Let’s take a walk up Fifth Avenue…and through time. 140 years of it, give or take, the time it took for the nine blocks between 50th Street and Central Park to change from an upper-crust residential neighborhood lined with Gilded Age mansions to the world’s most famous shopping street.

 

As we meander north toward the park, we will solve clues and hear the stories behind St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, the Plaza and the other major milestones. And we will linger long enough to meet the queen of the late 19th-century social scene, a twice-martyred missionary, a handful of Greek gods, a besotted husband who sold his house for a string of pearls, and an opinionated, pet-loving six-year-old called Eloise.

 

Ages: 12 to 102

Time: 2.5 hrs if you rush/all day if you don’t

Best time: store hours   

Price: $5.99

 

Starting point: the steps in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral at Fifth Avenue and 50th Street.