Alice Ramsey

In 1909, Alice Huyler Ramsey, of Hackensack, New Jersey, became the first woman to drive across the United States. She was challenged by a sales manager for Maxwell-Briscoe Company, so she drove one of the company's touring cars (a 1909 Maxwell DA) from New York to San Francisco. The company sponsored and publicised the trip to persuade the American public that cars were here to stay. Ramsey and three of her female friends began the adventure on June 9, 1909.

Now, starting on June 9th, 2009 (the 100 year anniversary), my co-worker, Monica's, friend, Emily, is going to drive the route again in the same car that Alice Ramsey did it so many years ago.

To find out more about Emily's journey (and to check out some fun pictures of quotations from Alice Ramsey's journal), go to aliceramsey.org. Be sure to watch the trailor/video on the first page. It does an excellent job of protraying what Emily and her family are out to accomplish.



“We ran along for miles on the squirmy trail, just two packed tracks for our wheels, curving around through the sagebrush. Suddenly we felt a tremendous bump at the front and immediately the entire front end and radiator were aimed at an angle toward the ground. I got out to look things over. It was an awful-looking sight to behold! The front wheels were spread wide apart as if they never wanted to have anything to do with each other and certainly had no intention of working in harmony again.” - Alice Ramsey