Relive woman's trip around world by car at upcoming presentation in Medford

So take a trip around the world. Travel to four continents and 10 countries in 13 months. Sleep in four star hotels some nights and in tents other times.

No problem. But try doing it by car.

Thats exactly what successful businesswoman Harriet White Fisher from New Jersey did in 1910. She made that round-the-world trip with Harold Brooks, her driver who had multiple skills in engineering and administration, and a butler and a maid. And of course she couldnt leave without Honk-Honk, her Boston bull terrier.

The trip cost $25,000 back then, which is about $625,000 in todays dollars. And yes, it was done by car, a 1909 Locomobile that was hauled across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans but at most other times was driven across countries, negotiating dangerous roads and unwelcome landscapes.

She was an adventurer. She was feisty and determined, says Rebecca Urban, granddaughter of Harold Brooks.

Fisher was 48 when she made the trip. She referred to Brooks as her nephew so he could get higher class accommodations instead of being relegated to servants quarters. He was 22.

Urban will recount this remarkable journey through pictures and her grandfathers taped recordings on Sept. 27 at 11 a.m. at Medford Leas on Route 70. Her lively presentation is part of the fall Pathways to Learning program open to the community.

Fisher was a wealthy woman who owned Fisher & Norris Anvils in Trenton. They think she may have had four husbands, three for sure. She lived in Trenton and when she returned to the states bought a farm called Bella Vista in Ewing Township.

The trip started in Trenton and ended when they drove east from San Francisco back to Trenton. Urban said they drove across France, Italy, Switzerland, Egypt, India, Sri Lanka and Japan, among other countries.

She was always fascinated by cars and traveling. After she was in a train accident, she vowed never again to get on a train, she said. Continued...

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Relive woman's trip around world by car at upcoming presentation in Medford

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