The Boston Women's Heritage Trail (tel. 617/522-2872; www.bwht.org) creates walking tours with stops at the homes, churches, and social and political institutions where women lived, made great contributions to society, or both. Subjects include Julia Ward Howe, social reformer Dorothea Dix, the colonial religious leader Anne Hutchinson, and less famous Bostonians, such as Phillis Wheatley, a slave who became the first African-American published poet, and abolitionist and feminist Lucy Stone. You can buy a guidebook at the National Park Service Visitor Center at 15 State St., at local historic sites, by mail, or online.

March is Women's History Month; special events include lectures, walking tours, museum events, and workshops. Check with the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau (tel. 800/SEE-BOSTON; www.bostonusa.com) for details.