Category: Historic Homes of New York City

Van Cortlandt House Museum in Van Cortlandt Park at Broadway & West 246 Street Bronx, NY 10471

Van Cortlandt House Museum

Van Cortlandt Park at Broadway & West 246 Street

Bronx, NY 10471

(718) 543-3344

infor@vchm.org

Open: Tuesday-Friday 10:00am-4:00pm/Saturday & Sunday 11:00am-4:00pm

Admission: $5.00 for Adults/$3.00 for Seniors & Students/Children under 12 are free/General Admission is free on Wednesdays. Guided and group tours are available.

Review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g47369-d103501-Reviews-Van_Cortlandt_House-Bronx_New_York.html?m=19905

The Van Cortlandt House:

Welcome:

Van Cortlandt House during Christmas time

The entrance of the Van Cortlandt House decorated for the Revolutionary era Christmas

I visited the Van Cortlandt House Museum for the their Annual Christmas Decorated House event. The mansion was decorated for Christmas in the 1700’s so it was not overdone as it would during the Victorian times. The front of the house entrance was done with sprays of holly, mistletoe above the door and garlands of pine around the banister and fireplaces. The windows had candles in them and the dining room was set for Christmas luncheon in post-Revolutionary War era.

Van Cortlandt House for Christmas is Post-Revolutionary War in 2019

The entrance hall welcomes you to a Revolutionary era holiday season

While most of the house is represented during the Dutch era with floors with no rugs, vintage furniture and decorations and the second and third floors are set for family entertainment. The first floor is set for entertaining for the holidays with the formal dining room, family parlor and the formal living room for games and dancing. The formal dining room was the only room decorated post-Revolutionary War era.

Van Cortlandt Mansion at Christmas 1800’s

The current entrance to the house from the back of the building

Until the Victorian era, Christmas was a more religious affair with church service in the morning and luncheon in the afternoon. Things were formal and less elaborate. The acts of gift giving, sleigh rides, tree decorating and card giving came during the affluence of Queen Victoria’s reign in the post Civil-War era. This is the reason why the house is decorated so simply and elegantly.

Dining Room set for Christmas lunch circa 1780’s

In 2019, the site celebrated the holidays with a Sinterklaas, a Dutch Christmas celebration, a candlelight tour and a reading from Santa Claus. Please check their website for more information on future events. The house was closed for most of the COVID years and nothing had been planned. The house was open in December of 2022 for touring again for the holidays but was not decorated as much as in the past.

In 2022, when the house reopened after a long period of COVID, the self-guided tours were back and you could tour the house at your own pace ($5.00 donation) and tour the three floors of furnished rooms. You can see how the family lived from the three generations that lived in the residence.

The tour starts at the front hallway where guests would be received for formal affairs and for business meetings with the head of the household.

You would be greeted by servants at the entrance of the home

On either side of the front hallway is the East and West Parlors where you would be directed where the family would receive you. The West Parlor would have been used for business calls and more informal meetings when meeting with the Van Cortlandt family. The family’s wealth would be on display with fine furniture, china and bric-a-brac that would show off the family’s merchant roots and business.

The West Parlor

The West Parlor decorated for Christmas

The East Parlor on the other side of the entranceway would have been used for more formal affairs. The East Parlor is where the family would formally entertain guests with dancing, music and card playing. This is where long evenings of entertaining would take place and the family would enjoy their holiday celebrations.

The East Parlor

The East Parlor decorated for the Christmas holidays

The Dining Room was toward the back of the hallway and was decorated in the Empire Design of the late 1700’s to early 1800’s. The look is very similar to styles used today and the wallpaper is a copy from one of the styles used by the family that was imported in from France. The table was set for Christmas luncheon circa the late 1780’s.

The Dining Room

The Dining Room at the Van Cortlandt House

There are two sets of stairs to the second level of the house where the family bedrooms were located. There was the formal stairs and then there was the stairs that the servants used to go from floor to floor so that they would not be seen.

The steps upstairs to the second floor

On the second floor of the home are the bed chambers of the family. The main bedrooms for the family were located here and then the nursery and servants quarters were located on the Third floor of the home.

The West Chamber:

The bedroom

The ‘Washington Bedroom’ in the Van Cortlandt House

The East Chamber Bedroom:

The Bedroom:

The Landing of the stairs to the third floor lead to the Nursery, an additional guest room and the enslaved servants quarters. These were kept out of site from the other members of the household. It is a reminder of the pecking order of the household and the conditions that people lived under at this time.

The Second Floor Landing leads to the nursery and servants quarters

The Dutch Chamber was formerly a guest room that is used to show life in early Colonial New York City:

The Dutch Chamber:

The Dutch Chamber shows early life in Colonial America

The Second Floor Setup:

The Nursery:

The nursery set up room:

The servants quarters were to the back of the house and were not the most glamorous place to live in the house. There were drafty and not insulated. The amount of time a servant would be here would have been minimal.

The servants quarters:

The servants quarters:

History of the Van Cortlandt’s:

The Van Cortlandt House Museum, also known as Fredrick Van Cortlandt House or Van Cortlandt House, is the oldest surviving building in New York City’s borough of The Bronx. The Georgian style house, begun in 1748, was build of fieldstone by Fredrick Van Cortlandt (1699-1749) on the plantation that had been owned and farmed by his family since 1691. Fredrick intended the house to be a home for him and his wife, Francis Jay and daughters, Anna Maria, 14 and Eve, 13. His sons, Augustus, 21 and Fredrick, 19, were not intended to be permanent residents of the house.

Sadly, Fredrick died before the new house was completed. In his will written in 1759, Fredrick left the house to his son, James Van Cortlandt (1726-1781) and a lifetime tenancy to his widow, Francis Jay Van Cortlandt (1701-1780).

The Van Cortlandt House gardens in the Summer

The Van Cortlandt’s were a mercantile family prominent in New York affairs. Fredrick’s father, Jacobus, established a thriving wheat growing and processing business on the plantation including a grist mill for processing the wheat into flour and a fleet of shallow draft boats to carry the flour from the south end his lake down Tibbet’s Brook and out to the Harlem and Hudson Rivers to market. During the Revolutionary War, the house was used by Rochambeau, Lafayette and Washington.

(From History of Van Cortlandt House and Museum)

In 1887, after 140 years of occupancy by the Van Cortlandt family and the community of plantation workers, the property was sold to the City of New York and made a public parkland. Before the house became a museum, it saw a variety of uses including as a temporary police precinct house and as a dormitory for ranch hands responsible for taking care of a herd of buffalo.

Van Cortlandt House historic marker

By 1895, The National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York expressed their interest in restoring the house as a museum open to the public. There was only one obstacle keeping the Colonial Dames from this important project, there was no provision in the New York State Law allowing the stewardship of a publicly owned building by a private organization. Undaunted, the first Society President, Mrs. Townsend, took the Society’s cause to Albany where on May 22, 1896 in the 199th session of the New York Legislature, Chapter 837 was approved by the governor and passed by a 3/5 majority to become law.

The Van Cortlandt House dollhouse

After nearly a year if repairs and restoration, Van Cortlandt House Museum was opened to great fanfare on May 25th of 1897. The original license agreement grained custody of the house to the National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York for a period of 25 years at a ‘peppercorn’ rent of $1.00 per year. Although the Society no longer pays the city rent, they remain, to this day as dedicated to Van Cortlandt House as they were in 1896.

Van Cortlandt Park in the Summer Months

In 1967, Van Cortlandt House was added to the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1967. The house was declared a New York City Landmark on March 15, 1966, recognizing the historic and architectural importance of both the exterior and interior.

(From the Van Cortlandt House Museum NSCDNY)

The Van Cortlandt House gardens during the winter of 2022

The General Porter Statute in front of the house

Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden 421 East 61st Street New York, NY 10065

Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden

421 East 61st Street

New York, NY 10065

(212) 838-6878

http://www.mvhm.org

Home

Open: Tuesday-Sunday-11:00am-4:00pm (check the website during each season)

Fee: Adults $15.00/Seniors & Students $12.00/Children 16-12 $5.00/Children under 12 Free

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d309468-Reviews-Mount_Vernon_Hotel_Museum_Garden-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum at 421 East 61st Street

Mount Vernon historical sign during the summer months

The history of the building

The model of the building

I had come across the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum when I was walking on East 61st Street for my blog and went to take the tour of the building. It is a one hour (or more as I there for almost two hours but I was by myself) tour of both floors. You start with a film and a quick talk about the history of the building. The hotel building has had several owners and uses over its over hundred years.

I visited the museum during the holiday season in 2025 and I got to see all the decorations around the hotel. There was elegant decorations in most of the rooms and got to see how people ate during the holiday season as well as with visits guests would have indulged in when they came for the day.

Then you start the tour of the upper room where the ladies would gather and talk. This is where they might have tea, musical recitals and read and sew. They would gather with other women for conversation and debate.

The Upstairs foyer gallery

The foyer landing decorated for the holidays with the former traveler, James Taylor, who discussed in his memoir about visiting the hotel

The Ladies Parlor

The upstairs is where the sleeping rooms and the ladies parlors are located, where female guests would enjoy tea, games, music and reading. The main landing was for dancing and for gatherings.

The Ladies Palour with the Chinese writing desk and festive decorations.

The room set for tea with Englishware

The holiday set up afternoon service

The sleeping rooms were kept simple and functional

The Men’s game room

The main floor was the Men’s gaming rooms, where there is a bar and two rooms for male activities such as cards, gambling and reading. Here the men would discuss politics and business over a drink and games of chance.

The main games room

The main entrance was used as the dining room for dinner (our lunch), which was the biggest meal of the day served around 2:00pm.

The bar area where spirits are sold

The afternoon supper was part of the package and couples would join one another for a several course meal, which would serve as the main meal of the day.

Dinner time at the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum

The tour guide went over what would have been served, menu’s and meal times. Dinner would have been served at 2:00pm, tea time would have been around 4:00pm-6:00pm and Supper around 8:00pm.

The multi course meal for everyday on display

The meal would include popular dishes such as turkey and oysters and a specialty, Turtle soup. Fresh vegetables and fancy desserts would be part of the package.

The tour of the kitchen show preparation of foods, recipe books and all kitchen equipment including the stoves and baking materials.

The kitchen for both the hotel and house

The kitchen used to cook afternoon meals

The area used for baking and roasting

If you like the history of “Old New York” and like old homes, hotels and buildings, this is a very interesting tour that deals with the City’s growing middle-class and the new ‘leisure time’ that was coming with the changes in the work week. There are many pieces of period furniture all over the building that show the growth of affluence of the time.

The side board set with holiday desserts

The side board ladened with holiday treats

Don’t miss the formal walled in garden in the back. It is a place of relaxation from the rest of the city. There are stone walk ways and landscaped gardens as well as an herb garden. The building is owned and maintained by the Colonial Dames of America.

The walled gardens during the winter

The walled garden in the winter

I revisited the museum for the holidays and the hotel was decked out in garland and holy based on the decor traditional for the Revolutionary War era Christmas. The archways and tables were lined with greenery and the tables were loaded with oranges plunged with cloves to give the homes at that time a rich citrus smell.

The downstairs dining table was set for a Christmas meal of wild turkey, mock turtle soup, and apple and pumpkin pies. This would have been served in the afternoon as the main meal while it was still light out.

Holiday goodies at the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum getting ready for the holidays

There had been a light snow while we were touring the hotel so when we visited the gardens, it really did have that Christmas feel to it with that light snow all over the pine and the bushes.

How the neighborhood has changed

The old stable area

During the time of the Revolutionary War and afterwards, homes were not as elaborately decorated as they would have been during Victorian times after the Civil War. Homes were lined with greenery that would have given the home the fragrant smell of pine and strings of cranberries and popcorn would have been used to decorate mantles.

The hotel decorated for the holidays

The hotel was getting ready for one of its many special events during the holidays so there was a lot of commotion going on downstairs. It is a very festive looking place for the holidays so try to tour it when it is open in the month of December.

The museum in the 2025 holiday season

What is the Museum:

Constructed in 1799 as a carriage house and converted into a ‘day hotel’ in 1826, the Museum transports visitors back to Mount Vernon Hotel, a 19th Century country resort for New Yorkers escaping the crowded city below 14th Street.

The model of the original house layout

Recognizing the building as one of the few remaining 18th century sites and the only surviving day hotel in New York City Historic Landmark in 1967, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and accredited by the American Association of Museums in 1983.

History of the House:

The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden presents the period of the Mount Vernon Hotel which operated from 1826 until 1833.

Constructed in 1799 as a carriage house for a 23 acre estate and converted into the Mount Vernon in 1826, this stone building sits on land originally owned by Colonel William Stephens Smith and his wife, Abigail Adams Smith, the daughter of John Adams.

This fashionable country resort was popular among New Yorkers who wished to escape the hustle among the bustle of the city, which at that time extended only as far north 14th Street. The Hotel advertised “free from the noise and dust of the public roads and fitted up and intended for only the most gentle respectable” clientele. In those days, one could take the stagecoach or steamboat up to 61st Street spend the day at the hotel sipping lemonade in the ladies parlor or playing cards in the gentlemen’s.

In 1833, the house became the home for three generations of a New York City family. In 1905, as the area became more industrialized, the building was purchased by Standard Gas Light Company (today’s Con-Edison). The Colonial Dames of America, a woman’s patriotic society purchased the building in 1924 and did an extensive restoration to the structure, the Colonial Dames opened the site to the public in 1939. The building endures as a rare reminder of an important era in New York City’s history.

What the organization does:

*Welcome 5000 school children annually in grades-pre-K through high school for field trips.

*Summer History Weeks for children ages 6-12

*A Summer High School Internship for 15 students to support college readiness skills and career exploration.

*Two summer Hearst Fellowships for undergraduates or graduate students.

*40+public programs each year, including:

-monthly free Story time

-monthly Lunchtimes lectures

-holiday programs, garden concerts, hands on craft and cooking workshops.

*Temporary exhibitions on facets of life in early 19th century NYC, some promoting local contemporary artists.

*Special programs for individuals with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.

*Outreach programs to schools, senior centers and homeless shelters.

*Themed group tours focused on 19th century food, decorative arts or literature.

*Three options for team building events.

*Two free admission days: Smithsonian Museum Day and Open House New York.

Programs are made possible in part by the support of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and Council Member Ben Kallos, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Rosenthal Foundation and the Michael Tuch Foundation.

(Mount Vernon Hotel Pamphlet)

The Colonial Dames of America:

With these words, spoken in April 1890, Maria Denning “May” Van Rensselaer imitated what was to become the oldest colonial lineage society for women in the United States. The Colonial Dames of America. Its mission is to preserve historic sites and objects, award scholarships, educate the public about American history, inspire patriotism and promote fellowship among its members.

(The Colonial Dames of America information).

The backyard gardens in the Winter time

Video on the museum

Gracie Mansion Carl Schurz Park East 88th Street and East End Avenue New York, NY 10128

Gracie Mansion

Carl Schurz Park

East 88th and East End Avenue

New York, NY 10128

(212) 570-4773

Hours: Mondays only-10:30am. 12:00pm and 1:30pm. See their website at www1.nyc.gov/site/Gracie/visit/visit page or gracieinfo@cityhall.nyc.gov

http://www.historichousetrust.org

https://www.nycgo.com/events/gracie-mansion-tours

https://www.graciemansion.org/

Admission: $10.00

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d136688-Reviews-Gracie_Mansion-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

Hours: There are free house tours at 10:30am, 12:00pm and 1:30pm on Mondays only. Check their website for availability. This is one of the few rare treats of New York if you can snare one of the tours of Gracie Mansion. It is a really interesting tour of the first floor rooms and entrance to the gardens of this historic home and the Mayor of New York City’s residence.

This was really a wonderful tour of the mansion given by a woman who has been a docent for twenty years and has seen the changes of the administrations. We went room by room and discussed how the Gracie’s then the Wheaton’s and the other families who lived here use the house until Robert Moses, the great City Planner, decided this should become the Mayor’s residence.

The front of the mansion at the start of the tour in the Summer of 2025

The formal gardens in front of the house in full bloom

The formal gardens to the side of the house near the parking lot

We started the tour on the front porch of the old Gracie Mansion

The tour consists of the first floor only and you can not take pictures inside with the exception of the Wagner Ballroom. We saw the formal entrance, the Living Room, Library, Dining Room and then the hallway leading to the front of the house to the Susan Wagner Ballroom, the newest extension of the house (the front section is the original section of the home built during the Gracie period).

The front rooms you are not allowed to take pictures so as you tour the Living Room, the Dining Room and Parlor rooms, you can not take pictures. When we left the older section of the home and entered the hallway to the Susan Wagner Ballroom added in the Wagner Administration, then you could take pictures in this room only (outside the gardens).

The inside of the Susan Wagner Ballroom

The Chandelier in the ballroom was from an old mansion downtown

The Bayard Fireplace from the Bayard Mansion once located in lower Manhattan

The Wagner Ballroom details

History of the Mansion and Gracie Family:

Gracie Mansion, built in 1799 by shipping merchant Archibald Gracie, is the last of the elegant county estates that once lined Manhattan’s East River shore. Gracie hosted elegant dinner parties at his country estate for visitors including Alexander Hamilton, Rufus King, Joseph Bonaparte and Washington Irving.

Archibald Gracie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Gracie

Major losses during the years after the War of 1812 forced Gracie to sell his estate in 1823 to Joseph Foulke. In 1857, the Mansion was bought by Noah Wheaton. After Wheaton’s death in 1896, the City of New York appropriated the estate, incorporating ts 11 acres of grounds into the surrounding park that was renamed Carl Schurz Park in 1910.

After years as a comfort station and ice cream stand, Gracie Mansion became the first home of the Museum of the City of New York. When the museum moved to a larger building, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses convinced City Authorities to designate the Mansion as the official residence of the Mayor. In 1942, Fiorello H. La Guardia moved into Gracie Mansion.

In 1966, the Mansion was enlarged with the construction of the Susan E. Wagner Wing, which includes a ballroom and two additional rooms. Under the guidance of the Gracie Mansion Conservatory, major restorations to the Mansion were undertaken between 1981 and 1984 and in 2002.

The 2002 restoration transformed Gracie Mansion into the “People’s House” and increased accessibility to the public and City agencies. First Lady Rosalyn Carter and South African President Nelson Mandela are among the many notable visitors.

Gracie Mansion at the turn of the last century

Gracie Mansion is owned by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, operated by the Gracie Mansion Conservatory and is a member of the Historic House Trust.

(Gracie Mansion Pamphlet)

Gracie Mansion Conservatory:

After years of neglect and continual erosion of any trace of history, Mayor Edward I. Koch and founding Chair Joan K. Davison, established the Gracie Mansion Conservatory in 1981. as a public./private partnership.. Under its guidance, the first major restoration of the house was undertaken between 1981 and 1984. Besides creating a connection between the original house and the Wagner Wing, this effort included the display of art, furniture and decorative objects either purchased or more often, lent by the City’s many cultural institutions. The Charter mandate of the Conservatory was not to seal the residence in the past (especially as there is no record of how it originally appeared inside) but to protect its history while accommodating change and progress by successive generations of New Yorkers.

The Gracie Mansion Conservatory 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 the New York at large gone unrecognized for far too long. The Conservatory also works to improve the surrounding landscape and gardens and provide public programming and educational services, including publications and tours for local school students, especially those studying in New York State’s 7th grade social studies curriculum.

(Gracie Mansion Conservatory pamphlet)

Disclaimer: This information was taken from the Gracie Mansion Conservatory pamphlet press kit given on my tour and I give the Conservatory full credit for it. Please check the website for tour information or call them to find out about group tours.

It really is a great tour!

Dyckman Farmhouse Museum 4881 Broadway at 204th Street New York, New York 10034

The Dyckman Farmhouse

4881 Broadway at 204th Street

New York, NY 10034

(212) 304-9422

dyckmanfarmhouse.org

for front page

Hours:

Winter Schedule: November-April Friday and Saturday 11:00am-4:00pm

Monday-Wednesday: Groups by Appointment Only; Groups of 10 or more by appointment

Thursday-Saturday: 11:00am-4:00pm

Sunday: 11:00am-3:00pm

Fee: Donation Based

My TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d108018-Reviews-Dyckman_Farmhouse_Museum-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The Dyckman Farmhouse during the Christmas holidays

I visited the Dyckman Farmhouse on day during my walk around the Inwood section of Manhattan and came upon this old farmhouse in the middle of the commercial district by Columbia University’s football field. You have to take the A or the 1 Subway uptown to get there but it is one of the last vestiges of the farming community that once was Manhattan in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s.

It has been there since the family donated it to the city in 1916. It should not be missed when visiting Manhattan. I wrote more about my trip there in “MywalkinManhattan.com” blog site.

The Dyckman House in the Spring

The Dyckman House, now the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in the oldest remaining farmhouse on Manhattan Island, a remainder of New York City’s rural past. The Dutch Colonial-style farmhouse was built by William Dyckman in 1785. It was originally part of over 250 acres of farmland owned by the family. It was once the center of a thriving farm with fields and orchards of cherry, pear and apple trees. It is now located in a small park at the corner of Broadway and 204th Street in the Inwood section neighborhood of the city.

The front of the Dyckman Farmhouse

Don’t miss the self-guided tours of the house. You can tour all three floors of the house to see the bedrooms on the second and third floors and the first-floor parlor and receiving areas. The basement area has the ‘winter kitchen’ where all the cooking of the house was done, and it was the room that kept the rest of the house warm during the winter months.

The Winter Kitchen hearth for cooking meals

The Winter Kitchen

The Winter kitchen at the Dyckman Farm

The house was slightly decorated for the Christmas holidays with garland and ivy and holly to make it look more festive. The Dyckman House was built at a time after the Revolution where the excesses of the Victorian era had not taken hold and the Christmas holidays were more subdued and concentrated on going to church and a light luncheon that afternoon. The decorations of the home reflect this.

The museum is decorated for Dutch Christmas with the bounty of the holiday season

The Farmhouse at Christmas time outside in 2025

The house decorated for the Dutch Christmas in 2025

Don’t miss the gardens in both the spring and summer to see everything in full bloom. Even in the winter it is interesting to watch the paths and see what needs to be accomplished for spring planning.

The Dyckman House in the Fall of 2025

It is an interesting look into how the Dutch farmers lived and worked.

History and Description

William Dyckman was the grandson of Jan Dyckman, who came to the area from Westphalia in 1661. Jan Dyckman, a shoemaker and another Dutch settler, Jan Nagel purchased much of the land between present 155th Street and the northern tip of the island. Members of the Dyckman and Nagel families lived on the land for three generations until the Revolutionary War broke out.

The house and front gardens during the summer months

During the Revolutionary War, the British occupation of Manhattan in 1776-83, the Dyckman’s, like many other patriots, fled the city and did not return until the British had been defeated. When the war ended and the Dyckman’s found their home and orchards had been destroyed, they built a new house on the Kingsbridge Road, now Broadway. They chose this location on a major thoroughfare in order to supplement their income by providing accommodations for travelers on their way to and from Manhattan.

William Dyckman, who inherited the family estate built the current house to replace the family house located on the Harlem River near the present West 210th Street, which he had build in 1748 and which was destroyed in the American Revolutionary War.

There was also 30 people living within three other houses scattered across the roughly 250 acre farm. The residents included laborers and other Dyckman family members. The main outbuildings for the farm were built close to the farmhouse including a cider mill, corn cribs, barns and stable (Dyckman Farmhouse Museum Alliance).

William died in 1787 and the property with its “commodious dwelling house,” and 250 acre farm was offered for sale. William’s son, Jacobus, took over the farmhouse and land and rebuilt the farm after the war. This took about five years. Jacobus altered and added to the house over the years. When Jacobus died in 1832, he left the bulk of the estate to his bachelor sons, Isaac and Michael and many members of the extended family moved in as well.

Following the death of Isaac in 1868, his nephew, James Frederick Smith, changed his name to Isaac Michael Dyckman and inherited much of the Dyckman property. When the subway lines reached the area in 1906, there was discussion about the impact on historic homes such as this.

In 1915, Mary Alice Dyckman Dean and Fannie Frederika Dyckman Welch, daughters of Isaac Michael Dyckman purchased the house with the plan of turning it into a museum. They fully restored it, furnished it and landscaped the grounds. They presented it to the City of New York in 1916 so that it could be used as a public park and museum (History of Dyckman Farm).

The house is designed with:

The Relic Room: Objects that are displayed were discovered from digs in the area.

The Relic Room at the Dyckman Farmhouse

The Second Floor Bedroom: Some of the rooms are decorated with furnishings dating from the 18th and 19th centuries and reflect colonial life around 1800.

The Second floor bedroom

The second floor bedroom during the second renovation of the home from a dormer to bedrooms

The second floor of the farmhouse had been a dormer when the home was at its height of the growing season and then later on in the house’s history was converted into regular bedrooms. The first floor bedroom was for the owner of the house for easier access to the farm and the outdoors during the growing season.

The First Floor Bedroom for the Master of the House:

The Bedrooms:

The downstairs bedroom

The Parlor Room:

The Parlor is where the family socialized and entertained their guests. The best pieces of furniture and family possessions would be shown off to visitors.

The Parlor:

The Dyckman Parlor:

Full view of the Parlor in the Dyckman Farmhouse

The Winter and Summer Kitchens: The farmhouse had two kitchen, the Winter and Summer kitchens, the Winter one would have kept the home warm in the cold months and would have been used as a non-cooking work space in the summer.

The Winter Kitchen:

The Summer kitchen is closed to the public has a small bedroom attached to it.

The back of the Dyckman Farmhouse with the grounds left and the old smokehouse in the distance

The Garden Area: On the half acre of family land left they have constructed a reproduction a smokehouse and outbuildings along with gardens planted with thousands of new plants that include things like bleeding hearts and foxglove.

The Hessian Military Hut recreation on the house’s property

The Hessian House recreation on the back part of the property

The gardens and smokehouse

(The Dyckman Farmhouse Museum Alliance)

The current two-story house is constructed of fieldstone, brick and white clapboard and features a gambrel roof and spring eaves. The porches typical of the Dutch Colonial style but were added in 1825. The house interior has parlors and an indoor (winter) kitchen, with floors of varying-width chestnut wood. The house outdoor smokehouse kitchen, in a small building to the south, may predate the house itself.

The Dyckman Farmhouse during the Christmas holiday season 2022

The house stayed in the family for several generations until it was sold in 1868, after which it served as a rental property for several decades. By the beginning of the 20th century, the house was in disrepair and in danger of being demolished. Two sisters of the original family and daughters of the last Dyckman child to grow up in the house, Mary Alice Dyckman Dean and Fannie Fredericka Dyckman Welch, began restoration of the farmhouse in 1915-16 under the supervision of architect Alexander M. Welch, the husband of Fannie.

They then transferred the ownership of the house to the City of New York in 1916, which opened it as a museum of Dutch and Colonial life, featuring original Dyckman family furnishings.

The Dyckman Farmhouse in Inwood during the Summer months

The farmhouse, which is not only the oldest remaining in Manhattan, but the only one in the Dutch Colonial style and the only 18th century farmhouse in the borough as well. It has New York City Landmark and a National Historic Landmark status since 1967. A major restoration of the house took place in 2003, after which it reopened to the public in the fall of 2005.

When I visited the homestead in January 2024 for the Epiphany, the house had an interesting children’s exhibition entitled “Beyond Play”, based on a child’s life on a farm back in the 1800’s. This would include simple games such as “Tag” and “Blind Man’s Bluff” and homemade wooden trucks, blocks and dolls.

The exhibition “Beyond Play”

The display of toys that child would play on the farm in the 1800’s.

The display of toys that children would play on the farm.

Walking around the Inwood neighborhood has changed a lot in a hundred years and is now home to a large Dominican population as well as the quickly gentrifying Inwood neighborhood and home to Columbia University sports.

Inwood at Broadway near the Dyckman Farmhouse

*Disclaimer: This information comes from the Historic House Trust and Wikipedia and the NYC Parks System. The site is free to visit and takes less than an hour to visit. During the summer months, it is nice to visit the gardens and property. It is a interesting property to visit and when you are through with your tour, there are many nice Spanish restaurants in the area on Broadway and along 207th Avenue corridor. It is a nice place to walk around and explore.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: