Turning Point Suffragist Memorial

Now open!

After 14 years of sweat, tears and fundraising, the dedication & ribbon-cutting of the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial took place on May 16, 2021.

In 1917, more than 120 suffragists were imprisoned in the Occoquan Workhouse, then part of the Lorton Prison complex, in retaliation for picketing the Woodrow Wilson White House for the right to vote. The reports of inhumane conditions, beatings and force-feeding at the workhouse electrified the country and became the “turning point” in the struggle for the 19th Amendment. Now, the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial, stands at Occoquan Regional Park in honor of these brave women and the fight they waged for equality. The 1.6-acre national memorial to the suffrage movement features replica White House gates, 19 informational stations, and a beautifully landscaped meditation garden.

There is currently no other place in America that tells the complete story of the suffrage movement and this Memorial does just that. TPSM is also a stop along the “Constitution Trail,” which links sites connected to the Constitution in Washington, DC and Virginia, such as George Washington's Mount Vernon and the National Archives.