contact CVSCAT coordinator, Tisha Dolton (518) 792-6508, ex 292 and/or the coordinators for each weekend. Event details are available on the Champlain Valley Suffrage Centennial website.