Linda-Taj-new

Linda

McDonnell

13 years of experience
Brooklyn
United States of America (USA)

Contact Options

"There are no strangers, just friends you haven't met yet!"

About

In addition to being a NYC tour guide, I have been a docent/educator at both The Merchants House Museum and the Fraunces Tavern Museum, and have led private tours for The Cooper Union, Bronx Community College, Hostos Community College, New York City College of Technology, and Saint Francis College, and as well as for the Municipal Arts Society’s Jane’s Walks, the Northwest Queens Paranormal Research Group, Asian Men/Black Women Connections, and the Society for Eighteenth-Century Music.

The full description of walking tours may be viewed at:

“Friendly Native New Yorker” Walking Tours!

New York, NY
4,547 Friendly Walkers

Yes, Friendly Native New Yorker Walking Tours have been officially on hiatus during this time of the pandemic.  But don’t let that deter you from signing up as a new member, s…

Check out this Meetup Group →

Tours Offered & Destination Knowledge

Cultural/Specialty ToursGeneral Walking ToursLocal GuidePrivate Tours

My tours include:

Spooks, Scandals, and Scoundrels of Greenwich Village

When New York Held Slaves

Aaron Burr's Own Tour

Gilded Fifth Avenue

The Ladies' Mile: Shopping District of the Gilded Age

Murray Hill: JP, Stanford, and Eleanor and Franklin

Chinatown in the Time of the Tong Wars

The Civil War in Downtown Manhattan

The Civil War: Union Square to Bleecker Street

The Revolution in Lower Manhattan

Tales of Gramercy Park

The Irish of Old New York

Brooklyn Heights South: Churches, War, and Real Estate

Brooklyn Heights North: Starring Henry Ward Beecher and a Great Supporting Cast!

Historic Flushing: Colonists, Quakers, and Tree Nurseries

Fun Fact!
Hobbies & Interests
The next best thing to leading a tour of interested history buffs is doing the research for my tours--I can never get enough of New York City history! When not leading NYC history tours, I am an ESL instructor for the City University of New York (CUNY).

Testimonials

The following testimonials are all from my Meetup.com group, Friendly Native New Yorker Walking Tours: https://www.meetup.com/Friendly-Native-New-Yorker-Walking-Tours/

“ I recommend this group for anyone who loves history, especially the history surrounding NYC. Linda's a great tour guide who makes you feel like your a part of that history as you go around the sites! ”

“ Linda is fun, she's animated, and she brings history to life with interesting stories from the times she's presenting! ”

“ My husband and I had the pleasure of taking Linda's Civil War Union Square Tour recently. Linda was very knowledgable and gave great insight into the past. It was interesting to learn the history of an area we would usually just walk through without a thought. We're looking forward to our next tour. ”

“ Linda presents the history and people of the time in a lively, well-researched, often funny and sometimes irreverent manner. ”

“ A friend and I just took the Chinatown tour with Linda on Saturday afternoon. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Touring with Linda is one of the best keep secrets of NYC. Linda makes history come alive... very informative and entertaining. Take a tour if you get a chance. You will not regret it! ”

“ If you closed your eyes and listened you could hear the rioters coming down Broadway. There was and is a lot to learn here about human behavior. Not a lot has changed in almost 150 years. Depending on your point of view that could be both good and bad. Either way this was a most enjoyable tour with what has to be the premier tour guide in NYC. ”

“ Informative, friendly and fun! Always great details that reflect some hard research. It is astounding to learn the historical significance of sites you pass every day without a clue. Linda does a great job of not just reciting facts, but unearthing tidbits and making connections that put people and events in historical context. ”

“ I've been on 3 and they've all been fun. ”

 

 

Details

Gateway Airport(s)

JFK, LGA

Licenses

New York City (NYC)

Training

Linda McDonnell

Language(s)

English

Additional Education

BA, NYU, English Literature

MA, Hunter College, English Literature

Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, New School for Social Research

Licensed NYC tour operator, star rated for achieving an unusually high score on the examination for knowledge

General Availability

As I do have online teaching duties that change every semester, it's variable. Just contact me to discuss it.

Photo Album