Lecture: Jane Neely & Women’s Education in the 18th Century

Washington Crossing Historic Park’s Evening with the Curator series continues on Sunday, October 27 at 7 PM with a free lecture on Jane Neely and women’s education in the 18th century.

To register, please call the Visitor Center at 215-493-4076.

Jane Neely was nine years old when the Continental Army camped on her family’s property (now the Thompson-Neely House and Farmstead) before the crossing in December 1776.

Twelve years later, Jane attended Philadelphia’s Young Ladies’ Academy: the first chartered school for girls in the United States. The academy opened just a few blocks from the nation’s first capital and the office where George Washington would soon preside as the first president of the United States.

And it was the only school of its kind to include science in the curriculum.

“There were many academies for young ladies throughout the country at that time,” says park curator Kimberly McCarty, who will give the lecture in October.

“Typically, though, the curriculum focused on the more refined domestic arts, such as embroidery and music, the types of things an up-and-coming young lady would need to help her create a beautiful home to raise a family and entertain others of her social status. The study of science, particularly chemistry, was a product of the Enlightenment and was the territory of men—until the Young Ladies’ Academy came along.”