Getting to the Mount Vernon Hotel: Leisure Travel in 19th Century NYC

Discover another New York and join us for a fascinating look at the rise of public transportation in the early days of New York City Discover Another New York. We may think we have it bad now when it comes to public transportation, but for as long as there have been New Yorkers, they have had to find ways to get around the city… Now, the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden is delighted to present a lecture by historian Matthew Tuggle and his work on early public transportation in New York. Building on his research as a 2026 Hearst fellow, Matthew will speak about the changing transportation networks of early nineteenth-century New York and their connection to a growing market for tourism, sightseeing, and excursions. As travel over land and water became faster, cheaper, and more reliable, an emergent middle class began flocking to New York’s popular tourist and excursion destinations. In New York City, ferries in particular—buoyed by a boom in waterfront development—helped inaugurate a new era of middle-class travel to day resorts and hotels like the Mount Vernon. Using the Mount Vernon Hotel as a backdrop, Matthew’s research explores the connected histories of transportation and tourism in the nineteenth century and the new class of entrepreneurs who emerged to capitalize on revolutions in both fields. Join us for this fascinating exploration of how New Yorkers were getting around the city two centuries ago and discover another New York. About the Speaker: Matthew Tuggle is a graduate student in History at Brooklyn College. He was one of two 2026 Hearst Fellows at the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden where he spent nine weeks researching and writing on this topic. Matthew is a native New Yorker. Follow us on Instagram: mvhmuseum 1826-1833: Celebrating 200 Years of the Mount Vernon Hotel