The Best Virtual Spring Walks and Tours

Don’t let lockdown keep you from exploring the city you love (and a few spots further afield).

Nabe Faves: Green-Wood Historian Jeff Richman and Morbid Anatomy founder Joanna Ebenstein will answer the question “They Did What on Coney Island!?” on Wednesday, May 27th, during an illustrated conversation that connects Green-Wood with a realm of amusements. Village Preservation tours guests through NoHo’s History and Architecture on Friday, May 29th. On Friday, June 5th, branch out to the city’s food markets of yore with the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum.

New York Adventure Club: The NYAC has picked right up again in the virtual world, leading a varied array of tours through some of the most intriguing corners of NYC heritage. Among the upcoming highlights are “Five Points, NYC’s Most Notorious 19th-Century Slum” on Tuesday, May 26th; on that same day, NYC sites and the key role the city played in the development of the Great American Pastime will be revealed in “Uncovering the True Origins of Baseball“; a little further afield “The Secrets of Liberty Hall, Home of New Jersey’s First Governor” looks at a Revolutionary War-era mansion on Thursday, May 28th; for more Jersey on Thursday, NYAC also leads “The Secrets of the New Jersey Palisades“; Back in Manhattan, on Thursday, June 4th, you can virtually tour “The Lost & Forgotten Gilded Age Mansions of Fifth Avenue.”

Turnstile Tours: To mark Memorial Day weekend, Turnstile Tours will spend part of Sunday, May 24th looking at the connections between the residents of Green-Wood Cemetery and the nearby Brooklyn Army Terminal. To learn more about the waterway that made NYC the global giant it is, connect with writer and photographer Will Van Dorp as he leads a virtual “Exploring the Erie Canal” on Tuesday, May 26th. Among New York’s main claims to fames are the dual parks of Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted. On Wednesday, May 27th, you can get insight into their practices on the “Vaux & Olmsted: Public Spaces, Private Lives” tour.

Cultural Crossings: Connect with the Museum of Arts and Design on Tuesday, May 26th and a guided tour of the home and personal art collection of a prominent collector. If you’re missing the Guggenheim, you can connect with a virtual guided tour on Wednesday, May 27th. For a tour that zooms out about as far as you can go, connect with Brooklyn’s Friendly Neighborhood Astronomer Irene Pease as she leads “Zooming Through the Universe on Spaceship Earth” on Saturday, May 30th.

Deco Doings: On Saturday, May 23rd you can cruise on over to Paris and the home of architectural historian Pascal Yves Laurent, head of the Paris Art Deco Society. He’ll be leading an illustrated talk on architects Roger-Henri Expert and Pierre Patout, with a focus on world’s fairs and ocean liners. Architectural historian Anthony Robins speaks on “The Drama of Art Deco” on Wednesday, May 27th, and Thursday, May 28th puts Queens in the spotlight for “Telling the Art Deco Story of Sunnyside.


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