AFFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE TRAIL

AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE TRAIL
Sample Two-Day Driving Tour Itinerary

Westchester County, New York’s Golden Apple,

The Gateway to the Hudson River Valley!

Day One

AM Arrival into Westchester County.

Travel north or south on I-684 to Exit 6. Follow Route 35 east to Route 22. Travel southeast on Route 22 to John Jay Homestead.

10:00-11:30 AM Guided tour of John Jay Homestead, Route 22, Katonah.

Homestead of founding father John Jay, former Governor of New York who signed legislation that led to the gradual abolition of slavery.

(914) 232-5651. http://nysparks.state.ny.us/hist/

11:30 AM Transfer to Village of Tarrytown. Return to Route 35, travel northwest to the entrance of I-684 south. Travel south on I-684 and follow immediate signs for the Saw Mill River Parkway south. Travel south to I-287 West. Travel west on I-287 as it merges with I-87, north. Take Exit 9 to Route 119. Left on Route 119, right onto Route 9. Travel north into village.

12:30 PM Lunch at any restaurant in the village’s downtown shopping and dining district along Route 9 and adjoining streets.

(Suggestions include: Horsefeathers Restaurant, Tarrytown Gourmet.)

2:00-2:45 PM Self-guided tour of the Foster Memorial AME Zion Church, 90 Wildey Street, Tarrytown. North on Route 9 to the intersection of Wildey Street, turn left.

Founded in 1860, Foster AME and its members helped to provide food and shelter to fugitive slaves escaping to Canada, and also provided assistance to those fugitive slaves who settled in Tarrytown.

www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/ny5.htm

2:45 PM Transfer to the Village of Sleepy Hollow via Route 9 north.

3:00-5:00 PM Guided tour of Philipsburg Manor, Route 9, Sleepy Hollow.

A historic milling and trading complex of the late 17^th and early 18^th centuries, owned by the Anglo-Dutch Philipse family and operated by enslaved individuals of African descent.

(914) 631-3992. www.hudsonvalley.org

5:00 PM Check in at any of our hotels in the Tarrytown area. (Marriott, Hilton, Dolce Tarrytown House, SpringHill Suites or Courtyard by Marriott)

PM Dinner and evening entertainment. Overnight in Tarrytown.

Day Two

9:30 AM Check out and depart for downtown Yonkers via Route 9 south.

Drive by Villa Lewaro in Irvington en route to Yonkers (private residence).

Stately mansion and former home of Madame C.J. Walker, America’s first self-made millionaireness.

Travel south through Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, into Yonkers. Right turn onto Dock Street. Statue in Larkin Plaza, near Yonkers Train Station.

10:00 AM Stop and view Ella Fitzgerald Statue, downtown Yonkers.

Bronze statue of “The First Lady of Song”, created by African American artist Vinnie Bagwell in 1996.

Return to Dock Street, to the intersection at Warburton Avenue.

10:30-11:30 AM Guided tour of Philipse Manor Hall, 29 Warburton Avenue, Yonkers.

The Lower Mill complex owned by the Philipse family in the late 17^th and early 18^th centuries, which put Westchester County at the center of the “Golden Circuit” slave trade.

(914) 965-4027. http://nysparks.state.ny.us/hist/

11:30 AM Depart for the City of Mount Vernon. Return to Broadway, travel north to Ashburton Avenue, turn right. Turn left onto Yonkers Avenue, follow to entrance of Cross County Parkway, east. Travel east to the end of the Cross County Parkway and take the Hutchinson River Parkway south. Take Exit 8, Sandford Boulevard in Mount Vernon. Travel west to South Columbus Avenue. Turn left.

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12:00-1:00 PM Guided tour of Saint Paul’s Church National Historic Site, 897 South Columbus Avenue, Mount Vernon.

One of Westchester County’s oldest churches and original location of the East Chester town green, where slavery is referenced as early as 1672. Nearly 10 percent of those interred in the Church’s cemetery were of African descent.

(914) 667-4116. www.nps.gov/sapa/

1:00 PM Transfer to the City of Rye. Return to Sandford Boulevard and turn right, follow signs for the Hutchinson River Parkway north. Travel north to Exit 26, take I-287 east. Travel east to Exit 11, Boston Post Road / Route 1. Turn right and travel south into downtown Rye. Turn right at the intersection of Purdy Avenue.

Lunch at any restaurant in the downtown shopping and dining district. (Suggestions include: Frankie and Johnnie’s, Café Livorno)

Return to Boston Post Road / Route 1, turn right and proceed south.

2:30-3:30 PM Guided tour of the Jay Heritage Center, 210 Boston Post Road, Rye.

The childhood home of founding father John Jay and his family, as well as several generations of both free and enslaved people who worked for the family as they fought against slavery through their involvement with the Manumission Society.

(914) 698-9275. www.jayheritagecenter.org

3:30 PM Transfer to North Street, Rye. Proceed south to fork. Veer right onto Old Post Road. Take first right onto North Street. Proceed north over highway. Enter Greenwood Union Cemetery on left and follow signs.

3:45 – 4:30 PM Self-guided tour of African Cemetery, North Street, Rye.

Established in 1860 and now on the National Register of Historic Places, the Cemetery includes 160 headstones, including 35 African-American war veterans from the Civil War through World War II.

4:30 PM Depart Westchester County. Return to North Street, turn right and proceed south to Old Post Road. Turn right, then right again on Thruway Access Drive to Playland Parkway. Turn right to the entrance of I-95, north or south.