100 year anniversary of first woman to drive across America

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This Tuesday marks the 100th anniversary of the first woman to cross America behind the wheel of a car. In 1909, a decade before women would be given the right to vote, Alice Huyler Ramsey proved to the world that a woman had the necessary virtues to drive from New York to San Francisco.

A Maxwell Automotive company executive discovered the driving skills of this 21-year-old Vassar graduate and New Jersey homemaker and asked her if she wanted to drive the company’s new 30-horsepower, four-cylinder Maxwell across the country to prove that the car could make it and that a woman motorist could do it.

Read the full story -- a celebration of driving history -- in the Travel blog by Christopher Smith.

Also read and follow Emily Anderson of Seattle, who is setting out from New York on June 9 to re-create the cross-country trip made by Alice Ramsey in 1909 to promote the Maxwell Model DA touring car in a story on The Daily Mirror blogby Larry Harnisch.

-- Joni Gray