Calendar of Events

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

Most of our virtual programs are offered free of charge.
Consider making a donation to support future programming – and help us fight the proposed development next door!
And please take 30 seconds to email the City Hall urging them to SAVE the Merchant’s House.

OCTOBER

Wednesday, October 9 – Monday, November 10
Exhibition – “Truly We Live in a Dying World:” A 19th Century Home in Mourning
Including rarely exhibited items of Tredwell family mourning dress and accessories from the collection.
Step back in time to 1865, when family patriarch Seabury Tredwell died at home in his second floor bedroom. Poignant scenes of death and grief recreated in the House will explore mid-19th century mourning customs. Pay your last respects at his deathbed upstairs, or join the mourning in the double parlor, hung with black crepe curtains and set for a mid-19th century funeral. Also on display, mourning accessories from the Tredwell collection. Included with regular admission.

 

Sunday, October 13, 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; MHM Members Free; purchase Walking Tour tickets.

Walking tours are 90 minutes and meet outside the Merchant’s House.

 

Friday, October 18; Saturday, October 19; Friday, October 25; Saturday, October 26; Wednesday, October 30
Candlelight Ghost Tours – Celebrating 20 Years in 2024!

Candlelight Ghost Tours of Manhattan’s Most Haunted House
50 minute tours run 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.

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 Ghost Tour Tickets.
Members, please email programs@merchantshouse.org for the code for discounted tickets.

Ghost Tour Policies

This is an in-person event.
Please arrive on time. Doors open 10 minutes before each tour. Once the tour begins, there is no late entry. Latecomers will only be moved to a different time slot if there is room. There will be no refunds for latecomers.
Large bags (including briefcases, suitcases, backpacks, and shopping bags) and coats may not be carried and must be checked in the coat room.
The tour covers four floors, participants must be able to stand for 50-90 minutes and be able to climb stairs.
Children under 12 not permitted.

 

Saturday, October 19, 1:30 p.m.
Walking Tour: Reinventing the Bond Street Neighborhood, 1865-1900
Created and led by museum docent Michelle Barshay
Join us for a captivating journey to discover the pivotal changes that shaped the “Bond Street area,” once a residential neighborhood for wealthy merchant families like the Tredwells. On this 90-minute tour, we’ll witness the dramatic changes that unfolded as commercial interests began to encroach, compelling these families to move uptown and triggering a metamorphosis of the entire neighborhood. Homes evolved into boarding houses, business establishments, or were demolished. By 1900, the once-fashionable neighborhood was primarily a commercial area, known for printing and manufacturing. Our walking tour will lead you to the majestic landmarks – from the imposing De Vinne Press to the Schermerhorn factory, Robbins & Appleton, and the historic Fire Engine #33. $20; MHM Members Free; purchase walking tour tickets.

Walking tours are 90 minutes and meet outside the Merchant’s House.

 

Friday, October 25, 6 p.m.
Book Talk with Barbara Weisberg
Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism
Co-Sponsored by Village Preservation and the Salmagundi Club
Ghosts, seances, and the macabre go hand in hand with Greenwich Village’s reputation as a haven for Bohemians, writers, and artists. Washington Square Park was once a mass grave with over 20,000 bodies buried there. In the 19th century, Spiritualism swept the country as people wanted to talk to the dead. But where did Spiritualism get its start?

Join Barbara Weisberg for this special event, just in time for Halloween, as she recounts a fascinating story of spirits and conjurors, skeptics and converts in the second half of nineteenth-century America viewed through the lives of Kate and Maggie Fox, the sisters whose purported communication with the dead gave rise to the Spiritualism movement – and whose recanting forty years later is still shrouded in mystery. Free; registration required. Register for “Talking to the Dead” with Barbara Weisberg.

Event location: Skylight Gallery at Salmagundi Club, 47 5th Ave (at 12th Street)

 

Thursday, October 31 – Sunday, November 10
12 Performances Only!
Killing an Evening with Edgar Allan Poe: Seance at the Merchant’s House
In 1845, Edgar Allan Poe lived on Amity Street (now West 3rd Street), just blocks from the Merchant’s House. His publication of “The Raven” had brought him instant fame and invitations to the city’s most fashionable literary salons in the city, where he performed his work.

Join John Kevin Jones (A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House) in the Merchant’s House Museum’s double parlor — set for a 19th century funeral complete with casket — for a hauntingly memorable performance of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Angel of the Odd” and, of course, “The Raven.” It will be a bone-chilling evening of irrational revenge … obsession and premeditated murder … dismemberment … and the very, very dark. Tickets $65-75, run time 60 minutes. Tickets & Information.

 

NOVEMBER

Thursday, October 31 – Sunday, November 10
12 Performances Only!
Killing an Evening with Edgar Allan Poe: Seance at the Merchant’s House
In 1845, Edgar Allan Poe lived on Amity Street (now West 3rd Street), just blocks from the Merchant’s House. His publication of “The Raven” had brought him instant fame and invitations to the city’s most fashionable literary salons in the city, where he performed his work.

Join John Kevin Jones (A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House) in the Merchant’s House Museum’s double parlor — set for a 19th century funeral complete with casket — for a hauntingly memorable performance of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Angel of the Odd” and, of course, “The Raven.” It will be a bone-chilling evening of irrational revenge … obsession and premeditated murder … dismemberment … and the very, very dark. Tickets $65-75, run time 60 minutes. Tickets & Information.

 

Tuesday, November 26 – Sunday, December 29
Celebrating our 12th holiday season!
A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House: Charles Dickens in New York, 1867
In December 1867, Charles Dickens arrived in New York City for a month of sold-out performances of his beloved holiday classic, A Christmas Carol. As the New York Herald exclaimed, “The Christmas Carol becomes doubly enchanting when one hears it performed by Dickens.”

Join Mr. Dickens, portrayed by John Kevin Jones, as he tells his timeless Christmas tale in the elegant intact Greek Revival double parlor of the landmark 1832 Merchant’s House Museum.

Surrounded by 19th century holiday decorations, flickering candles, and richly appointed period furnishings, audiences will be transported back 150 years in this captivating performance created from Dickens’ own script. Tickets & Information.

Current Exhibitions

Exhibitions are included with regular museum admission.

Open through Wednesday, October 2
I ❤ MHM: Fan Art of a National Treasure
The landmark 1832 Merchant’s House is indisputably a National Treasure. It is also much beloved by the many people who have been swept up in its magic over the years. The house has inspired visitors, volunteers, children, and passersby to create art in homage since it became a museum in the 1930s. Today, our archive is bursting with photographs, paintings, sculptures, mixed-media, and other artworks. On display, for the first time, are pieces depicting the late-Federal and Greek Revival facade and selected architectural features by professional and amateur artists. As the Museum fights development next door (and faces possible closure as a result), these works can’t help but serve as a reminder that we must save the Merchant’s House!

Bandboxes from the Tredwell Collection
Women in the 19th century used hat boxes, or bandboxes, to store personal items such as hats and accessories; the Tredwell Collection contains more than two dozen hats and bonnets, many featuring ribbons, bows, and elaborate plumage. Highly decorated hat boxes were an opportunity to show off one’s wealth and status.

Two bandboxes from the Tredwell collection, 1840-1860, were recently conserved by The Found Object, Inc., thanks to a grant from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network. The conservator found that the boxes had been repaired several times during the 19th century, showing that they were valuable and worth preserving to the Tredwell family.

Opens Wednesday, October 9
Exhibition – “Truly We Live in a Dying World:” A 19th Century Home in Mourning
Including rarely exhibited items of Tredwell family mourning dress and accessories from the collection.
Step back in time to 1865, when family patriarch Seabury Tredwell died at home in his second floor bedroom. Poignant scenes of death and grief recreated in the House will explore mid-19th century mourning customs. Pay your last respects at his deathbed upstairs, or join the mourning in the double parlor, hung with black crepe curtains and set for a mid-19th century funeral. Also on display, mourning accessories from the Tredwell collection. Included with regular admission.

 

VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS | ONLINE OFFERINGS