Calendar of Events

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

DECEMBER

Through December 27
A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House

This holiday season, Summoners Ensemble Theatre and the Merchant’s House Museum celebrate 13 years of A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House. 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 and Vince Gotton (at alternating performances), 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 70 minute performance created from Dickens’ own script.

Tickets $50-$130. Purchase tickets to A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House.

On YouTube!
Warmth from the Hearth – 19th Century Holiday Stories for the Season of Light

Join us for storytelling of 19th-century holiday literature read by actor Dayle Vander Sande in our authentic 19th century parlor. These tales, by Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edward Payson Roe, Frank Stockton, and Helen Keller, among others, will be sure to get you in the mood at this most festive time of year. Dayle is a longtime museum volunteer and Director of the Bond Street Euterpean Singing Society, the vocal arts group-in-residence at the Merchant’s House. Watch on YouTube.

JANUARY 2026

On YouTube!
Celebrating New Year’s Day 2026 with the Tredwells

Paying social calls on friends and family on the first day of the new year was one of Old New York’s most cherished customs. Join us – virtually – for good cheer to toast the New Year and learn how New Yorkers like the Tredwells celebrated the day.

In this immersive video experience, we’ll go back in time to the mid-19th century to meet the Tredwells and hear how they’ve been decking the house for New Year’s Day and preparing their lists of social calls. Join us as we continue the 19th century tradition of renewing, reviving, and reaffirming friendships that last the whole year through. Watch on YouTube.

Current Exhibitions

Exhibitions are included with regular museum admission.

Opens November 28 
A Jolly Holiday: Christmas Traditions from New Amsterdam
While filling their home with holiday cheer, the Tredwells were unlikely to be thinking about where these traditions came from. But in fact, many parts of their Christmas celebration were holdovers from New York’s Dutch founding. To celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Dutch founding of New Amsterdam, we are highlighting some Dutch traditions that persisted into the 19th century, many of which are familiar to us today: from Santa Claus and Christmas cookies, to New Year’s Day calling, these traditions, and more, got their start in colonial New Amsterdam.

On display, holiday gifts from the Tredwell collection, and holiday decorations throughout the house.

 

VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS | ONLINE OFFERINGS