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A sculpture by Ted Aub depicts the first meeting of feminist activists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton—it’s located near the Women’s Rights National Historic Park and the Elizabeth Cady Stanton House in Rochester, N.Y.
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Beneath the Surface:
Cultural Tours that Reveal America’s Hidden History
Go beyond the familiar to uncover the hidden people, places and stories that shaped America through immersive tours and historic sites.
By Maria Lenhart
Beyond showcasing famous landmarks, several of today’s cultural and historical tours take visitors beneath (sometimes literally) the surface of a destination as never before. Whether it’s gaining new insights on the resilience of Gullah-Geechee culture, the crucial role female shipyard workers played in World War II or 1960s counterculture, these tours and sites are sure to widen your perspective on the American experience.
Handmade Gullah-Geechee-style baskets made of sweetgrass, Charleston, S.C.
Ocala National Forest
The Gullah-Geechee Legacy
With its 400-year-old West African roots remarkably intact, Gullah-Geechee culture and traditions remain a vibrant part of Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. The Savannah Slavery to Freedom History Tour, available from AAA Vacations and AAA Trip Canvas, takes participants on a poignant journey as it tells the story of the Gullah-Geechee people and their struggle from enslavement to liberation. Led by cultural historian Sistah Patt, founder of Underground Tours of Savannah, the story is evocatively illustrated by visits to sites such as River Street, Factors Walk, Johnson Square and Laurel Grove Cemetery.
In Charleston, Al Miller’s Sights and Insights Tours delves into local Gullah-Geechee history and culture as it winds through downtown streets and out to the South Carolina Sea Islands with their ancient live oaks and haunting plantation ruins. Along the way, there’s a stop at the Mother Emanuel AME Church, site of the tragic 2015 shooting where Miller suffered a personal loss. Heading to the Sea Islands, Miller tells the story of the real Catfish Row, the setting for George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” and even sings some of the songs in his rich baritone.
Beneath the Streets
Seattle Underground, under the Pioneer Square neighborhood, Seattle, Wash.
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While Seattle, Washington, is well known for above-ground attractions the Space Needle, Pike Place Market and other sites, there are plenty of others below ground. These are revealed during the Beneath the Streets Underground History Tour, available from AAA Trip Canvas. This one-hour walk reveals a network of alleys and passageways lined with abandoned saloons and storefronts lurking beneath the city’s Pioneer Square. This subterranean world, some of which was a red-light district, is actually Seattle’s earliest neighborhood and a victim of the Great Fire of 1889, which nearly destroyed the city. With Seattle long suffering from poor drainage and sewage systems, those charged with rebuilding efforts decided to raise the street level and construct a new city on top of the ruins. The underground district was largely forgotten until it was rediscovered in the 1960s.
Herstory
Women’s Rights National Historical Park, Seneca Falls, N.Y.
American women finally won the right to vote in 1920, but the struggle for that right took its first leap forward in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848 during a two-day convention where about 300 people gathered to discuss the social and civil rights of women. Meeting at the Wesleyan Chapel, they signed the Declaration of Sentiments, which insisted “that all men and women are created equal.” Today this event is commemorated at the Women’s Rights National Historical Park, which includes the Wesleyan Chapel and the home of suffrage leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton. More suffragist history awaits in nearby Rochester, New York, at the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House. Docent-led tours of the three-story home, including the front parlor where Anthony was arrested for illegally casting a ballot in the 1872 presidential election, can be booked through AAA Trip Canvas.
The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House video
During World War II, women played a crucial role in the war effort as they took on heavy manufacturing jobs in factories and shipyards traditionally held by men. The Rosie the Riveter WWII Homefront National Historic Park in Richmond, California, is devoted to the vital industrial work done by civilians, many of them women who were entering the workforce for the first time. The park, which offers self-guided and ranger-led tours, features interpretive displays inside a visitor housed inside a former military vehicle manufacturing plant; the Kaiser Richmond Shipyards, where a record number of wartime ships were built; a restored cargo ship; and the striking Rosie the Riveter Memorial.
Flower Power
Do a little shopping while you tour the Haight-Ashbury district, San Francisco, Calif.
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San Francisco, California’s hippie culture burst into bloom during the Summer of Love in 1967, when legions of young people flocked to the Haight-Ashbury district, grooving to psychedelic rock music, wearing flowers in their hair and forging their own counterculture. Today, the era is recalled through the Love & Haight Tour: San Francisco’s Bohemian Past tour, available through AAA Trip Canvas, which explores the haunts of music legends Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead on a walk through a still-vibrant neighborhood of murals, unique shops and some of the city’s most charming Victorian homes.
Ready to experience America's stories in a new way? A knowledgeable AAA Travel Agent can help you find immersive tours and experiences that bring the country's history, culture and hidden gems to life.
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