We look forward to welcoming you to Heritage Museums & Gardens for the 2026 season!

From 3-4 in the Heald Center inside the J.K. Lilly III Auto Gallery, join award-winning journalist Eric Moskowitz in conversation with Jennifer Madden, Heritage Museums & Gardens’ Director of Collections & Exhibitions, to discuss his new book The Hardest, Longest Race: Henry Ford and the Cross-Country Contest That Changed America. The book details the riveting story of the first coast-to-coast automobile race in U.S. history that Ford cheated at to win in 1909 to promote the new Model T. Heritage is a fitting backdrop for the conversation, with an antique and classic automobile collection that includes four Model Ts and a 1909 White Steam Car Model M purchased for the White House by President Taft — who pressed a golden telegraph key on June 1, 1909 to start this very race.

America then was home to 250 automakers, a landscape of visionaries, schemers, and would-be barons of the new century. But when playboy millionaire M. Robert Guggenheim announced an audacious “Ocean to Ocean” contest from New York City to the Seattle World’s Fair, only three American companies were brassy enough to show up at the starting line: Acme, Ford, and Shawmut, a promising but star-crossed carmaker from Boston, trying to survive after a factory fire.

Oddsmakers favored the Acme and Itala, a pricy import also joining the race, while dismissing the pint-sized Ford — a homely little number called the Model T— and long-shot Shawmut. In fact, many didn’t believe any of the cars would reach Seattle at all, as they would need to forge a 4,106-mile course of mountain ranges, mud bogs, washed-out wagon bridges, and harrowing canyon trails, long before the era of asphalt highways, seatbelts, and service stations.

But Henry Ford was intent on proving that the Model T could go the distance and beat out the muscular luxury cars — and he didn’t plan to leave it to chance. Indeed, a little over three weeks after the race began, a Ford crossed the line hours ahead of the Shawmut.

Except that victory was a fraud.

Learn more about this story, including tales of the gritty, determined drivers who braved hostile terrain, mechanical failure, and, shockingly, sabotage, to take home the gold during this engaging discussion with the book’s author.

This program will be held indoors at the Heald Center inside the J.K. Lilly III Automobile Gallery and is free with admission or membership. No advance registration is required.

Books will be available for purchase at The Shop at Heritage and Eric will be available for signings after the program.

Interested in hearing more about early auto racing? Stay for the Gearhead Garage program from 5-6:30 pm featuring three remarkable early American sports cars in Heritage’s collection: the 1912 Mercer Raceabout, 1912 Oldsmobile Autocrat Roadster, and 1915 Stutz Bearcat. Click here for more information and pricing.

Ticketing Information

Online ticket purchases are strongly encouraged, and allow for quick and easy entry. All tickets are date specific and are valid for entry any time between 10 am - 4:30 pm. Tickets are non-refundable.

Make every visit to Heritage FREE. Become a member today! Members do not need to reserve in advance; just show your ID at the Ticketing Pavilion. Just another perk of membership!

Visit Information

 Tickets include admission to:

• The Clarissa S. Nye Visitor Center, with orientation information and staff assistance
• The J.K. Lilly III Automobile Gallery, featuring the From Carriage to Classic: How Automobiles Transformed America exhibit
• The gardens, featuring collections of rhododendrons, hydrangeas, daylilies, and more (seasonal)
• The Special Exhibitions Gallery, featuring the Cranberries: From Cape Cod to American Icon exhibit
• Hidden Hollow, an outdoor discovery area
• The American Art & Carousel Gallery, featuring the Remembering the Revolution exhibit (which continues throughout the grounds) and rides on the 1908 Looff carousel
• The Wampanoag Stories exhibit featuring a wetu, Three Sisters Garden, and mush8n
• Outdoor features such as the McGraw Family Garden of the Senses, the Flume Fountain, the Hart Family Maze Garden, the labyrinth, walking trails, and more
• Lilly's Café
• The Shop at Heritage

Terms and Conditions

By purchasing tickets, you agree to abide by Heritage Museums & Gardens’ visitation policies. Note that by purchasing tickets you acknowledge that you have read and agreed to the conditions of the following:

• Ticketing, Cancellation, and Refund Policy: Please read this policy here in its entirety before purchasing tickets.
• Health and Safety Acknowledgement, which can be reviewed here.

About the Author:

Eric Moskowitz spent 12 years as a reporter at The Boston Globe, where he won the National Headliner Award for feature writing, shared in the Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath, and was one of the lead reporters on "The Valedictorians Project," a Pulitzer finalist examining obstacles to college and career success for many top Boston Public Schools graduates. He has written for The Atlantic and The New York Times, and his stories have been featured in The Best American Sports Writing and The Best American Newspaper Narratives anthologies. He lives in the Boston area and works as a staff writer at Harvard. 

About the Facilitator:

Jennifer Y. Madden is the Director of Collections & Exhibitions at Heritage Museums & Gardens where she has worked since 1993. While visiting Colonial Williamsburg with her family at age nine, she announced to her parents that she would work in a museum when she grew up. At Heritage, Jennifer cares for 18,000 objects ranging from an ancient shell pendant to a 1965 Country Squire station wagon. Her responsibilities include oversight of Heritage’s collection of 42 outstanding antique and classic automobiles. She has organized over 150 exhibitions and published two exhibit catalogues during her tenure. She earned a BA in Anthropology with a minor in Museum Studies from Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, and a MA in History Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Cooperstown, New York, and is passionate about local history. When not at work, she spends time with her family and two cats in a 1865 Greek Revival house near the Sandwich boardwalk.