There’s plenty of history beyond Museum Row.
Sometimes the magic of New York’s past is hidden in the corners.
The recession may have killed plans for that European getaway or Caribbean cruise, but summer traveling doesn’t have to be costly. Historic houses throughout the city give visitors a chance to take another kind of trip for less than the price of a movie ticket — a voyage through time, as these houses transport you to bygone eras, allowing you to witness aspects of city life that might otherwise have been forgotten.
Louis Armstrong in the den of his home with his reel-to-reel tape collection.
Louis Armstrong House Museum
34-56 107th Street, Corona, Queens
718.478.8274
Designated a national landmark in 1977, this three-story brick house on a quiet tree-lined street in Queens was where America’s greatest jazz musician lived from 1943 until the end of his life in 1971. Unassuming on the outside, the house is the definition of elegant sanctuary within. It isn’t huge. While Armstrong could’ve afforded a mansion, he chose to live here in the relative privacy of the neighborhood. But furnishings like chandeliers, Asian art, and a customized kitchen (appliances built into the walls and a range with six burners, for instance) show off an undeniably grand, but never unbearably gaudy residence that retains the comfortable, lived-in quality Armstrong enjoyed with his wife Lucille.
The feeling that Satchmo’s aura still fills the air is the home’s most unique and remarkable trait. The 40-minute tour includes listening to Armstrong’s voice recordings, where you can actually hear him having a meal in the home’s dining room, and learn that he signed letters with “Red beans and ricely yours” because that was his favorite dish. By far the most delightfully shocking part of the house is the opulent, Versailles-style, floor-to-ceiling mirrored bathroom — the one indulgence Armstrong embraced. After touring the house and the small, memorabilia-laden exhibit, I gained an appreciation for just how full of life Armstrong truly was — a legacy the museum upholds through events like neighborhood jazz concerts. As assistant director Deslyn Dyer says, “This is the only home in New York State that offers an intimate look at the life of a great jazz legend. People leave touched by the home he left behind.” Adm. $8
Merchant’s House
29 East 4th Street, Manhattan
212.777.1089
Another landmark showcasing the belongings of its original inhabitants is Merchant’s House, home of the wealthy Tredwell family from 1835-1933. An importer of metal appliances, Seabury Tredwell moved his family into this five-story rowhouse at a time when only the upper crust of society could afford to live in the fashionable Bond Street district and escape the gritty, pig-trotted streets downtown.
Merchant’s House provides a telling snapshot of upper-middle-class life in Manhattan in the 19th century, as the family used 95 percent of the furniture, clothing, and artifacts you see on the self-guided tour. Some noteworthy pieces in the slightly spooky period rooms include the main parlor’s bronze gas chandeliers — the oldest domestic gas fixtures in the U.S. — and an ornate commode disguised, for delicacy’s sake, to look like a chest of drawers when not in use. In addition, you witness odd Victorian customs, like separate bedrooms for husband and wife.
Despite the many luxuries in the home, the sense of how difficult life was back then is unflinching. Looking at the tin washbasins that only filled up below one’s knees, you can almost feel the shivers unraveling from a freezing winter bath. Adm. $8
Lefferts Historic House
Prospect Park (Willink entrance), Brooklyn
718.789.2822
Lefferts House has converted much of its interior into a highly interactive, kid-friendly learning space. “Our main audience is families with children,” says Isak Mendes, supervising educator, though there is plenty for adult history buffs to enjoy. The house was built circa 1783 by the Lefferts, one of the wealthiest Dutch farming families in Brooklyn at the time. In 1917, the house was donated to the city, and later transported to its current site in Prospect Park, with many of its modern features removed to revert back to a colonial style.
What’s striking about Lefferts House is how hands-on it is in re-creating and educating guests about rural life in the 1820s. When I visited, they held a “Flax and Fleece Weekend,” complete with demonstrations on spinning flax (a linen-making plant) by a fully costumed re-enactor, take-home weaving projects, and flax-seed planting on the working farm. Inside the house, children can try on period wardrobes and play educational games. Tours every half hour take visitors upstairs to see bedrooms and several artifacts that belonged to the family. Summer programs include a “Songs and Stories” series, and a “Freedom Strut” event with live music, beading, and arts and crafts. Free Admission
Wool cleaning at Historic Richmond Town.
Historic Richmond Town
441 Clarke Avenue, Staten Island
718.351.1611
Single houses can capture a moment in time, but for a more comprehensive journey into the past, consider Historic Richmond Town, a 100-acre complex of 28 buildings spanning from the 1600s to the 1900s. Located in the center of Staten Island (plan one-and-a-half to two hours to get there from Manhattan by subway, ferry, and bus), Richmond was the government center of Staten Island in the 1700s. When the latter became a borough in 1898, Richmond lost its county seat and fell from prominence until a movement to preserve its history began in the 1930s. While some houses were saved on their original sites, others were lifted out of their foundations in neighboring areas and trucked to Richmond, where they have been restored and outfitted with furnishings and artifacts original to their period (though not usually owned by the former inhabitants).
Today, visitors can expect to see about five or six of these buildings on a 90-minute tour, which includes the oldest wooden schoolhouse in America, a general store, a tavern, a carpentry shop (with live demos), and family homes. The most enjoyable part of the tour is learning how traditions of the past connect with modern-day speech or customs. “Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite,” for instance, has very literal origins: Beds were held up by knotted ropes that had to be tightened, and mattresses were made from sacks of straw that attracted bugs. With year-round special programs and reenactments, Historic Richmond Town captures “how all of New York was,” says guide Sierra Kessler. Adm. $5
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