Information
Landmark: Historic Richmond TownCity: Staten Island
Country: USA New York
Continent: North America
Historic Richmond Town, Staten Island, USA New York, North America
Overview
Historic Richmond Town, tucked away on Staten Island, is a living museum where you can wander past old wooden houses and step into New York’s past.Spread across more than 100 acres, it brings the region’s history to life with weathered timber buildings, hands-on exhibits, and programs that invite you to learn and explore.Richmond Town, founded in the 1690s, took on the role of Staten Island’s county seat in 1728, when its dusty main road bustled with carts and chatter.When Staten Island joined New York City in 1898, government offices shifted to St. George, and Richmond Town gradually became a quiet neighborhood with front porches shaded by old maples.Back in the 1930s, local volunteers teamed up with the Staten Island Historical Society to save old neighborhood buildings, a push that eventually gave rise to Historic Richmond Town.The site boasts more than 30 historic buildings, from weathered 17th-century cottages to stately early 20th-century halls.One standout is Voorlezer’s House, thought to be the oldest schoolhouse in the country, its weathered timbers reaching back to the 1690s.The Guyon-Lake-Tysen House is a Dutch Colonial farmhouse built around 1740, its weathered beams and steep roof still echoing the style of the era.Christopher House, built around 1720, holds the only working jambless fireplace in New York City, where flames still flicker in the open hearth.The Stephens-Black House, built between 1838 and 1840 in a modified Greek Revival style, later gained a general store between 1840 and 1870, its wood siding still weathered by decades of sun and rain.Built in 1837, the Third County Courthouse-its white columns catching the morning sun-served as Richmond County’s courthouse until 1919.Historic Richmond Town’s Educational and Cultural Programs invite you to step into centuries past, where from May through August, costumed interpreters hammer at the blacksmith’s forge, debate politics, and show off the fashions of the 1800s in the Open Village.Each day’s schedule features “Talk of the Tavern,” “Life of the Lenape,” and “Fashion, Function and Freedom,” plus a few other lively sessions.Guided tours like *The Two Centuries Tour* and *1820s Village Life Tour* dive deep into the site’s history, bringing its past to life with stories you can almost hear echoing through the old wooden floors.Special events range from crisp autumn afternoons spent picking pumpkins at Decker Farm to lively Oktoberfest celebrations and glowing candlelight tours, each offering something fun for every age.You can visit Historic Richmond Town at 441 Clarke Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10306; call (718) 351‑1611 for details.From January through March, it’s open Friday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; in April, and again from May to August, you can stop by Wednesday through Sunday during the same hours.Admission is $11 for adults, $6 for kids ages 6–11, and free for children under 5.On Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m., May to December, entry is free-wander past weathered clapboard houses and feel the island’s history come alive through preserved buildings and hands‑on programs.
