Merchant's House Museum

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Dyckman Farmhouse Museum

4881 Broadway, NYC
Manhattan’s last Dutch colonial farmhouse has overlooked bustling Broadway for more than 200 years. Today, it reflects the diverse and energetic populations that call Inwood home. The farmhouse was built by William Dyckman around 1784, replacing an earlier house destroyed during the Revolutionary War. Constructed mostly of fieldstone and clapboard, it features sloping spring eaves, wide porches, and a simple brick facade facing the street. The small home served three generations of the Dyckman family until 1868. In 1915, daughters of the last Dyckman to grow up in the house bought the building to restore it. When the restoration was completed in 1916, the house and grounds were donated to the City of New York as a museum of early American life. Today, education programs continue the sisters’ goal of preserving the past for future generations. www.dyckmanfarmhouse.org.

The Gibson House Museum

Boston, MA
Built in 1859, on Beacon Street in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, the Gibson House was the residence of Charles Hammond Gibson and served as residence to three generations of family members and their household staff between 1859 and 1954. The family preserved the original decor and converted the house into a museum after his death. The Museum’s four floors of period rooms, including the original kitchen, are a time capsule of domestic life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The interiors are laced with black-walnut woodwork, elegant wallpapers, imported carpets, furniture, paintings, sculpture, photographs, silver, porcelain, curios, and 18th-century family heirlooms. The Gibson House Museum was officially opened to the public in 1957 and is a National Historic Landmark. www.thegibsonhouse.org.

Gracie Mansion

East 88th Street & East End Avenue, NYC
In 1799, a prosperous merchant named Archibald Gracie built a country house overlooking a sleepy, scenic bend on the East River, five miles north of what was then New York City. Now, his home is one of the oldest surviving wood structures in Manhattan and the official residence of New York City’s Mayor. The Gracie Mansion Conservancy continues to operate as a charitable organization dedicated to enhancing and enlivening its namesake. Its mission is to preserve and honor Gracie Mansion’s Federal Period origins while also making sure it remains as forward-looking and welcoming as the city it serves. An increasing share of this work focuses on exploring the many different people and cultures whose contributions to Gracie Mansion and New York at large have gone unrecognized for far too long. www.graciemansion.org.

Hendrick I. Lott House

Hendrick I. Lott Park, Brooklyn
Still standing in its original orientation on its original site, the Hendrick I. Lott House is a rare surviving Dutch-American house in New York City. In 1719 Johannes Lott purchased property from the Voorhies family and constructed a simple farmhouse by 1720. This house was incorporated in the largest house constructed by his grandson Hendrick I. Lott in 1800. The Lott House is a traditional Dutch-American vernacular farmhouse on its exterior. It features the classic gambrel roof these houses are famous for. However, the interior of the house exhibits a much grander style. Its high ceilings, and decorative fireplaces mantles and moldings highlight Hendrick’s profession as a house carpenter in Manhattan during the last decade of the 18th century. www.lotthouse.org.

Lefferts Historic House Museum

Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Lefferts Historic House is an 18th-century farmhouse and New York City Landmark that features a working garden, historic artifacts, period rooms and exhibits. The museum focuses on the lives of the people that lived and worked on the land including the Lenape, Dutch settlers and enslaved Africans. Through hands-on experiences, cultural performances, and imaginative play, visitors learn about the rich history of Brooklyn and also gather together to celebrate the diversity of our community today. www.prospectpark.org.

Little Red Lighthouse

Fort Washington Park, NYC
Manhattan’s only remaining lighthouse acquired its affectionate nickname from Hildegarde H. Swift’s 1942 children’s classic, “The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.” Illustrated by Lynd Ward, this tale of the friendship between the tiny beacon and the George Washington Bridge introduced children around the world to the red, round, and very, very proud little lighthouse in New York City. Built in 1880, the 40-foot tower was slated for demolition by 1951. Thanks in part to the efforts of thousands of children who loved Swift’s book, ownership of the lighthouse was transferred to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. www.nycgovparks.org.

Morris-Jumel Mansion

65 Jumel Terrace, NYC
Perched on a commanding rise with spectacular vistas across Manhattan and the Bronx, Morris-Jumel Mansion was built as a country retreat for Roger and Mary Morris in 1765. In the fall of 1776, the mansion served as headquarters for General Washington during the Battle of Harlem Heights. In 1810, wealthy French wine merchant Stephen Jumel and his American wife, Eliza, purchased the mansion, and spared no expense refurbishing it. In the early 1900s, the building was transformed into a museum operated by the Washington’s Headquarters Association. Today, the mansion features restored period rooms from the Morris, Washington, and Jumel eras and exciting public programs that expand the limits of a traditional historic house museum. www.morrisjumel.org.

Old Stone House

336 3rd Street, Brooklyn
Originally built by Claes Vechte in 1699, this reconstructed house, with its solid stone walls and high brick gables, is a landmark in American military and sports history. Today it is the center of a vibrant, diverse community of engaged citizens. In August 1776, the property was the culminating site of the Battle of Brooklyn, the largest battle of the Revolutionary War. The square block around the battle shrine remained intact and became Washington Park in 1883. Its lawns were the summer home of the Brooklyn Baseball Club—later known as the Brooklyn Dodgers—which used the house as its first headquarters. In 1889 and 1890, the World Series was played at Washington Park, establishing a tradition in Brooklyn baseball. Today, the Old Stone House serves as an interpretive and educational center dedicated to Brooklyn history, as well as a cultural resource for the community. www.theoldstonehouse.org

Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre

Central Park, NYC
This storybook structure was originally designed as Sweden’s pavilion at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Constructed in Sweden of native pine and cedar, this model schoolhouse was dismantled, packed in crates, and shipped across the Atlantic, then re-erected by Swedish craftsmen on the Exposition grounds. Impressed by the ornament and utility of the structure, Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park, secured an appropriation from the City of New York to purchase it. In 1877, the little building was dismantled once again and reconstructed on the west side of the park. Painstakingly restored in 1996, the building retains much of its original 19th-century materials. Audiences continue to enjoy marionette performances of classic tales with contemporary twists. Talented craftsmen make marionettes for each production, contributing to the archive of historic marionettes every year. www.cityparksfoundation.org.

Wyckoff House Museum

5816 Clarendon Road, Brooklyn
Built ca. 1652, the original portion of the Wyckoff House Museum is the oldest structure in New York City. Its history exemplifies the diversity of Brooklyn’s colonial farms, where Dutch-American landowners, enslaved and freed Africans, and later European immigrants labored on some of the country’s most fertile land. Wyckoff descendants established the Wyckoff House & Association in 1937 and re-purchased the house from its last private owner in 1961. Extensively restored, it opened to the public in 1982. Today the Museum’s mission is to educate visitors about the diverse peoples of Brooklyn’s colonial farms. www.wyckoffmuseum.org.