26
S U N D A Y
A Plymouth Grand Fury, a series of Coke Slurpees, and an ill-conceived lust for liberation will drive a woman from New England to San Francisco today. But in the 1850s, it took petticoats, covered wagons, and the threat of hellfire to ferry Lorena L. Hays, a distant relative of 19th U.S. president Rutherford B. Hayes, across the California Overland Trail. Jeanne Watson, who edited Hays’ trail diary, will define what all the crinoline-swathed fuss was about in her lecture “Women’s Triumphs and Travails on the Oregon Trails.” While Hays confronted the Victorian code of conduct by marrying late (at age 28eek!) and continuing her education (heaven forfend!), she blazed on: Look out Laura Ingalls, there’s a new house on the prairie. At 1:30 p.m. at the DAR Museum, 1776 D St. NW. FREE. For reservations call (202) 879-3241. (Ginger Eckert)