Fraunces Tavern Museum at 54 Pearl Street in the Financial District will open a new exhibition about Martha Washington this November, adding a fresh chapter to its multi-year look at the American Revolution. Path to Liberty: Martha, The First Founding Mother Revealed opens to the public on Tuesday, November 17, 2026, in the museum's Adeline Moses Loeb Gallery, following a ticketed preview evening on Monday, November 16.

Before then, the museum has a Liberty 250 lecture on the calendar for Monday, November 2, so there are two dates for Lower Manhattan residents to mark in the coming weeks.

What the Martha Washington exhibition covers

According to the museum, the new show presents Martha Washington as a leader, a role model, a maternal figure and a trusted partner to George Washington. It traces how she grew into a national figure and how her influence helped shape early American ideas about leadership, patriotism and public service.

The exhibition pairs highlights from the museum's permanent collection with several objects on loan. One of the collection pieces the museum has used to introduce the show is a 1936 gouache on board by the illustrator Henry Alexander Ogden, titled Washington and Mrs. Washington at Valley Forge, which came to the museum as a gift from the artist's estate that same year.

Part of a larger Semiquincentennial project

The Martha Washington show sits inside the museum's broader exhibition Path to Liberty: The Emergence of a Nation, a chronological, multi-gallery project marking the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. That exhibition tells the story of the war from 1775 to 1783 with a focus on what happened in New York and the surrounding region, using letters, artifacts and works of art from the museum's own holdings.

The current installment centers on 1776 and 1777, including the reading of the Declaration of Independence and the Battle for New York, with sections on the Battle of Long Island, the Battle of Harlem Heights and the Battle of White Plains. Its newest segment, The War Turns, follows the fighting from New York into New Jersey between December 1776 and March 1777, including the battles of Trenton and Princeton.

The museum itself occupies a five-building complex in a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The complex includes Fraunces Tavern, where George Washington bid farewell to his officers. The museum's collection holds about 8,000 objects, including furnishings, documents, personal artifacts and art.

The preview evening on November 16

The preview reception runs from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday, November 16. At 7:20 p.m., Colonial Williamsburg's Martha Washington interpreter will perform her portrayal of the first First Lady, followed by a question-and-answer session. Leaders of the Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York and the Daughters of the American Revolution are also scheduled to speak.

Ticket options listed by the museum:

  • Reception only, museum members: $40
  • Reception only, nonmembers: $50
  • Reception and dinner, members: $190
  • Reception and dinner, nonmembers: $200

Dinner begins at 8:15 p.m. at Fraunces Tavern Restaurant and includes a three-course meal. Guests with reception-only tickets can explore the galleries until 8:45 p.m.

Also coming up: a Liberty 250 lecture on November 2

On Monday, November 2, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the museum hosts Between Crown and Congress: New York's Jews During the American Revolution, a lecture by Zachary Edinger, Sexton of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York.

The talk looks at how the city's small Jewish community lived through the Revolution, when some members left with the Patriot cause, others stayed loyal to the Crown, and the synagogue kept operating under British occupation. It draws on the lives of figures including Gershom Mendes Seixas, Myer Myers and Uriah Hendricks, along with the Gomez and Hays families, and on ritual objects and archival documents kept by Shearith Israel. Edinger has served as Sexton since 2011 and oversees the congregation's historic collections.

The lecture is offered in person and on Zoom. In-person tickets are $10, museum members attend free, and the virtual option is free.

How to visit

Fraunces Tavern Museum is at 54 Pearl Street, second floor, New York, NY 10004, with an accessible entrance at 24/26 Water Street. The museum is open daily from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. General admission is $10 for adults; $5 for seniors 65 and older, students with ID and children 6 to 17; and free for children 5 and under and for active U.S. military and veterans with ID. Tickets are sold on arrival at the second-floor front desk, and there is no advance ticket option for individual visitors.

Free guided museum tours are included with admission on Fridays at 1 p.m., Saturdays at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. The museum notes there will be no 3 p.m. tour on Saturday, November 7.

Nearby subway stations include Whitehall Street-South Ferry (R, W), Bowling Green (4, 5), South Ferry (1) and Broad Street (J, Z). The M15, M20 and M55 buses also stop close by. Questions can go to the museum admissions desk at (212) 425-1778 during open hours.

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