Calendar of Events

All Virtual Events are recorded and posted to the Museum’s YouTube page.

AUGUST

Saturday, August 15, 1:30 p.m.
Walking Tour: The Tredwells’ World of 19th Century Noho

With the 1825 opening of the Erie Canal, the city’s economy boomed and wealthy merchant families escaped the increasing noise, congestion, and commercialization of the seaport area to move “uptown,” to what is now modern day NoHo, then an exclusive residential enclave. Join us as we explore the Tredwells’ elite neighborhood and discover what life was like for the wealthy merchant class in the mid-19th century. $20, FREE for Members. Reservations strongly recommended. Purchase “Walking Tour” tickets.

Walking tours are 90 minutes and meet next door to the Merchant’s House in Manuel Plaza.

 

Thursday, August 20, 6:00 p.m.
Freedom’s Edge: Greenwich Village and the American Revolution
Virtual Talk Co-sponsored by Village Preservation

Most accounts of Revolutionary War New York center on battles and founders. This one starts somewhere else: in the Meatpacking District at the foot of Gansevoort Street, where the promises and betrayals of the American Revolution played out not in meeting halls, but in mud, on water, and on land that had already changed hands long before a single shot was fired.

Here, a Lenape settlement called Sapokanikan had been erased by Dutch colonial forces a century before the Revolution began. Here, Black maritime workers knew the currents of the Hudson better than any Continental general. And here, in 1783, approximately 3,000 Black Loyalists boarded ships from this shore not in defeat, but as an act of self-emancipation, taking their freedom when the new American republic refused to guarantee it.

Join us for a this lecture that moves through sites in Greenwich Village, combining archival evidence, period maps, and documented individual stories to reframe the Revolution from the ground up.

Free virtual lecture. Registration required. Register Here.

 

Tuesday, August 25, 6:00 p.m.
From Village to Village: The Immigrants’ Journey to Greenwich Village and the East Village, 1880-1924
Virtual Talk Co-sponsored by Village Preservation and the East Village Community Coalition

The rich history of life in the 19th- and early 20th-century immigrant communities of Germans, Italians, Irish, Jews, and many more who settled in our neighborhoods is well known. But the story of how they got there in the first place, not so much. Join us and take a trip alongside these intrepid people who started their journeys in far-off villages of Europe and Russia, and experience the numerous obstacles they had to overcome to reach the shores of Greenwich Village and the East Village. Before ever reaching the ship that would carry them across the Atlantic, immigrants would have already taken numerous trains, ferries, and crossed multiple borders to just reach their port of embarkation; and the journey wasn’t quite finished when they disembarked from the ship in New York.

Then, when they finally arrived, what happened? We will also explore how those who decided to stay in the Village began their transitions from newcomer to New Yorker by examining the long-forgotten institutions and organizations that aided these migrants in and around our neighborhoods.

Free virtual lecture. Registration required. Register Here.

 

Saturday, August 29, 3 p.m.
“Where Shadows Linger:” An Afternoon Ghost Tour

On this afternoon tour, we’ll explore some of the spookiest true tales of ghostly sightings at the Merchant’s House, as well as highlights from our ongoing research into strange and supernatural occurrences at the house. We’ll also test out some newly-built handheld paranormal sensors, and discover why The New York Times calls us “Manhattan’s Most Haunted House.”

60 minutes, strictly limited capacity. Reservations strongly recommended. $20, $10 MHM Members and children ages 8-12. (Children under 8 are not permitted.) Purchase “Afternoon Ghost Tour” tickets.

Final Afternoon Ghost Tour of the season. Join us for Candlelight Ghost Tours in October.

 

SEPTEMBER

Saturday, September 5, 1:30 p.m.
Walking Tour: The Tredwells’ World of 19th Century Noho

With the 1825 opening of the Erie Canal, the city’s economy boomed and wealthy merchant families escaped the increasing noise, congestion, and commercialization of the seaport area to move “uptown,” to what is now modern day NoHo, then an exclusive residential enclave. Join us as we explore the Tredwells’ elite neighborhood and discover what life was like for the wealthy merchant class in the mid-19th century. $20, FREE for Members. Reservations strongly recommended. Purchase “Walking Tour” tickets.

Walking tours are 90 minutes and meet next door to the Merchant’s House in Manuel Plaza.

 

Friday, September 18, 3 p.m.
Guided House Tour: Healthcare in Tredwell Times

Curious about healthcare in the 19th century and the illnesses that affected New Yorkers during that era? On this afternoon tour, we’ll explore the diseases and treatments common in 19th century New York. Drawing from firsthand accounts and historical sources, we’ll learn about major outbreaks of cholera, diphtheria, typhoid fever, and the recorded causes of death within the Tredwell family, along with the types of medical care they might have received. This tour will also highlight how the Civil War spurred significant medical advancements and changed the way physicians and nurses were trained.

60-75 minutes. $20, $10 MHM Members. Purchase “Healthcare Tour” tickets.

 

Saturday, September 19, 10 a.m.
Members Only Garden Tour

Just for Merchant’s House and Village Preservation Members, enjoy a fall morning in our 19th century garden with Head Gardener John Rommel. A plant sale will take place after the tour. Light refreshments will be served.

Not a member? Join today!
Free; register for Members Only Garden Tour.

 

Saturday, September 19, 4 p.m.
Ghostly Women of Greenwich Village Walking Tour
Co-Sponsored by Boroughs of the Dead

In honor of Gertrude Tredwell’s 186th birthday, meet the ghostly women of Greenwich Village on this 90-minute walking tour that explores the haunting histories of the neighborhood’s most iconic female ghosts.

Why are women at the heart of so many ghost stories? The “woman in white” is a staple of ghost lore, but why does she haunt us so powerfully? On this tour we’ll discuss the prevalence and significance of women in ghost lore as we share the stories of Gertrude Tredwell, the women of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, Edith Wharton, Rose Butler, Jan Bryant Bartell, Theodosia Burr, and more.

Explore the real history behind the legends, stereotypes, and myths. Find out what these stories reveal about us, and why they haunt us. Do these ghostly women in some way achieve an agency that was denied to them in life, their unsilenced voices and unforgotten tales giving them, in an ironic way, a lasting power? How do their ghostly legacies interplay with their real, lived experiences? This tour provides a unique exploration of the intersection of gender and ghost lore unlike any other tour in the city.

Created and led by Andrea Janes, founder of Boroughs of the Dead and co-author of the Stoker-nominated A Haunted History of Invisible Women, this is New York City’s first (and only!) feminist ghost tour.

4 p.m. – pre-tour access to the Merchant’s House Museum
5 p.m. – tour begins in Manuel Plaza (35 East 4th Street)

90 minutes, reservations required. $50; purchase “Ghostly Women of Greenwich Village” Walking Tour Tickets.

 

OCTOBER

Saturday, October 3, 5 p.m.
East Village Ghosts Walking Tour
Co-Sponsored by Boroughs of the Dead

The East Village is legendary in its own right, known for its unique cultural history spanning from the 17th century Dutch colony to the rich immigrant history of the 19th and early 20th centuries, up to its punk scenes of the 1970s and 80s and more recent, gentrified, iterations. Throughout all this tumultuous history, one thing has remained unchanged: it is very, very haunted.

This tour presents a haunting history of the neighborhood, reflecting its changing scenes and colorful characters through a ghostly lens. We’ll start our tour at the Merchant’s House –”Manahattan’s Most Haunted House – then continue through the neighborhood. You’ll hear all about the one-legged phantom of Peter Stuyvesant, discover some crabby spectral librarians at the former Astor Library (now Joe’s Public Theater), and debate the existence of the afterlife on Harry Houdini’s old stomping grounds.

A fun, slightly creepy, sometimes cheeky look at the collective ghosts of a neighborhood that often flirts on the edge of self-parody, but still contains an undeniable fascination and profound historical significance.

4 p.m. – pre-tour access to the Merchant’s House Museum
5 p.m. – tour begins in Manuel Plaza (35 East 4th Street)

90 minutes, reservations required. $40; purchase “East Village Ghosts” Walking Tour Tickets.

 

October 2026 Ghost Tours

Friday, October 16 & Saturday, October 17
Friday, October 23 & Saturday, October 24
Thursday, October 29 & Friday, October 30

Candlelight Ghost Tours
50-minute tours begin every half hour, 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Doors slam, floorboards creak, voices call into the dead of night. Venture into “Manhattan’s Most Haunted House” by flickering candlelight to hear chilling – and true – tales of decades of otherworldly activity in the house, the results of years of paranormal investigations – and the latest stunning scientific findings.

The Tredwell family lived at 29 East 4th Street for nearly 100 years, and at least eight people died in the house. Reports of strange and inexplicable occurrences have been widespread since Gertrude, the last surviving Tredwell, died in 1933. Is it Gertrude who is watching over her family home? Join us and decide for yourself.
$45; $35 MHM Members. Purchase Candlelight Ghost Tour Tickets.

Super Spooky Candlelight Ghost Tours with Paranormal Investigator Dan Sturges
90-minute tour begins 9:30 p.m.

In 2020, the museum closed due to COVID-19, leaving the house empty of staff and visitors. Dan Sturges, who has undertaken paranormal investigations at the Merchant’s House for 15 years, teamed up with neuroscientist Dr. Lee to conduct scientific research using specialized equipment custom-built for the house. Mounting fact-based evidence points to the very likely reality of paranormal activity at the Merchant’s House.

Join paranormal investigator Dan Sturges on a 90-minute In-Person Super Spooky Candlelight Ghost Tour for an in-depth look at the latest research and findings. Dan is the founder of Sturges Paranormal and appears on the Travel Channel’s weekly series, Paranormal Caught on Camera. He has performed investigations at the Merchant’s House – and documented his spine-chilling findings – since 2007.
$70; $60 MHM Members. Purchase Super Spooky Ghost Tour Tickets.

 

Current Exhibitions

Exhibitions are included with regular museum admission.

The Merchant’s House, Abolition, and the Early Underground Railroad

New research has revealed a previously unknown site of the Underground Railroad at the landmark 1832 Merchant’s House Museum. Designed and built by Joseph Brewster, a fervent abolitionist, the house contains a hidden passageway secreted beneath a built-in chest of drawers on the bedroom floor. The narrow passageway, about 2 feet square, descends 15 feet to the ground floor.

The Merchant’s House Museum is Manhattan’s only site of the Underground Railroad open to the public.


Tredwell Costume Collection: Spring and Summer Dress (MHM 2002.0840)

This two piece dress features a bell-shaped skirt, a shortened bodice, and long sleeves, reflecting a transitional style between the 1850s and 1860s. The fabric replicates an ikat motif, printed with synthetic aniline dyes.


Tredwell Costume Collection: Lingerie Dress (MHM 2002.0824)

This lingerie dress on display is of embroidered cotton, was probably white at one time but has become darker with age. Perhaps the woman’s garment that was most representative of the Edwardian era, these dresses were made of lightweight cotton, and sometimes in linen or silk, and always trimmed with insets of lace, as was the lingerie of the period.

 

 

 

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