Fraunces Tavern® Museum to Celebrate Martha Washington in its latest Special Exhibition

New York, N.Y. - Martha Washington – familiar to many, but few people have come to know the person behind the name. Fraunces Tavern Museum is delighted to announce our new special exhibition Martha, The First Founding Mother Revealed in the Adeline Moses Loeb Gallery. As part of the Museum's broader Path to Liberty: The Emergence of a Nation Semiquincentennial exhibition, it will bring Martha to life.

The preview reception will be held on November 16, 2026, in the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Educational Center for American History adjacent to the Loeb Gallery, with an optional dinner to follow in Fraunces Tavern. The exhibition will be open to the public beginning November 17, 2026.

Through a focused selection of objects, correspondence, and artwork, visitors to this exhibition will explore Martha Washington's contributions to the Revolutionary War effort, her partnership with George Washington, and her emergence as a national figure whose influence helped shape early American ideas about leadership, patriotism, and public service.

Specifically, the exhibition will cover Martha Washington's pre-war years, her life during the American Revolution, and post-war. It will bring into focus Lady Washington’s practicality, dedication to family, ability to embrace change, diplomatic demeanor, and perseverance.

In discussing Fraunces Tavern Museum’s newest exhibition, Craig Hamilton Weaver, co-chairman, Museum and Art Committee, Fraunces Tavern Museum, observes, “The exhibition sheds light on the character traits of Martha Washington in a way few have attempted before. Everyone knows who she was but very few know anything about her. Through a combination of detailed historical analysis and a presentation of a broad spectrum of objects, she truly comes to life. What emerges is the portrait of a complex and multi-faceted individual. The truth is that everyone can find a hero in Martha Washington."

At the opening reception, Colonial Williamsburg's nationally celebrated Martha Washington interpreter, Katharine Pittman, will be on hand to bring Martha to life. She has been featured across the country and in outlets such as The Today Show, PBS, and Good Morning America. She states, “It is rewarding to bring Mrs. Washington's story to life, so people can see her as a person rather than just an icon.”

The exhibition will be on display for approximately one year. Fraunces Tavern Museum is open 12-5 pm daily. Tickets for admission to the Museum are available in-person only at the door.

Fraunces Tavern Museum is grateful to the sponsors of Path to Liberty: The Emergence of a Nation:

Lead Sponsors

The Colonial Dames of America*                Peter C. Hein and Anne Farley

William Hale Kirby                                      Mrs. Stanley DeForest Scott
Stephen T. Whelan

Sustaining Sponsors

Matthew F. Breitenbach and Terry Schwartz Breitenbach*

Sponsors

Ronald A. Brown                                         LTC Lawrence King Casey, Jr. (AUS-Ret.)

Kenneth H. Chase                                      James F. Comley

Daughters of the Cincinnati                          Deborah and Philip Dwyer

Peter J.W. Sherwin                                    Kristofer and Myrna Rosete Swanson

* indicates those generous donors who have chosen to make a multi-year annual commitment to support Path to Liberty.

We are also grateful to those who have sponsored Path to Liberty – Martha, The First Founding Mother Revealed:

Lead Sponsors

Peter C. Hein and Anne Farley
Mrs. Stanley DeForest Scott
 

Sponsors

Greater New York City Chapters, Daughters of the American Revolution

Brooklyn, Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, Fort Greene, Increase Carpenter, Knickerbocker,

Manhattan, Mary Washington Colonial, New York City, Peter Minuit, and Richmond County Chapters

Kristofer and Myrna Rosete Swanson

Revolutionary Ancestor Honor Roll

Alan W. Borst, Jr., Esq. honors Jonas Vrooman, 8th Albany Regiment

Peter C. Hein honors PVT Samuel Child in CPT Samuel Lamson’s company from Weston, MA, Battles of Lexington and Concord

Raj Yogesh Patel honors MAJ Andrew Calhoun Hamilton

Ambrose Madison Richardson III honors Ambrose Madison and Francis Willis Valley Forge, 1777-1778

Peter J.W. Sherwin honors CPT John Gray of Dorset, VT
Invasion of Quebec

About Fraunces Tavern®:

Fraunces Tavern was a witness to history throughout the American Revolutionary era. First constructed in 1719, the building that would become Fraunces Tavern was built as an elegant residence by merchant Stephen Delancey. In 1762, Samuel Fraunces purchased the building and transformed it into a tavern that soon became an epicenter of Patriot activity in New York. Fraunces Tavern served as a meeting place for the Sons of Liberty in New York before the War for Independence began. During the British Army’s occupation, Samuel Fraunces aided Patriots aboard prison ships in New York Harbor and passed on intelligence to the Continental Army. At the end of the War, as the British Army and Loyalists prepared to evacuate, Fraunces Tavern was the site of proceedings conducted by a joint British-American commission that were part of a process that led to the emancipation of thousands of Black Loyalists. General George Washington celebrated the evacuation of the British Army from New York City at Fraunces Tavern on November 25, 1783. On December 4, 1783, nine days after the British Army evacuation, Washington delivered his emotional farewell to his officers in Fraunces Tavern’s Long Room. From 1785 to 1788, Fraunces Tavern became the nation’s first executive office building, housing three departments of the new government under the Articles of Confederation ─ Foreign Affairs, War, and offices of the Board of Treasury.