Private Gilded Age Walking Tour of Fifth Avenue: New York High Society

This is a private walk, so the group is yours alone (up to 15 people per booking) and the licensed guide can shape the two hours around what you want to hear. The subject is New York high society in the Gilded Age, and the setting is the stretch of Fifth Avenue that is still one of the most exclusive addresses in the world. The stories belong to the self-made magnates of the American Industrial Revolution. Some started with nothing. Some were robber barons who crushed their rivals. Some gave away fortunes and put their names on institutions that are still open today. Often it was the same man. The route starts at Grand Army Plaza, where the shops of Fifth Avenue give way to the apartment buildings and mansions, and runs north along Millionaire's Row. On the way you pass private mansions, members-only social clubs, Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then continue up Museum Mile. It ends at 2 East 91st Street, in front of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, a former magnate's mansion. This is an outdoor walking tour: museum admission is not part of it, and neither are tips. The pace suits all fitness levels, the route is wheelchair and stroller accessible, and public transport is close to both the start and the finish.