Emigration Anniversary Tour to New York City
Emigration Jubilee Tours
Celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the first organized emigration of Norwegians to the United States with Vesterheim! The year 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of this occasion. Plans are underway to celebrate this anniversary both in Norway and in the United States. Vesterheim will mark this anniversary with a number of activities including two tours, one in Norway in June and one in New York in October.
The single masted sloop, Restauration, left Stavanger on July 4, 1825, with 52 people on board. Often referred to as the “Sloopers,” they arrived in New York City harbor on October 9. Two hundred years later, a replica of that ship is going to recreate their journey. Vesterheim tours will be a part of that momentous celebration on both sides of the ocean.
Emigration Tour to New York City
This tour is a collaboration with the Norwegian American Historical Association (NAHA) based in Northfield, Minnesota. Our guide will be Victoria Hofmo, president of the Scandinavian East Coast Museum in Brooklyn, New York. The highlights will include visits to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration.
We will tour the Tenement Museum showing what life was like in New York City during several different decades by different ethnic groups. There will be historical presentations about the presence of Norwegians in the United States before 1825 and also about the original “Sloopers” and what happened after they arrived in America. We will have the opportunity to meet local Norwegian Americans and learn about the history of Norwegian-American community in Brooklyn up to today.
The highlight of this tour, of course, will be welcoming the arrival of the replica of the Restauration to New York City on October 9. There will be celebrations and parties commemorating the arrival of the ship across the Atlantic marking the 200th anniversary.
This tour can easily be expanded for your own visits to Broadway shows and musicals.
Check back for a complete itinerary.
Reserve Your Spot on Tour
For more information about upcoming tours:
Rolf Svanoe
563-382-9681, ext. 240
Vesterheim is aware of concern about the impact travel has on the environment. We are committed to encouraging travel and cultural exploration, while taking responsibility for a fair share of the environmental cost tours incur. Starting in 2025, for each tour to Norway, Vesterheim will invest in the National Philanthropic Trust: Rick Steves’ Europe Climate Smart Fund. Read more here.
Tour Guide
GUIDE: Victoria Hofmo
Victoria Hofmo was born, raised, and still lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, the historical heart of Norwegian New York. She is three-quarters Scandinavian: Half Norwegian and one-quarter Danish/Swedish. Self-employed, she runs an out-of-school-time program that articulates learning through the arts and a local program for seniors. Hofmo is an advocate for arts and culture, education, and the preservation of the built and natural environment of her hometown, with a deep love for most things Scandinavian.
She founded the Scandinavian East Coast Museum in the early 1990s to document, educate, share, and celebrate Scandinavian history and Scandinavian contributions to the East Coast of the U.S. with a focus on the New York area. She was a writer for the Nordisk Tidende and its many iterations for several decades.
Tour Leader
LEADER: Rolf Svanoe
As Vesterheim Coordinator of Tours to Norway, Rolf has many connections to Norway and experiences leading tour groups. Find out more about him here.