She Shaped the Seaport: Secrets and Lies
An evening at the South Street Seaport Museum uncovering the hidden stories of women who shaped the culture and commerce of maritime New York.
Why we picked this
Maritime history is usually told through captains and merchants — this event digs into the women who ran boarding houses, managed finances, and shaped the culture of the waterfront.
The South Street Seaport Museum hosts an evening devoted to the women whose lives shaped New York’s maritime world but who rarely appear in standard histories. The “Secrets and Lies” framing points to the ways these stories were hidden — by convention, by law, and sometimes by the women themselves.
The talk draws on the museum’s archives and the broader historical record to recover figures who ran boarding houses, managed shipping finances, worked the waterfront, and navigated a world that officially didn’t include them. The Seaport Museum’s location makes the history tangible — you’re standing in the district these women actually inhabited.
Tickets required. South Street Seaport Museum, New York.